Staff Spotlight

  1. January 17, 2005

    Spotlight: Come (brrr!) sail away

    On a cold January morning in Michigan, Jeremy Herr does the unusual: He sets sail. (Photo by Martin Vloet, U-M Photo Services) With his boating buddies and equipment in tow, Herr arrives in the early morning at Sand Lake—situated about 50 miles southwest of Ann Arbor—and prepares his craft and himself for a day of…
  2. January 10, 2005

    Spotlight: Peering into the past to see the future

    After many years of working on developing instrumentation for ground-based astronomy, Bruce Bigelow—a senior research engineer at the Physics Department—is involved with his first space-based project. (Photo by Marcia Ledford, U-M Photo Services) The process that led to this point began many years ago. In 1998, two groups used Type Ia supernovae to measure the…
  3. December 13, 2004

    Spotlight: A timely renewal

    Renaissance. The word inspires visions of a time when commerce, learning and the arts flourished, of an emergence from darkness into the light. Lifestyles changed dramatically during this prosperous period, particularly in Western Europe. (Photo by Marcia Ledford, U-M Photo Services) Three years ago, Denise Yekulis, academic secretary and office manager for the Organizational Studies…
  4. November 22, 2004

    Spotlight: Rubik’s magic

    Remember the Rubik’s Cube? The colorful puzzle that fascinated the world in the early 1980s—the cube that was a source of great fun and frustration for a whole generation of people. Becker (Photo by Paul Jaronski, U-M Photo Services) Among those who remember the cube as an enjoyable game rather than as an annoying object…
  5. November 15, 2004

    Spotlight: Bringing ideas to life

    Tucked away in a corner of the Art and Architecture Building is a huge workshop filled with everything from saws and sanders to sophisticated laser cutters and sheet plastic thermoformers. (Photo by Marcia Ledford, U-M Photo Services) On busy days, a cacophony of sounds fills the room as students from the Taubman College of Architecture…
  6. November 8, 2004

    Spotlight: Keeping track

    Completing one’s first marathon is a highlight that will be etched in a runner’s memory forever. For Jeremy Hallum, the experience also is etched into the semi-permanence of cyberspace. (Photo by Paul Jaronski, U-M Photo Services) Hallum, the UNIX Systems administrator for the Department of Astronomy, completed his first marathon in Detroit last year. He…
  7. November 1, 2004

    Spotlight: Marching together

    Revelli Hall, home of the Michigan Marching Band, is a place imbued with an atmosphere that spans generations. Pictures and memorabilia from years past speak of a time-honored tradition, one that is brought firmly into the present by the vitality that fills the hall as hundreds of band members file in for their daily practice.…
  8. October 25, 2004

    Spotlight: The music of the night

    Just before sunset on a warm day, bats will start flying out to feed, a timeless ritual in the cycle of nature. The sight of hundreds or thousands of bats flying against the darkening sky may sound spooky to most people, but not Ronald Torrella. “People in general are afraid of bats because of popular…
  9. October 11, 2004

    Spotlight: Engaging the senses

    Springtime may be in the distant past for Michiganders, but looking at Mike Gould’s latest pictures from his mushroom hunting expedition last April, one could almost feel the warm breeze blowing. (Photo by Theresa Gratsch) Gould is an audio engineer, a writer, a Web designer and a mushroom lover. He also is a computer systems…
  10. October 4, 2004

    Spotlight: It is rocket science

    To some, Tom Griffin’s workday reads like a page out of a high-tech thriller: install new shock tubes, make sure the helicopter-blade testing site is up to OSHA code, tweak the fittings on the supersonic wind tunnel. But he’s no mad scientist or top-secret NASA employee; Griffin’s just living another day as Supervisor of Laboratory…