One conflict-of-interest item that had originally been on the agenda for approval – involving a contract with Ann Arbor-based NanoBio for consulting services – was pulled. Regent Larry Deitch recused himself from the vote on that item, and there were not enough remaining regents to vote on it. Of the eight regents, Martin Taylor and Libby Maynard were absent. Regent Kathy White participated by speaker phone.

According to a staff memo, the university plans to contract with NanoBio for consulting services in support of the Michigan Advanced Development and Manufacturing Center. MADMC is an entity created by UM to seek public-private partnerships to develop a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility at the North Campus Research Complex (NCRC), the former Pfizer site.

The term of the agreement with NanoBio was from Feb. 10, 2012, through June 30, 2012, with a value not to exceed $53,250. Disclosure was required because James Baker, owner of NanoBio, is a UM medical professor and director of the Michigan Nanotechnology Institute for Medicine and Biological Sciences. Baker is providing “technical expertise in vaccine development, regulatory and clinical study planning in support of MADMC’s proposal to the federal government,” according to a staff memo. It’s expected that regents will vote on the item at a later date.

In general, these conflict-of-interest items often involve technology licensing agreements or leases. This month, the items related to the following businesses: Ambiq Micro Inc., Phrixus Pharmaceuticals Inc., Silicium Energy Inc., Civionics LLC, 3D Biomatrix Inc., Michigan Interiorscaping LLC, Cornell Farms LLC, ArborMetrix, Arborlight, LLC, ImBio LLC, JV BioLabs LLC, Rhythm Solutions, SenSigma Inc., Silicium Energy, Structured Microsystems LLC, and Wolverine Energy Solutions & Technologies Inc.

As another example, the item involving Ambiq Micro related to financing agreements of up to $2.5 million of potential investments by UM in the Austin-based semiconductor firm, as part of the Michigan Investment in New Technology Startup program (MINTS), which regents approved in December 2011. Plans for the initiative had been announced in early October by UM president Mary Sue Coleman in her annual address to campus.

Two faculty members in the College of Engineering – David Blaauw and Dennis Sylvester – are affiliated with Ambiq, which triggered the conflict-of-interest disclosure. Blaauw and Sylvester developed the technology for energy-efficient microcontrollers that’s licensed by Ambiq. Scott Hanson, who helped develop the technology while earning a doctorate at UM, is now CEO of the firm.

This brief was filed from the Fairlane Center at UM’s Dearborn campus, where regents are holding their May meeting.

According to a staff memo signed by SI dean Jeffrey MacKie-Mason, the degree program “will teach students a variety of social and technical levers for changing information flows: how to elicit information that would not otherwise be gathered; how to make it accessible when it would not otherwise be (and vice-versa); how to aggregate and present it in ways that make it meaningful and actionable. It will also teach students how to analyze information flows (who knows what and when) and their implications for power, money, health, and happiness. And they will have the skills to discover, analyze and apply knowledge through global networks of sensors and humans (expert and not).”

The school currently offers graduate degrees, including a new masters of health informatics, offered jointly with the School of Public Health starting in the fall of 2012. Students can also earn an undergraduate degree in informatics, but that degree is administered by the College of Literature, Science and the Arts.

The new degree program will also require approval of the Presidents Council of State Universities of Michigan.

This brief was filed from the Fairlane Center at UM’s Dearborn campus, where regents are holding their May meeting.

The upgrades, which are expected to cost $3 million, will connect the systems in both buildings to provide flexibility for future expansions, according to a staff memo. The two buildings, located on East Medical Center Drive on UM’s medical campus in Ann Arbor, were constructed in 1986 and cover a total of 2.3 million square feet for inpatient and outpatient medical services. The project is expected to be finished by the summer of 2013.

This brief was filed from the Fairlane Center at UM’s Dearborn campus, where regents are holding their May meeting.

