Michigan makes it official: Jim Harbaugh is the football coach
(New York Times, December 30, 2014)
It all seemed so familiar as Jim Harbaugh stood on a podium Tuesday and discussed becoming Michigan’s football coach. In the first few rows were his wife and children, the former Michigan coaches Lloyd Carr and Gary Moeller, and Kathy Schembechler, the widow of the revered coach Bo Schembechler. Harbaugh’s parents, Jackie and Jack, a former Michigan assistant under Schembechler, were also present. The news conference that made the worst-kept secret in the state official was one of the largest in Michigan athletics history, thanks to a throng of news media and a reunion of dozens of past and current Michigan football players and personnel. More

McKinley founder Ron Weiser donates $50 million to University of Michigan
(mlive.com, December 19, 2014)
Ron Weiser amassed a lot of wealth as the founder and long-time CEO of the national real estate giant McKinley Associates, and it’s evident in part by his and his wife’s latest financial donation to the University of Michigan. The Board of Regents announced that Ron and his wife, Eileen Weiser, made a $50 million donation that would impact six different parts of the university, and the donation also earned them naming rights to the Dennison Building. More

3-D printing technology helps save baby’s life at U-M hospital
(NBC News, December 16, 2014)
New 3-D printing technology can make virtually anything, including a new trachea that saved a young Utah boy’s life at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor.  More

How small changes are improving gender balance at one b-school
(Chronicle of Higher Education December 12, 2014)
Women are underrepresented among business leaders. U-M’s Ross School of Business  wants to change that. And it’s starting at home. In recent years, the school has worked to increase the shares of its faculty members and doctoral students who are women.  More

Survey finds teens trending toward e-cigarettes
(ABC News, December 16, 2014)
More teens are trying out e-cigarettes than the real thing, according to the government’s annual drug use survey, “Monitoring the Future,” produced by researchers at U-M. More

U-M unveils architecture program for Detroit teens
(The Detroit News, December 9, 2014)
U-M recently introduced an Architecture Prep Program designed to expose students from Detroit Public Schools to the challenges the field has to offer. Students from the inaugural class joined parents and supporters for an open house at the Midtown center where it takes place. More

45-year physics mystery brings quantum computers closer 
(Business Standard, December 8, 2014)
An odd, iridescent material that had puzzled physicists for decades has turned out to be an exotic state of matter that could open a new path to quantum computers and other gen-next electronics, scientists say. Physicists at U-M have confirmed several properties of the compound samarium hexaboride that raise hopes for finding the silicon of the quantum era. More

Change makers in Michigan’s tech transfer industry
(Crain’s Detroit Business, December 7, 2014)
Michigan’s community of investors and startups credit some key players and policy changes with the development of the state’s tech transfer industry. U-M connections loom large in this developing story.  More