Brilliant ideas and ruthless competition at 600 words per minute: Behind the scenes of the Michigan debate team’s dramatic push for a national championship.

U-M’s solar car team unveiled its latest vehicle, the Quantum, this month. After six (count ’em) consecutive national titles, the team this year is pushing to win the World Solar Challenge in Australia in October.

Michigan’s new governor will speak to Michigan’s class of 2011 at Michigan Stadium on April 30. Several prominent figures will receive honorary degrees, including Stephen Ross, William Clay Ford, Jr., and Spike Lee.

Sometimes the best ideas are the simplest. U-M student Cynthia Koenig’s WaterWheel could transform the health and habits of people across the developing world. An ingenious sort of wheelbarrow and water barrel in one, the WaterWheel makes daily, long-distance treks to gather drinking water safer, easier and less toil.

Earlier this month, U-M president Mary Sue Coleman addressed the Michigan House and Senate about proposed cuts to the state’s and university’s budgets. In this excerpt, she lays out her plan to keep U-M fiscally sound and academically second to none.

University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman has approved the final report on implementation of the new smoke-free policy that goes into effect July 1.

The museum became the third U-M building to earn the award for outstanding architecture.

U-M grew last year at a rapid 8-percent clip—including the campus’ largest physical expansion in 60 years—but its sustainability efforts have simultaneously cut normalized energy use by 4 percent, water use by 3 percent and resulted in a decrease in per-person trash levels of nearly 5 percent.

This hand-held solar-powered light and power source can be used anywhere, but inventors Abdrahamane Traoré and Shanhoor Amin hope to sell it cheaply in the developing world, where access to the power grid can be hard to find.