Wayne State University's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering will host the 2012 Forest E. Brammer Endowed Lecture from 1:30 to 3 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 19, in the College of Engineering's Marvin I. Danto Engineering Development Center. This year's lecture, titled "Wireless Health: New Technology and a New Industry," will be given by William J. Kaiser, professor of electrical engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles. Wireless health - a rapidly growing field - aims to advance the quality and accessibility of health care through new and personal wireless platforms, networked sensing systems and embedded computing.

Peter Savolainen, associate professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Wayne State, was a guest on WDET's Craig Fahle show to discuss the issue of distracted driving and pedestrian safety. Savolainen, who is on the board of the Transportation Research Board, noted that the university is hosting the Drive Safely to Wayne State event today. Fox 2's Jason Carr interviewed Savolainen this morning highlighting WSU's Drive Safely to Wayne State event and Gov. Snyder's "Don't Text and Drive Day." WXYZ also featured a report this morning noting the event.

WJR's Paul W. Smith spoke with former Wayne State University President Irvin D. Reid about the upcoming forum called "City Under Siege" presented by the Forum on Contemporary Issues in Society (FOCIS). The two-day symposium, which starts Thursday, explores the concept of community policing as a strategy for reducing crime in urban areas such as Detroit.

Jocelyn Benson, Wayne State University associate professor of law; Marc Kruman, director of WSU's Center for the Study of Citizenship; and Detroit Free Press columnist Brian Dickerson talked with Craig Fahle about Wayne State University's panel discussion on if Democracy can survive campaign finance, put on by the Center for the Study of Citizenship last night.

Chacona Johnson was selected as associate vice president for principal gifts at Wayne State University and executive vice president of the Wayne State University Foundation. She previously was president of the Detroit Public Schools Foundation. She is the former chief of staff for the president and associate vice president for development at the University of Michigan. She will begin her new role on November 5. A photo of Johnson is included.

Irvin D. Reid, former president of Wayne State University, where he holds the Eugene Applebaum Chair in Community Engagement and is director of the Forum on Contemporary Issues in Society, opined about this week's Forum on Contemporary Issues in Society presenting "City Under Siege." He wrote: "At Wayne State, we have committed to a safe environment not only for our campus but for our immediate surroundings as well. We know the city's destiny and ours go hand in hand." A photo of Reid is included.

AT&T, MDOT and Wayne State call on Michigan drivers to pledge: Never text and drive Wireless provider AT&T, seeking to bring attention to a serious road-safety problem, joined with Governor Rick Snyder, the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) and Wayne State University to urge all Michiganders to pledge to stop texting while driving. AT&T, its employees and other supporters are calling on all drivers to go to www.itcanwait.com to take the no-texting-and-driving pledge, and then share their promise with others via Twitter (#itcanwait) and Facebook. Wayne State University will host its ninth annual "Drive Safely to WSU" event on Sept. 19, highlighting the dangers of distracted driving.

Craig Fahle spoke with former Wayne State University President Irvin D. Reid and WSU Police Chief Anthony Holt about an upcoming forum called City Under Siege. On Sept. 20 and 21, the Forum on Contemporary Issues in Society (FOCIS) at Wayne State University will present City Under Siege: A University Forum on the Crime Crisis in Detroit. The two-day symposium takes place on the campus and explores the concept of community policing as a strategy for reducing crime in urban areas such as Detroit. WJR's Frank Beckman hosted a discussion this morning regarding the FOCIS event with Reid, Holt and Detroit Police Chief Ralph Godbee.

Craig Fahle spoke with Wayne State University football coach Paul Winters about the new season and schedule for the Warriors.

