A brief notes that the Wayne State University Symphony Orchestra is performing at 4 p.m. this Sunday at the First Presbyterian Church of Farmington. Contact and ticket information is provided.

A brief notes that \"Doubt: A Parable,\" by Wayne State University\'s Studio Theatre, is running at 8 p.m. Thursday-Friday with a final performance 8 p.m. on Saturday. Contact and ticket information is provided.

A Book Arts workshop will be held in Room 354 of Wayne State University's Art Building, 1-4 p.m., Saturday, April 9. The workshop, open to junior and senior-high school students, will be led by Lynne Avadenka. This event is part of Art X Detroit running April 6-10. Other events are ongoing throughout April.

University leaders and U.S. Senators gathered for a roundtable discussion at the Capitol on the vital role university-based scientific research plays in fueling innovation and sparking economic growth. According to Wayne State University President Allan Gilmour, research universities play an essential role in driving innovation that can reshape old industries and create entirely new ones. \"I arrived at Wayne State just in time for our university to be called on to help our city and our state create a new economy.\"

The Wayne State University School of Social Work participated in the 2011 National Association of Social Workers \"Shout-Out\" on Gullen Mall. Social Workers and Social Work students were on hand to emphasize, through the "Social Work Shout Out" event, the professional status of social workers, their visibility and positive public perceptions. Channel 7 and Fox 2 cameras rolled as the flash mob gathered at the mall. Cassandra Bowers, assistant clinical professor and coordinator, School of Social Work, was interviewed on Fox 2. http://mms.tveyes.com/Transcript.asp?StationID=999&DateTime=3%2F31%2F2011+5%3A54%3A44+PM&LineNumber=&MediaStationID=999&playclip=True&RefPage= http://mms.tveyes.com/Transcript.asp?StationID=1004&DateTime=3%2F31%2F2011+5%3A41%3A35+PM&LineNumber=&MediaStationID=1004&playclip=True&RefPage=

The University Cultural Center Association and New Center Council Inc. have merged to create a single organization to provide business district improvement services for Detroit's developing Midtown area. Ever-increasing collaboration among the three anchor employers in that part of Detroit - Wayne State University, the Detroit Medical Center and Henry Ford Health System - and foundations backing efforts in the neighborhood spurred the merger of the two organizations, according to Michael Solakis, who was president of the New Center Council. The anchor institutions have been collaborating on efforts such as public safety and internship or job opportunities for college students in the Midtown area for several years, initially under the auspices of the "15x15" effort to get 15,000 young professionals living, working and playing in the greater downtown area by 2015.

Even in Detroit, where the population shrank by 25 percent since 2000, downtown added 2,000 young and educated residents during that time, up 59 percent , according to analysis of Census data by Impresa Inc., an economic consulting firm. \"It tells us we\'ve been on the right track,\" says David Egner, president and CEO of Detroit\'s Hudson-Webber Foundation. Three anchor institutions - Wayne State University, Henry Ford Health System, Detroit Medical Center - recently launched \"15 by 15,\" a campaign to bring 15,000 young, educated people to the downtown area by 2015.

Wayne State University labor historian Mike Smith commented in a story about the membership challenges facing the United Auto Workers (UAW). Last year they posted their first membership gain following a six year drought. "Within this year or next, the UAW will hit 400,000 members again. The auto companies are doing well again and even with $4 a gallon gasoline, they are much better prepared to handle any gas crisis than they were in 2008."

A component in soybeans increases radiation\'s ability to kill lung cancer cells, according to a study published in the April issue of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology. \"To improve radiotherapy for lung cancer cells, we are studying the potential of natural non-toxic components of soybeans, called soy isoflavones, to augment the effect of radiation against the tumor cells and at the same time protect normal lung against radiation injury,\" said Dr. Gilda Hillman, associate professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Wayne State University\'s School of Medicine and the Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit. http://www.news-medical.net/news/20110401/Soy-isoflavones-can-improve-radiotherapy-for-lung-cancer-cells.aspx http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/220935.php http://www.sciencecodex.com/soy_increases_radiations_ability_to_kill_lung_cancer_cells_study_shows http://esciencenews.com/articles/2011/04/01/soy.increases.radiations.ability.kill.lung.cancer.cells.study.shows http://www.bio-medicine.org/medicine-news-1/Soy-increases-radiations-ability-to-kill-lung-cancer-cells--study-shows-80609-1/

Five community college students plan to meet today with Detroit mayor Dave Bing, the deputy police chief, and officials from Wayne State University to discuss their strategy for turning around Detroit. It\'s a plan they\'ve crafted this semester in their city politics class, studying Bing\'s Detroit Works Project to reshape the city by enticing residents to concentrate in viable neighborhoods. One key element of their plan is dramatically boosting the size of Wayne State University, making Detroit known as an education epicenter and turning Midtown into \"the beating heart of the city.\"

A synopsis of a lecture presented by Natalie Klein, dean and professor at Macquarie Law School in Sydney, Australia, is offered in this piece. During her lecture titled "Protecting whales under international law: Australia's case against Japan before the world court," Klein discussed Australia's effort to stop scientific whaling in the Southern Ocean. The event was part of Wayne State University Law School\'s Program for International Legal Studies lecture series sponsored by the International Law Students Association. http://legalnews.com/ingham/918210/ http://legalnews.com/jackson/918248/

President Barack Obama nominated a woman with deep ties to Michigan as an appellate judge for the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. Corinne Ann Beckwith has been an attorney in the appellate division of the public defender service for the District of Columbia since 1999, according to information put out by the White House. Before that she worked as an appellate attorney in Michigan's State Appellate Defender Office and taught criminal appellate practice at Wayne State University Law School. The nomination must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

