"DataConnectors: 2005 Detroit e-Security and Technology Conference" will be held Thursday, April 21, 9:15 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., at the McGregor Memorial Conference Center. The conference will focus on e-security and compliance issues with technical security expert Andre Berkuta of McAfee Security/Network Associates.

A calendar item notes that "MoneySmart Week" will be Tuesday, April 19, 2-5 p.m. today and Wednesday at Wayne State University's Bernath Auditorium.

The newsletter features a guest column written by Wayne State\'s Julie O\'Connor on nanotechnology. O\'Connor is manager of research operations and communications at Wayne State University.

Most people are confident in their ability to handle routine daily tasks, but for children with special needs going to a store or the movies can be daunting. Wayne State's College of Education is helping children with special needs master these tasks and others in collaboration with the Jewish Friendship Circle through the Ferber Kaufman Life Town, a 20,000 sq. ft. facility that includes a miniature village where these life skills can be mastered.

\"Leaders on Leadership\", co-produced by WSU SBA and Detroit Public Television, featured Anne Parsons, President and Executive Director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Parsons\' answers to questions by the host, Larry Fobes (SBA), and the WSU student audience highlighted the challenges of leading the business side of a major symphony in a time when the basic business model for such organizations is changing. The program will be re-broadcast on Wednesday, April 20, at 5:00 pm.

John Bedz, director of the state-funded Michigan Small Tech Association, said Michigan is ahead of Ohio in research now mainly because it has been more proficient in commercializing nanotechnology research. Much of that, he said, is led by the University of Michigan and Wayne State University. Nanotechnology involves building specific materials molecule by molecule, enabling a company to remove defects, increase a material\'s performance nearly tenfold in some cases, and give products properties never before possible.

A feature story about Asterand Inc., a leading biomedical research company, mentions that Asterand is the anchor tenant of TechTown, the new technology park affiliated with Wayne State University. Asterand was founded in Boston in 2000 but quickly moved to offices on the Wayne State campus because of Michigan's efforts to promote biomedical research through the Life Sciences Corridor Initiative. The company's CEO and co-founder, Randal Charlton, says "We want to build the world\'s biggest biological tissue bank for genetic research. Asterand has contracts to obtain tissue samples from 44 hospitals worldwide. They include several in Michigan, as well as in Russia, England, Germany, Canada, China, Brazil and France.

Business Calendar: It is noted that the College of Nursing will host Health Care Summit: A briefing at 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday, April 20 at McGregor Memorial Conference Center.

After being shut out in the first game of the GLIAC twinbill, the Wayne State University women's softball team (18-16 overall, 8-6 GLIAC) pounded out nine hits in an 11-2 victory over Saginaw Valley. Wayne State pitcher Meghan Misiak earned the win by allowing just two runs in six innings with seven strikeouts and only one walk. A photo of junior Meghan Misiak is included. The Warriors dropped the first game of the doubleheader 3-0.

The Wayne State University football program played its annual spring game on Sunday afternoon at Adams Field. The offense scored three touchdowns and added a 33-yard field goal by Musa Odeh. A photo of Warrior Nick Body is included.

Healthcare: Oakwood Southshore Medical Center, Trenton, has hired Dr. Veronica Schimp, D.O., gynecologic oncologist. Schimp is an assistant professor at Wayne State University's School of Medicine and also served as a fellow in the department of gynecologic oncology at the University of Texas.

Softball: Sarah Kish went 1-for-3 with three RBIs and pitcher Sarah Ytsma struck out six and gave up four hits as Wayne State won the first game of a doubleheader sweep of host Lake Superior State, 12-1. In Game 2, Kish went 2-for-2 and had three RBIs as the Warriors won, 9-1. Meghan Misiak struck out six and gave up two hits. WSU is 15-15; LSSU is 6-21.

Wayne State's women's softball team completed a doubleheader sweep at league-leading Northwood with a 4-1 eight inning victory in Saturday's second game. A photo of Warrior Becky Quinn is included. Wayne State won the first game 6-1.