This week, Wayne State University will be hosting a forum with a focus on crime solution, with some of the nation's leading experts in law enforcement and criminology. In the two-day forum "City Under Siege: A University Forum on the Crime Crisis in Detroit" a group of speakers will explore solutions and strategies to reduce the alarmingly high crime rate in Detroit and other urban cities. Talking to WWJ Newsradio 950′s Chrystal Knight, Irvin D. Reid, president emeritus at Wayne State University, highlighted a few of the speakers. "We have William J. Bratton, who's a former top police guy in Boston, New York and L.A., Chief Ralph Godbee and George Kelling, who's from the Manhattan Institute. We also wanted a panel who would speak to themselves, so there will be some citizens and some victims," he said. The conference takes place Thursday, September 20 and Friday, September 21 and is free and open to the public. Reid and WSU Police Chief Tony Holt also talked about the forum during an in-studio interview at Fox 2 this morning.

Wayne State University submitted an application last month to land the Perinatology Research Branch (PRB) contract again so that it can continue to offer health, economic and educational opportunities to the region. The contract is expiring next month for the PRB, which produces groundbreaking research while providing care for more than 20,000 local women and adding an estimated $35 million to the local economy. The PRB - housed in Detroit at Hutzel Women's Hospital with a 10-year $167 million National Institutes of Health contract, has continued to put Michigan in the forefront of the fight to reduce prematurity, which disproportionately affects African-American women and often includes immeasurable human costs such as cerebral palsy, developmental delays and hearing impairment. If WSU wins the contract, the PRB's cumulative economic activity would exceed $347 million, according to the Anderson Economic Group. An announcement is expected around Nov. 1. "I strongly support Wayne State's application to retain this branch of NIH in southeast Michigan, which has improved the health of so many mothers and infants in the region," said U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Detroit. "The PRB is the international groundbreaking research facility," said Doug Skrzyniarz, senior director of external affairs for the WSU School of Medicine. "Having the PRB in Michigan is a privilege, and it's a privilege we should leverage as much as possible."

Wayne State University announced partnerships with four local animal shelters to provide veterinary care for rescue animals at Wayne State. The shelters include the Detroit Dog Rescue, Brownstown Animal Shelter, Southgate Animal Shelter, and What We Do for the Love of Pets. The students and faculty of the Veterinary Technology Program, a joint training program through Wayne State University and Wayne County Community College District that leads to an associate of applied science degree, will provide the necessary animal care, including vaccination, sterilization and higher level care as needed. "This new partnership will train our veterinary technician students in the essential services they need to learn for their future career roles," said Lisa Brossia, D.V.M., senior director and attending veterinarian of WSU's Division of Laboratory Animal Resources. "In addition, we are providing dogs with critical care such as sterilization and vaccination, and other care they may need, including behavioral training. It is a win-win opportunity for our students, the shelters and the animals that we will be taking care of."

The Wayne State Warriors football team is coming off of its opener loss last weekend to Ashland, a team that was picked to win the South Division of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. "Maybe we were tight because there is something expected from us now," coach Paul Winters said. "There has never been anything expected from us before. I think our guys are angry now. And I think that anger and disappointment will be stronger than the tightness." "Paul Winters has done a phenomenal job with the Wayne State football team," Ashland athletic director Bill Goldring said. "He has made them not only a respectable power in the Midwest, but nationwide." Winters added: "I think we disappointed a bunch of people in that first game, mostly ourselves, but our defense showed that even when we lay an egg on offense we can be competitive." The Warriors face Lake Erie on Saturday. A photo of Winters is included.

This profile story features April Vallerand, associate professor in the College of Nursing at Wayne State University, whose research looks at pain management in African American cancer patients. Vallerand and her colleagues did a study in home care, how to manage cancer pain, approximately from 2000-05. Vallerand has found patients who can manage their pain do better. "It's that sense of knowing what to do to control your pain. If they didn't have that they were more distressed and less functional. Our African Americans had significantly higher levels of pain, more distress and significantly less function." A photo of Vallerand is included.

The Techonomy Detroit conference took place at Wayne State University Wednesday. Several of the nation's biggest proponents of technology came to Detroit to network, to teach and inspire business leaders, and to champion technology as a way to make cities like Detroit work better. David Kirkpatrick, co-founder of Techonomy, spoke with WDET's Jerome Vaughn and Quinn Klinefelter.

