IAV Automotive Engineering, Inc. is investing in student programs that help to cultivate the next generation of ambitious and dedicated engineers, and promote the importance of science, technology engineering and math education. One key initiative IAV supports is the Wayne State University College of Engineering's EcoCAR 2 project, a three-year program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and General Motors, that provides engineering students the opportunity to gain real-world experience in developing energy-efficient vehicles in a competitive setting. Of the 15 teams competing, WSU is the only university from Michigan participating. In addition to increasing fuel economy and reducing emissions, students also must maintain the performance and safety of the vehicle, a 2013 Chevy Malibu. The 48-member WSU team has seen significant improvement from the first year competition to this year, jumping four spots to eighth place.

Egypt is on edge after the military issued an ultimatum to President Mohammed Morsi and the opposition to resolve their dispute by Wednesday or have the army step in. Saeed Khan, an expert on Near East history, politics, and culture at Wayne State University, spoke with WDET's Pat Batcheller about what's at the heart of the dispute, and whether it can be resolved without military intervention.

On July 13, Wayne State University Law School Professor Nick Schroeck will join Canada's Citizens Environment Alliance when the nonprofit international group holds its annual State of the Detroit River Boat Tour 2013. Schroeck, who teaches the Transnational Environmental Law Clinic - a partnership between Wayne Law and the University of Windsor Law School and the first of its kind in North America - is one of the featured speakers for the boat tour. He is executive director of the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center. "This is an excellent opportunity to see why we must continue to value this special river and do what we can to protect it," Schroeck said.

Yinlun Huang, professor of chemical engineering and materials science in Wayne State University's College of Engineering, has been awarded the 2013 National Association for Surface Furnishing's Scientific Achievement Award. The NASF presents the award annually to "an individual who greatly contributes to the advancement of the theory and practice of electroplating, metal finishing and the allied arts; raises the quality of processes and products; and has enhanced the dignity and status of the profession." Huang received the award for his key theoretical contributions to the surface finishing industry. "On behalf of the entire Wayne State University College of Engineering community, I congratulate Dr. Huang on this prestigious award," said College of Engineering Dean Farshad Fotouhi. "New materials and advanced manufacturing is a major area of focus for the college, and Dr. Huang's innovative work and expertise will continue to have significant implications on industry and in academia - most notably, perhaps, in the lives of our students - for many years to come."

Wayne State University's Board of Governors yesterday approved a $576 million operating budget for fiscal year 2014, a 1.7 percent increase. This included a tuition increase of $904, or 8.9 percent, for a resident undergraduate taking 30 credit hours. Following a 15 percent cut in state appropriations two years ago, Wayne State will have received the lowest percentage increase in state funding among Michigan's public universities this year for the second year in a row. To mitigate tuition increases for those needing financial assistance, Wayne State will increase its financial aid by $6.2 million, or 11 percent, this year. With this increase, its institutionally funded financial aid is now $62.2 million, a 231 percent increase since 2002, and a 78 percent increase since 2007. More than 80 percent of all WSU undergraduate students receive some type of need-based or merit-based financial aid. WDET also ran stories on the tuition increase.

As schools across the country close their doors this week, and children are free for two months, parents are once again making choices about what's best for their kids: a free-range summer or structured activities, whether it be classes or camp. On each side of the debate are experts with strongly held opinions. Some educators believe we should allow kids to play freely - and allow them to be bored and figure out what to do with that boredom. They believe there is something to be said for balancing the knowledge children acquire 10 months of the year with some downtime to help their minds relax and function better come September. "Middle-class families tend to over-structure kids' times, and schedule a whole lot of sports camps and summer activities. I think kids need time just to play around, to be creative, to be bored, to reflect, to figure out who they are and what they're interested in," said Carolyn Shields, dean of the College of Education at Wayne State University. "I think if we're always putting them in structured activities that can't happen."

