Most of us don’t think twice about turning on a faucet and seeing clean water pour out. But for an estimated one billion people around the world, the reality is very different. In many regions, lack of access to safe water requires daily treks of several miles. The problem hit home for Cynthia Koenig during a William Davidson Institute fellowship in South Africa. Today Koenig helms Wello, a social venture that manufactures and distributes the WaterWheel. This 20-gallon drum moves up to five times the amount of water possible using traditional methods. “It’s simple, and that’s the beauty of it,” Koenig says. She graduated in 2011 with an MBA/MS degree. (Photo by Scott C. Soderberg, Michigan Photography.)

The Law Quad is one of the most picturesque and charming settings on the U-M campus, even from the sky. The five buildings that comprise the Quad were constructed between 1922-33 on two city blocks. Built in the Tudor and Gothic style, the architecture recalls the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge and the Inns of Court in London. (Photo by Scott C. Soderberg, Michigan Photography.)
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When her family immigrated to the U.S. from Sudan, Fatimah Farooq experienced the gut-wrenching disparities between first- and third-world countries. “My big dream goal—my dream job—is to be director of the World Health Organization,” she says. Once she completes her degree in global health, Farooq plans to pursue a master’s degree in public health, followed by medical school. (Photo by Scott C. Soderberg, Michigan Photography.)

Could the ancient art of origami bring nanotechnology into the third dimension? Engineers and artists at U-M are collaborating to find out. Matt Shlian, a lecturer in the Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design, is playing an integral role in helping the research team determine whether lasers can reproduce the paper-scoring technique on scales a thousand times smaller than the thickness of a strand of hair. (Photo by Scott C. Soderberg, Michigan Photography.)

Angell Hall houses U-M’s primary student observatory, where astronomy undergraduates often get their first exposure to a professional telescope. The main telescope is a 0.4-m (16-inch) Ritchey-Chretien reflector, equipped with a spectrograph and camera. There is also a small radio telescope and 20-cm (8-inch) Schmidt-Cassegrains. (Photo by Scott C. Soderberg, Michigan Photography.)

As drum major for the Michigan Marching Band, junior Jeffrey Okala joins a long and storied tradition. 1950 drum major Richard “Dick” Smith was memorialized by LIFE magazine photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt in the world-famous image “Ode to Joy.” (Photo by Scott C. Soderberg, Michigan Photography.)

As any student-athlete at Michigan will tell you, it’s about “the team, the team, the team.” For gymnast Stacey Ervin that means “doing everything to the best of your abilities.” It’s a credo that transcends athletics at U-M. “Representing the Block M means being a respectful person, a good person, and doing everything you can to better yourself and those around you.” Ervin is pictured in the Legal Research Building’s iconic Reading Room. (Photo by Scott C. Soderberg, Michigan Photography.)

The Michigan Immersive Digital Experience Nexus is the University’s most advanced audio-visual system for virtual reality. It provides users with the convincing illusion of being fully immersed in a computer-generated, three-dimensional world. (Photo by Scott C. Soderberg, Michigan Photography.)

“Music is a way to bring beauty into the world—and our world really needs that,” says cellist Caitlin Eger, pictured here in the School of Natural Resources’ Flume Room. The site is home to 150 miniature Huron Rivers or “flumes.” Researchers study the flumes to understand how environmental changes affect freshwater habitats. “You can make music anywhere,” Eger says. (Photo by Scott C. Soderberg, Michigan Photography.)

This earth sculpture on Michigan’s North Campus is described as “pure poetry” by creator Maya Lin. The waves represent a naturally occurring pattern that reveals the connectedness of art to landscape—or in this case, landscape as art. Lin is best known as the artist who designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., and the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Ala. (Photo by Scott C. Soderberg, Michigan Photography.)