A conservative research group, Mackinac Center for Public Policy, has issued a far-reaching public records request to the labor studies departments at three public universities in Michigan, seeking any e-mails involving the Wisconsin labor turmoil. The group declined to explain why it was making the Freedom of Information Act request for material from professors at Wayne State University, University of Michigan and Michigan State University. But several professors who received the records request said it appeared to be an attempt to intimidate or embarrass professors who are sympathetic to organized labor. Marick Masters, director of labor studies at Wayne State, said he had nothing to hide. "This looks like an attempt to embarrass us," he said. "I haven't engaged in any partisan activities here. I think they're probably interested in seeing the extent to which labor studies centers in the state have helped orchestrate the protests in Madison." http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/30/education/30professors.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=%22wayne%20state%20university%22&st=cse http://chronicle.com/article/Michigan-Think-Tank-Asks-3/126922/# http://chronicle.com/article/Academic-Freedom-Does-Little/126928/?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en# http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/weigel/archive/2011/03/29/creeping-foiazation-in-michigan-and-defunding-the-left.aspx http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/education/campus_connection/article_ef1b375c-5a3e-11e0-ae00-001cc4c03286.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/29/conservative-think-tank-a_n_842201.html http://mms.tveyes.com/Transcript.asp?StationID=205&DateTime=3%2F29%2F2011+9%3A08%3A57+PM&LineNumber=&MediaStationID=205&playclip=True&RefPage= http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/03/30/qt http://michiganmessenger.com/47773/broad-records-request-sparks-controversy# http://www.salon.com/news/the_labor_movement/?story=/tech/htww/2011/03/30/the_gop_war_on_labor_moves_to_academia

A new theory by an Italian doctor maintains that some MS patients have narrowed veins that impede blood flow in the brain and spinal cord. Symptoms could be relieved with a treatment similar to angioplasty, typically used in heart patients. Two Wayne State University researchers represent both sides of the issue. Dr. Omar Khan, director of Wayne State\'s MS Center at Harper Hospital, argues that the initial study is suspect because nearly all of the MS patients had chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency, or CCSVI, while none of the healthy patients did. Several studies have since refuted the findings, said Khan. But others contend the theory is a breakthrough with tremendous implications for MS treatment, and maybe other diseases. One of the proponents of the study is E. Mark Haacke, head of the Magnetic Resonance Research Facility at Wayne State. As a researcher of veins who invented a new technique for imaging them, he has given technical seminars on CCSVI and begun studies of blood flow of the small veins in the brain. Haacke said the studies challenging the study are small and did not use the same technology as the initial study. Scientists are still trying to understand the theory, he said, as thousands of patients have received the alternative treatment and reported their symptoms improved.

Dow Chemical Co. said Tuesday it improperly paid its chief executive officer for more than $700,000 in personal expenses since 2007 - a disclosure that experts say is unlikely to draw a federal investigation or disturb most shareholders. The error isn\'t likely to draw the attention of the government, said Wayne State University law professor Peter Henning. \"Absent a claim of improprieties, it\'s not likely to draw the interest of the SEC,\" Henning said.

The economy express bus service Megabus.com, which serves Detroit and Ann Arbor among its stops, said today that service to Pittsburgh; Akron, Ohio; and Toledo will be available for as low as $1 one way as part of an expansion. The Chicago-based city-to-city bus company announced that Pittsburgh will become a hub with connections to nine cities, including four daily departures from Detroit's Rosa Parks Transit Center and from the corner of Cass and Warren avenues near Wayne State University. http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20110329/FREE/110329877 < ahref=\"http://www.detnews.com/article/20110330/BIZ/103300349/1001/Megabus.com-to-expand-its-service-from-Detroit\">http://www.detnews.com/article/20110330/BIZ/103300349/1001/Megabus.com-to-expand-its-service-from-Detroit

Bill Gaskins, visiting professor in Wayne State's Department of Art and Art History, was interviewed by WDET's Martina Guzman about his new Detroit-based "Cadillac Chronicles," a photographic project about the relationship between African-American men and the Cadillac.

An article gives an overview of the Macomb County Chamber's "All Things Green" 2011 conference held Wednesday. Darin Ellis, associate dean for the College of Engineering at Wayne State University, participated in the event, which attracted more than two dozen exhibitors and described the university's extensive alternative energy technology projects, from batteries to overall electric vehicle technologies.

Obesity is surfacing before babies celebrate year one according to sociologist Brian Moss, lead author of a Wayne State University study. The findings reveal that 31.9 percent of 9-month-olds are obese or at risk for obesity. While the study does not condone putting babies on diets or even conclude that overweight babies are doomed to be obese adults, Moss says that being overweight or obese at 9 months puts you on track for being overweight or obese in childhood.

A new study from the Kauffmann Foundation shows that the partnership of Metro Detroit\'s business accelerator agencies, including TechTown, have helped create more than 1,000 jobs in local start-ups. The Business Accelerator Network for Southeast Michigan, which is composed of TechTown, Automation Alley, Macomb-OU INCubator and Ann Arbor SPARK, has invested $18 million in 339 companies through various funds they manage and helped them attract another $101.2 million in seed capital. The study, conducted in the first half of 2010, also identifies the Business Accelerator Network for Southeast Michigan\'s strengths, such as mentoring for various stages of entrepreneurs, funding and utilizing strong relationships with local universities, such as Wayne State University and University of Detroit Mercy.