Multimedia Features | The University Record

September 27, 2016

Harnessing brain activity

With support and advice from a range of U-M units, doctoral candidate Ramses Alcaide advanced technology developed at the university’s Direct Brain Interface Laboratory and created a new startup, Neurable, which developed a brain wave interpretation system. In this video, Alcaide and lead engineer James Hamet explain how the system uses a cap that sends brain activity to a computer, and how U-M’s entrepreneurial community helped get it going.

September 27, 2016

Early Detroit

“Rough sketch of the King’s Domain at Detroit,” a 1790 manuscript plan of the city of Detroit, was discovered in a family home in Almonte, Ontario. The map was acquired by the William L. Clements Library and will be the focus of a forthcoming exhibition in 2017. (Image courtesy of the William L. Clements Library)

September 26, 2016

Wringing power from water

Vortex Hydro Energy, an energy startup founded by Michael Bernitsas, the Mortimer E. Cooley Collegiate Professor of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, recently tested the first commercial-scale prototype of its VIVACE device in the St. Clair River in Michigan. This video illustrates the potential for VIVACE to generate electricity from slow-moving river and ocean currents in a way that may someday rewrite the rules of hydroelectric power.

September 25, 2016

First year forward

Starting their first year at the College of Engineering, these students talk about what brought them here and what they hope to accomplish as they embark on a journey to obtain the skills to solve the world’s problems.

September 22, 2016

Armed against the flu

President Mark Schlissel receives his annual flu vaccination from Carol McClure, a registered nurse with Michigan Visiting Care, at a flu shot clinic Thursday in the Michigan Union. The clinic was one of several being conducted across campus during the next several weeks. (Photo by Daryl Marshke, Michigan Photography)

September 21, 2016

EarthFest 2016

A visitor to EarthFest learns more about the Huron River Water Trail during the annual “party for the planet,” which took place Wednesday on the Diag. The event has been celebrated for more than 20 years and is designed to highlight the university’s 2025 sustainability goals: climate action, waste prevention, healthy environments and community awareness. EarthFest is organized by students and staff led by the Office of Campus Sustainability. (Photo by Austin Thomason, Michigan Photography)

September 20, 2016

Building the internet of water

Developing technologies to make environmental information more easily accessible is how a team of U-M researchers plan to create a smarter water system out of existing infrastructure. In this video, Branko Kerkez, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, discusses the techniques and technology to develop better water-management solutions.

September 19, 2016

Escaping with theater

For the fourth straight year, U-M faculty member Ashley Lucas took students to Brazil to be participant observers in a theater project that works with people in prisons, underprivileged neighborhoods and hospitals. In this video, Lucas, associate professor of theatre and drama, Residential College, and art and design, and director of the Prison Creative Arts Project, discusses the use of theater in creating social change in the South American country.

September 18, 2016

Robotics testimony

Sridhar Kota (right), the Herrick Professor of Engineering and professor of mechanical engineering, testified before the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade last week regarding the promising potential of robots in fields ranging from manufacturing to medicine. Among the topics he discussed was the idea of a whole-of-government approach to ensure promising discoveries and inventions are translated into successful manufactured products. (Photo by Blair Ellis, House Committee on Energy and Commerce)

September 15, 2016

Gershwin taxi horns

The University Symphony Orchestra on Sept. 23 will perform two George Gershwin masterpieces — “An American in Paris” and “Concerto in F” — in new critical editions that reveal, for the first time in decades, the composer’s original intent for the works. In this video, Mark Clague, associate professor of music and editor-in-chief of the George and Ira Gershwin Critical Edition, tells the story behind the iconic taxi horn parts in “An American in Paris.” Watch a video about the U-M Gershwin Initiative at the School of Music, Theatre & Dance.