Insulin promotes the storage and synthesis of lipids, protein and carbohydrates, and inhibiting their breakdown and release into the circulatory system. It also plays a major role in stimulating glucose entry into muscle tissue, where the glucose is metabolized and removed from the blood following meals. But gaps exist in understanding the precise molecular mechanisms by which insulin regulates glucose uptake in fat and muscle cells. A research team led by Assia Shisheva, professor of physiology in Wayne State University's School of Medicine, has made breakthrough advancements on a molecule that may provide more answers to this mystery. The conserved phospholipid enzyme, PIKfyve, was discovered in Shisheva's lab in 1999. Based on studies in cultured cells, the lab has implicated PIKfyve in the insulin-regulated glucose transport activation, which led to the development of a unique mouse model with PIKfyve ablation, or removal, in muscle (MPlfKO), the tissue responsible for the majority of postprandial glucose disposal. "Our team found a striking metabolic phenotype in the MPIfKO mice consisting of glucose intolerance and insulin resistance at an early age and on a normal diet," Shisheva said. "We also revealed that PIKfyve is essential for normal insulin signaling to GLUT4/glucose transport in muscle and provided the first in vivo evidence for the central role of PIKfyve in the mechanisms regulating healthy blood glucose levels, or glucose homeostasis."

As he prepares to step down, retiring Wayne State University President Allan Gilmour will give the university back the salary he has earned, a $1 million gift. The president's gift is in the form of an endowment, 25 percent of which will be in the name of Gilmour's partner, Eric Jirgens. It will be used for students needing financial assistance to complete their education. The Board of Governors also honored the 11th WSU president by renaming Ferry Mall - an open air mall in north campus - Gilmour Mall. Board chair Debbie Dingell thanked him for his service as she called for renaming the area where a convocation is held annually to welcome students as Gilmour Mall. Dingell said Gilmour brought wisdom, insight, stability and credibility to the university. In addition, he put more focus on the students and listened to them, and students now have better services.

Robert Sedler, constitutional law professor at Wayne State University and a consultant to the lawyers challenging Michigan's ban on same sex marriage, opined about the Supreme Court's gay marriage rulings. Sedler wrote that yesterday's decisions gave some protection to marriage equality, but did not decide the more fundamental question of whether the Constitution requires that same sex couples be given the right to marry.

Detroit Public School music students, in dire need of instruments, will begin school in the fall with a crop of violins, clarinets, a drum set and other instruments donated by a college alumni association. The Wayne State University College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts Alumni Association, sponsored a two-day drive that netted 24 instruments for the district. No decision has been made on which schools will get instruments. Joan Smykowski of the Alumni Association was at Wayne State with other board members to accept the donations Wednesday.

Eight Wayne State University undergraduate nursing students are gaining unique insight about the research field thanks to a $40,000 grant awarded to the university's College of Nursing and School of Medicine from the National Institute of Nursing Research of the National Institutes of Health. The "Socio-behavior Training and Research (STaR) Program," led by Xiaoming Li, professor of pediatrics and director of the Pediatric Prevention Research Center in the School of Medicine, and Nancy Artinian, associate dean for research and director of the Office for Health Research in the College of Nursing, will provide participants with skills and experiences not offered at the undergraduate level. In doing so, Artinian says, the students will have a more successful transition to research work environments or graduate studies sooner rather than later. "Now is the time to get them excited about research and expose them to the many possibilities available in the field of nursing," she says. "We don't want them to get to a doctorate level and find out that it is too late for a research career."

Lance Gable, associate professor of law at Wayne State University Law School, has been named interim associate dean. "We're thrilled that Professor Gable has accepted the opportunity to serve as associate dean of Wayne Law," said Interim Dean Jocelyn Benson. "His enthusiasm and dedication to the Law School have been an asset, and I look forward to all of the good work he'll do in this new capacity. We'll be a good team. In his time at Wayne, Professor Gable has always gone above and beyond to support our students and faculty. And I know he will continue to excel and serve in his new role." Gable has been a Wayne Law faculty member since 2006.

An article highlights Cornelius Porter III's newly completed documentary, "Back Home - A Tale of a Warrior's Battle." A 2013 Gold Kahuna Winner at the Honolulu Film Awards, the documentary explores the social, physical and psychological challenges of fellow Wayne State University students Steven Patterson (U.S. Army) and James Simon (U.S. Marine) as they attend college and readjust to family life after combat tours in Iraq. Porter who, earned a bachelor of public affairs degree from Wayne State University, is now on his way to his alma mater's law school in the fall. The former soldier turned to WSU's Blackstone LaunchPad program for help to fund the project. Blackstone LaunchPad provides new venture assessment, mentoring and networking services to the campus community to encourage entrepreneurship as a viable career path, help individuals start new companies and take untested ideas to market.

