Wayne State University and the University of Michigan received a combined 297 patents between 1999 and 2003, according to a report released by Automation Alley. The study, titled "Driving Southeast Michigan Forward," analyzed six industry areas: advanced automotive, advanced manufacturing, chemical and material, information technology, life sciences and other technologies. NextEnergy, a non-profit corporation that promotes the advancement of alternative energies, has also acquired more than $13 million in federal research funds to support research and development in homeland defense, hydrogen, fuel cells and clean diesel fuel (biodiesel).

Asterand Inc., the Detroit-based supplier of human tissues and related services, last week announced it will distribute nine new cell lines for cancer research. The cell lines were all developed at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute of Wayne State University and will be of interest to researchers seeking a cure for several types of leukemia, lymphoma and pancreatic cancer. The Wayne State lines will be added to a portfolio of cell lines that are currently distributed by Asterand. The Asterand tissue bank now contains more than 330,000 samples.

Wayne State University has been awarded a $9,100 grant from the United States Golf Association for research into the potential impact golf can have on individuals with mental illness. Dr. John Dziuba, assistant professor of psychiatry at Wayne State , has designed a program to teach golf to schizophrenia patients as a tool in the treatment of the disease, which afflicts 2.2 million Americans. The WSU Medical School and Sinai Grace Hospital are working on the research effort. Dziuba said the goal is to show that golf \"can help our patients\' self esteem and self confidence, their ability to concentrate and socialize and improve their overall quality of life.\"

Wayne State University is holding a conference Nov. 4 to discuss why women continue to lag in earnings, benefits and rank within U.S. businesses. The conference comes on the heels of the Michigan Women\'s Leadership Index report, released earlier this week, that shows that Michigan \'s top female executives make 49 cents to every dollar male executives make. It also revealed that just 5.7% of all top-compensated executives are women. The conference, called Gender and Corporate Citizenship, runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and is free and open to the public.

Delila Owens, assistant professor in the Theoretical and Behavioral Foundations Department, received the 2005 NCACES small Research Grant from North Central Association of Counselor Educators and Supervisors. Owens also was recently appointed to the Professional School Counselors editorial review board. The journal is published by the American School Counseling Association.

Wayne State University School of Social Work appointed Anna Maria Santiago as director of a new doctoral program leading to a doctor of philosophy in social work.

Kevin Christensen, a sophomore at Wayne State , helped the Warriors Cross Country team to a second-place finish at the GLIAC Championship this past weekend as he placed eighth overall with a time of 27:10.

Career counselors at U.S. universities have been noticing a significant increase in the number of seniors eager to take a break after graduation, saying they were not ready to commit to graduate school or a career. Many seniors have applied for community service programs like the Peace Corps and Teach for America in the last two years. Students who take a time out are still a minority but the number is expanding. Cultural patterns have changed with fewer people getting married immediately after college and fewer taking jobs with companies at which they expect to for their entire careers.

The federal government is requiring hundreds of universities, online communications companies and cities to overhaul Internet computer networks to make it easier for law enforcement authorities to monitor e-mail and other online communications. The order is intended to help catch terrorists and other criminals. The action has unleashed protests and the threat of lawsuits from universities, which argue that it will cost them $7 billion.

Wayne State University President Irvin D. Reid has announced this year's Research Enhancement Program seminar titled "Wayne State University President's Conference on Health Disparities." According to Reid, "This event will explore the underlying cause of the disparity in health outcomes, particularly those related to chronic diseases among medically underserved and ethnic minority populations living in an urban environment." The seminar will be held on Oct. 10 -11 in the McGregor Memorial Conference Center .

The WSU School of Law is hosting the American Constitution Society's symposium on diversity Oct. 27. WSU's Law School is hosting a roundtable on the Ten Commandments, Nov. 10. The WSU Law School will host reunions for the classes of 1970, 1975, 1980, 1990 and 2000 on Nov. 9.