On Thursday, Sept. 13, Wayne State University hosted a panel discussion about the ownership of stolen, looted or confiscated art. The discussion is in conjunction with the Forbidden Art exhibition, which showcases art made by concentration camp prisoners during World War II. WDET's Martina Guzman spoke with two members of the panel, Dora Apel, associate professor of art history at Wayne State University, and Graham Beal, director, president and CEO of the Detroit Institutes of Art, about art ownership and the ethics behind the return of contested cultural property.

Wayne State University Lecturer Saeed Khan discusses the latest news from the Middle East as U.S. embassies have been at the center of protests and demonstrations. (Partial clip available)

Wayne State University President Allan Gilmour delivered the annual university address on Sept. 10 at the Undergraduate Library's Bernath Auditorium. WSU's 11th president expressed his gratitude toward the many people who support him and his continuing efforts to make the area a better, more livable campus. He praised the faculty and staff for their hard work and accomplishments and recognized those who have been honored by their peers and by the President's Council for their outstanding contributions to their respective fields. He talked of new developments for WSU in the Midtown area, including the addition to the chemistry building, 2011's Damon Keith Center for Civil Rights at the Law School and October's official groundbreaking for the Multidisciplinary Biomedical Research Building which he said will be the major center for biomedical research in our region. "When complete, it will be the largest construction project that this university has ever undertaken." He also noted the reflecting pool restoration project outside the McGregor Memorial Conference Center. The project will return the pool back to architect Minoru Yamasaki's original design as they "rediscover the best of our past and remake it for the future." He noted that the Live Midtown project is a resounding success. Approximately 95 percent of Midtown apartments are occupied now, and area shops and restaurants are thriving. He stressed that, although WSU is doing well, it must continually improve itself and keep moving forward to stay ahead. "Wayne State was here when we arrived, and it'll be here when we leave," Gilmour said. "How will we leave it? Better, I hope. That's why I decided to come here, to see if I could help for a relatively short stint." A photo of President Gilmour is included.

Family, friends, colleagues and former journalism students packed Grosse Pointe Memorial Church on Tuesday to honor the life of Ben Burns, the former executive editor and chief administrative editor of The Detroit News and head of Wayne State University's journalism department. Burns, 72, died Friday of acute myeloid leukemia. He was remembered as a journalism titan who helped launch careers from coast to coast and wanted to create newsrooms "less monochromatic and more like America." Veteran journalist Jack Lessenberry said while Burns had two sons and two daughters, he also had "journalism children" scattered across the country. "Ben Burns was a rare creature who was comfortable in his skin, knew who he was and what he stood for, and could take genuine delight in the accomplishments of others," Lessenberry told about 450 mourners at the service. Mr. Burns was credited with creating Wayne State University's Journalism Institute for Minorities, now the Journalism Institute for Media Diversity, in 1985 in an effort to racially and ethnically diversify newsrooms.

101.9FM WDET, Wayne State University's public radio station, has released a new limited edition podcast of true and touching stories shared by Metro Detroiters during StoryCorps's recent visit to the area. From the challenges and triumphs of the immigrant experience to finding love when you least expect it, these stories show us the connective power of storytelling and further the mission of StoryCorps and WDET. More than 150 stories were collected during its MobileBooth visit to Metro Detroit this summer. To connect people worldwide to the rich, dynamic lives of Metro Detroiters, WDET has created five limited edition podcasts highlighting themes of love, family, family history, success, and growth. Notable people featured in the "Stories from Detroit" podcasts include Wayne State University president and former Ford Motor Co. executive Allan Gilmour, Detroit jazz legend Marcus Belgrave and local hip-hop producer and Detroit Dog Rescue founder Daniel "Hush" Carlisle. "Stories from Detroit" is available now on iTunes, SoundCloud and the WDET Web site at www.wdet.org/storiesfromdetroit.