Wayne State University professor David Magidson is quoted extensively in a piece about the seventh annual Lenore Marwil Jewish Film Festival. Sixteen films will be offered locally this year, while almost a total of 40 are scheduled for screenings in the festival\'s five locations (Commerce Township, Birmingham, Windsor, Flint and Ann Arbor). \"We do everything we can to get as many films as we can,\" Magidson said. \"Many times, film festivals are either like the Ann Arbor Film Festival, all entries of new work, or they\'re ... all already existing films. Ours is a kind of a hybrid of those - partly because the subject matter is specialized enough that if we just limited ourselves to new films made during a certain time, we probably wouldn\'t have enough, but also, we don\'t look at ourselves as not having new work, because ... it\'s critical to encourage young filmmakers," Magidson said.

The metro Detroit area\'s three university-affiliated public radio stations finished their spring pledge periods this month with a mixed bag. Wayne State University\'s WDET-FM (101.9) reported raising about $600,000 in the spring but said before the campaign the goal was $800,000. In the spring, WDET said it raised about $200,000 in a pre-pledge effort, which it said was a 95-percent increase over the pre-pledge campaign of the troubled fall fund-raiser. About 6,400 listeners have made a pledge; around 2,000 of those donating to WDET have done so for the first time.

Jackson County\'s population continued to grow in 2004 but at a slower rate than in recent years. The county had 162,973 residents in July 2004, up 0.3 percent from July 2003, the U.S. Census Bureau reports. Statewide, communities with the biggest change in population were those located outside the state\'s largest cities, including Detroit, Flint and Grand Rapids. \"Our urban centers keep losing population, and our people keep moving farther and farther out,\" said Kurt Metzger, a demographer at Wayne State University. \"It\'s kind of a redistribution of the population. We don\'t renew Michigan\'s population, we just redistribute what we\'ve got.\"

Detroit-trained choreographer Garth Fagan, a graduate of WSU in the 1960s, brings his high-spirited dance company back to the city of his youth. The 14-member Garth Fagan Dance performs tonight and Saturday at Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts. Winner for the 1998 Tony Award for \"The Lion King,\" Fagan's company will celebrate its 35th anniversary in November.

When the rent on his East Lansing apartment is due, Mark Herberholz logs onto an Internet poker site for a few hands. He says the income from his winnings helps to pay the bills and pass the time. The Michigan State senior says he spends about four hours a day playing computer games, instant messaging with friends and surfing the Internet. But he spends only about six hours a week on the computer doing his homework. Herberholz is one of a growing number of college students spending hours a day at their computers for fun. But educators say the growing recreational use can interfere with studies and affect health and social development. Although alcohol is often blamed for low grades on campus, it ranked last in a 2004 survey by the American College Health Association of the top 10 impediments to academic performance. Only 8 percent of students on 74 campuses said alcohol got in the way of their studies, compared to 13 percent who reported computer gaming and Internet surfing as a problem. That\'s a jump from 9 percent in 2000, when the ACHA began recognizing it as a problem.

This article focused on WSU's "E2 Entrepreneur Day," which combined a daylong conference featuring top-name national speakers with a business plan contest. The April 18 event was sponsored by the Technology Transfer Office. The issue also features three brief items on other events involving Wayne State: an Undergraduate Arts Exhibition, April 15-May 13, in the Community Arts Gallery, the gala at which actress Phylicia Rashad will receive the Apple Award on April 26, and an April 20 memorial event for the late poet Robert Creeley at the Welcome Center.

Columnist Robert Delaney reviews the Hilberry Theatre's production of George Bernard Shaw's comedy "Misalliance." In giving the play generally high marks for acting, set design and costuming, he urges readers not to miss "this chance to see a group of fine Hilberry actors in their farewell roles. The production continues in repertory through May 14 on the WSU campus.