The Times picked up an AP article about the role of minority contractors in the Hurricane Katrina clean-up effort. John Chichester, who heads the Procurement Technical Assistance Center at Wayne State, pointed out that subcontractors are often left "picking up the scraps" while larger contractor's get the bulk of the jobs. Chichester advises small businesses on how to win government contacts.

Wayne State University on Thursday will officially rename one of its residence halls after Yousif Ghafari. The university will rename North Residence Hall after the chairman of Dearborn-based Ghafari Cos. in recognition of his support of the school. Ghafari, a WSU alumnus and member of the WSU Foundation board and capital campaign committee, pledged $9 million to the university in the spring. His donation will help support the university's new engineering development center and endowments for student programs and scholarships, mathematics, engineering and medicine.

Wayne State employees offered comments in a story about the death of Rosa Parks. Anglenn Perryman, 38, a groundskeeper and political science student, called Parks \"a symbol of strength at a time we really needed it. We needed someone like her, a black woman all by herself, to stand up. By standing up that gives us motivation and the inspiration to this day." Rodney Redmond, 48, a parking attendant, said she was a brave, brave person. \"They need to do her right,\'\' in celebrating her homecoming, he said."They ought to do her like they did Coleman Young or Martin Luther King. There should be a holiday for her, too.\'\'

Performing: Guitar virtuoso Ana Vidovic in concert at 11:45 a.m. Nov. 18. at Wayne State University \'s Schaver Recital Hall, 480 W. Hancock, Detroit . The event is free; for additional, info call 313-577-1795.

Fort Wayne picked up this story from the Detroit Free Press on overanxious mothers potty training infants prematurely. Carolynn Rowland, a nurse for the Wayne State University School of Medicine, worries that parents who try infant potty training may have unrealistic expectations. \"My concern is if you put the onus on the child to do something you want them to do that they\'re not capable of doing, you may be setting them up for problems and you\'re putting a whole lot of pressure on them.\"

The banquet will be held at 6 p.m., Nov. 2, at Seldom Blues in Detroit . The event, sponsored by DaimlerChrysler Corporation, will honor Viola Liuzzo, a Detroiter who became the nation\'s first white woman civil rights martyr. Tickets are $85. A portion of the proceeds will benefit OBA\'s scholarship program. Information: (313) 577-2279.

Wayne State University said Thursday it had published a new report on what it terms \"technological peripheries,\" areas where high-tech systems intersect with -- and often conflict with -- lower-tech systems, frequently resulting in problems and even disasters. An international group of researchers, organized by Wayne State and sponsored by the National Science Foundation of the United States and el Consejo Nacional Ciencia y Tecnología of Mexico, met last year in Mexico City to examine the challenges of large-scale systems, focusing on air transport networks. This workshop found that the rapid development of technology in the United States and Europe was outstripping the diffusion of that technology to developing countries, resulting in mismatches in language, infrastructure, regulation, and management practices. To obtain a copy of the report, contact Allen Batteau, director of Wayne State \'s Institute for Information Technology and Culture, at (313) 874-7010. More at www.iitc.wayne.edu.

Wayne State University and the Comerica Charitable Foundation recently dedicated the Comerica Charitable Academic Success Center at the David Adamany Undergraduate Library. The dedication of the center celebrates the $500,000 donation made by the Comerica Charitable Foundation to support the center and Wayne State 's capital campaign. The center, dedicated to promoting academic success for all students, provides tutoring, supplemental instruction, reading and study skills. A photo is included featuring President Irvin D. Reid ; Jan Collins-Eaglin, director of the Comerica Academic Success Center ; Matthew Taylor, Academic Success Center tutor; Markeysha Davis, Detroit Compact scholar; and representatives from Comerica Charitable Foundations and Comerica Inc. A companion story features an interview with Collins-Eaglin and a photo of students and staff at the center.

WSU will hold a session on advanced degrees during its Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology Program Information Session, Oct. 28th.