Students at Burton International Academy now have their own small army of Wayne State University Warriors in-house to help pave the way for their future, thanks to a new partnership. The Office of Undergraduate Admissions at WSU, with the help of several departments at the university, will provide mentors, set up parent meetings and classroom visits, and offer college and career information to incoming eighth grade Burton International students with the adoption of the academy's middle school wing, which was celebrated with a ribbon cutting on Tuesday, June 18, 2013. The partnership will help inform students about the Michigan high school curriculum, while highlighting a range of professional fields and careers - and the ways students can work toward them.

Barbara Redman, Wayne State University College of Nursing dean, co-wrote a letter to the editor with nursing deans from the University of Michigan and Michigan State University, supporting the passage of Senate Bill 2 (SB 2) currently under review by the Legislature. "SB 2 is similar to laws in 18 states and the District of Columbia that allow certified nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives and certified clinical nurse specialists -- all of whom are registered nurses with at least a master's or doctorate in nursing, are nationally board certified and have undertaken rigorous training -- to provide health services within a limited scope of practice according to their specialty role. As educators, we take pride in preparing undergraduate and graduate nursing students to treat and diagnose patients, while serving as leaders in professional health care."

The Wayne State University School of Medicine's Department of Family Medicine and Public Health Sciences teamed with the Detroit Lions Living for the City initiative to call attention to the issues of food insecurity and hunger in the region. The Detroit Lions and the WSU department, along with other organizations, hosted a June 11 charity screening of the film "A Place at the Table" at Ford Field. The documentary investigates incidents of food insecurity in America. After the film, a moderated panel discussion with some of Michigan's food economy experts, public health, policy advocates, researchers and physicians took place. Dr. Margit Chadwell, assistant professor of family medicine and public health sciences, served as a panelist. "This collaborative effort is in keeping with our department's strategic goals, which include increasing our current level of high quality educational presence and community collaboration through service and engagement and contributing to a healthier Detroit and Michigan," said Juliann Binienda, assistant professor of family medicine and public health sciences, and co-principal investigator of the school's Bridges to Equity Program.

In late May, Wayne State University announced that Joan Dunbar would lead its technology commercialization efforts. She had already been serving in the position on an interim basis since the spring of 2012. Dunbar, the founding director of biotechnology development and biomedical innovation in Wayne State's School of Medicine, beat out several national candidates. In just a year on the job, Dunbar nearly doubled faculty invention disclosures, assisted in the launch of nine startups, initiated a mentors-in-residence program, created the Innovation Fellows Program, began the Technology Development Incubator, and strengthened partnerships with WSU's TechTown accelerator. Last month, the New Economy Initiative (NEI) also announced it was renewing its support for WSU's technology commercialization office to the tune of more than $820,000. Dunbar says the funding will go toward two main activities: beefing up the Technology Development Incubator and the Innovation Fellows Program. "What NEI has been able to do has been incredible," Dunbar says. "The money has allowed us to recruit mentors, and that's been huge."

Wayne State University President Allan Gilmour says lawmakers in Lansing should treat higher education like any major business in Michigan. He says the state's public universities need an infusion of roughly a billion dollars to truly deliver on their promise of providing a world-class education and producing a stellar workforce. President Gilmour tells WDET's Quinn Klinefelter he's not sure when - or if - that money will materialize, since the state is reducing funding for higher education.

Robert Sedler, constitutional law expert at Wayne State University's Law School, did an interview with Channel 7's Jim Kiertner. He discussed the upcoming decisions in the same-sex marriage cases and how they could affect the challenge to Michigan's ban on same-sex marriage. Sedler also talked about the case on WWJ-AM.

A look at artwork throughout the campus of Wayne State University is offered in this Detroit Free Press story. Examples noted include: Seff Weidl, "The Philosopher" (thin figure peering down); Sasson Soffer, "Midmien" (geometric loops); Morris Brose, "Sentinel II" (squared interpretation of a human body); Oskar Stonorov, "Dancing Maidens" (young female dancers in movement); Robert Schefman, "In Lieu" (huge abstract); G. Alden Smith, "Wings of Learning" (physical interpretation of the learning process); Julius Melchers, "Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, Rene Robert Sieur de LaSalle, Pere Jacques Marquette, Father Gabriel Richard" (important Michigan historical figures); Stanley Dolega, "Untitled" (industrial shape); and Christos Papadimas, "Alexander the Great" (bust of the Macedonian king). Group tours are led by docents from the Women of Wayne Alumni Association.