Staff Spotlight

  1. July 9, 2012

    Application programmer connects scientists and users

    When telling people about his job, Jeff Kopmanis says that he works on NASA projects — and he’s not exaggerating. As an application programmer senior at the Center for Space Environment Modeling in the Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Space Sciences, College of Engineering, Kopmanis works on the websites that host the AOSS scientists’ tools…
  2. June 25, 2012

    Civil engineering professor among first on scene after world earthquakes

    Related stories: What moment in the classroom or lab stands out as the most memorable? 
Having a student tell me at the end of the semester how she really did not want to take this class, but actually ended up enjoying it because I made the topic interesting.

 What can’t you live without? 
My family,…
  3. June 11, 2012

    Performer, world traveler a helping hand to student organizations

    If it’s true that the destination is secondary to the journey, then Mark Haviland has done pretty well for himself. Haviland, a program manager with the Center for Campus Involvement, also is the manager of the Student Theatre Arts Complex — a preproduction facility on South Campus — helping students prepare theatrical productions. Photo by…
  4. May 21, 2012

    Professor’s path runs from Harvard to the History Channel

    Photo by Scott C. Soderberg, Michigan Photography. David Potter, a Francis W. Kelsey Collegiate Professor of Greek and Roman History and an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor, has a full resume — ranging from Harvard to the History Channel. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Harvard before completing his graduate studies at Oxford University in England.…
  5. April 30, 2012

    Assistant professor’s father, a Hungarian patriot, influences a career

    Photo by Austin Thomason, Michigan Photography. The decision to study Hungary was easy for Krisztina Fehervary, assistant professor of anthropology, LSA. It was her father, Istvan, who helped connect Fehervary to her Hungarian roots. Istvan Fehervary had spent eight years in a communist prison for writing down the numbers of Soviet tanks during the Hungarian…
  6. April 23, 2012

    ITS employee chases thrills by skydiving, BASE jumping

    Risk has been a prevalent theme in Mark McManamay’s life. The application developer lead for Information & Technology Services has spent the last 20 years as a skydiving enthusiast. “When I made my first jump, I crawled out onto the wing, and I was shaking I was so scared. Then there was a point when…
  7. April 16, 2012

    Musical theatre chair guides students into show biz

    Like many of his students, Brent Wagner fell in love with theatre music at a young age. “I really loved the combination of text and music in the telling of a story, because music speaks to our emotions and the words carry the meaning,” he says. ”The combination, I found, was very powerful.” Photo by…
  8. April 9, 2012

    Art therapist uses craft to ease cancer treatments

    Margaret Nowak used to often meet with a chemotherapy patient who loved to paint using watercolors in the infusion room of the Comprehensive Cancer Center The patient had requested that Nowak, an art therapist, come sit with her before receiving treatment. “She told me that she was always so scared before getting her chemo, and…
  9. April 2, 2012

    Disability rights influence architecture professor

    Photo by Austin Thomason, U-M Photo Services. When Robert Adams’ and Dawn Gilpin’s daughter Celeste was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy and began using a powered wheelchair, Adams had an idea. He wanted to invent a special ramp that would foster inclusion for disabled and non-disabled people. Adams is assistant professor of architecture at Taubman College…
  10. March 26, 2012

    Lab technician is a pilot, amateur radio operator

    Whether it’s building radios in his free time or flying a small airplane around the state of Michigan, Dave Boprie’s personal interests have enhanced his career. An amateur pilot and self-described “radio enthusiast,” Boprie, a senior electronics technician at the Space Physics Research Laboratory on North Campus, uses his skills to build components for space…