UM leases space for its Survival Flight unit at the Livingston County Spencer J. Hardy Airport, in space that’s considered inadequate, according to a staff memo. The airport plans to make a range of improvements, including the construction of a new 66,500-square-foot, three-story building which will incorporate a helicopter hanger, office space, emergency vehicle garage space and common areas adjacent to Hardy Airport. Improvements to the hangar are estimated to cost $2.599 million. When the project is finished, UM will lease hanger space and office space for a total of 12,369 square feet. The lease agreement will be with the Livingston County Emergency Medical Services Department

To pay for the improvements, UM will make a down payment of $500,000, plus $12,915 per month for the duration of the lease. In addition, UM will pay a base rent – which includes operating costs – of $4,332 per month, with an increase of 2% every five years. Funding will be provided from UM Hospitals and Health Centers’ resources.

This brief was filed from the Fairlane Center at UM’s Dearborn campus, where regents are holding their May meeting.

Regents also approved continued use of the Wolfson reserves – unspent endowment income accumulated from prior years – as recommended by the law faculty for emergency and housing loans to the faculty.

This brief was filed from the Fairlane Center at UM’s Dearborn campus, where regents are holding their May meeting.

This brief was filed from the Fairlane Center at UM’s Dearborn campus, where regents are holding their May meeting.

The history of parking in that section of town – near the massive UM medical campus – was laid out in a cover memo provided to regents. A similar project had been previously approved by regents in September 2008 to address parking needs in that area. It had been opposed by residents, who attended public meetings held by UM to argue against the location. [See Chronicle coverage from December 2008: "Neighbors Weigh In Again on Wall Street Project."]

Subsequently, the project was cancelled in mid-2009 and the university entered into a partnership with the city of Ann Arbor to build the Fuller Road Station, a controversial project proposed on city-owned land in Fuller Park that had been used for nearly two decades as a surface parking lot. In addition to parking, the project was intended to include a bus depot and eventually a train station. It was approved by regents in January 2010. However, UM pulled out of the project earlier this year, in February. [See Chronicle coverage: "UM, Ann Arbor Halt Fuller Road Project."]

Demand for staff and faculty parking is expected to increase According to the staff memo from UM chief financial officer Tim Slottow, about 300 prime UM employee parking spaces were reallocated to patients after the opening late last year of the new C. S. Mott Children’s and Von Voigtlander Women’s Hospital. The memo states: “More employees are parking remotely and traveling by bus to work. On a typical day, we estimate that 2,500 employees are parking in remote lots and taking a bus or shuttle to the medical center. Additionally, there are about 1,500 employees utilizing alternative means of transportation, including riding the bus from home, ridesharing, or van pooling.”

Slottow told regents that staff would be moving very quickly on construction, but would update various studies that had been originally conducted in 2008 – including traffic and environmental studies. The university also plans to hold public forums about the project and work to give the design a neighborhood feel through open space and architectural details, he said.

The action by regents on April 19 included selecting Walker Parking Consultants and the Stecker Labau Arneill McManus (S/L/A/M) Collaborative architectural firm to design the project.

This brief was filed from the Michigan Union’s Rogel ballroom, where the board held its April meeting.

According to a staff memo, the renovation project covers roughly 163,000 square feet and will include a new eight-room adult operating room suite; a new imaging suite; 95 general patient care beds; and 25 intensive care beds to serve primarily neurosciences programs. About 104,000 square feet will be renovated for faculty and staff offices. Areas that have been vacated in University Hospital bed units and operating rooms will be renovated for growth and improved access in other adult inpatient programs and services.

The Ann Arbor firm Hobbes + Black Architects will handle the project’s design. Parking impact will be assessed and discussed at a future regents meeting, along with the presentation of a schematic design.

This brief was filed from the Michigan Union’s Rogel ballroom, where the board held its April meeting.

Hutchins Hall, located at the northeast corner of South State and Monroe streets, is the main classroom and administrative building for the UM law school. The Cook Legal Research Library is part of the Law Quad.

This project adds to other recent changes in the law schools’ campus on South State Street, between South University and Monroe streets. Renovations are already underway for The Charles T. Munger Residences in the Lawyers’ Club and the John P. Cook Building. A schematic design for that $39 million project had been approved at the regents Dec. 15, 2011 meeting, with the initial authorization given in March 2011. The project is also scheduled for completion in the summer of 2013.

This brief was filed from the Michigan Union’s Rogel ballroom, where the board held its April meeting.

According to a staff memo, a large portion of the library’s less frequently used collections will be moved off-site. That will free up about two floors of the building to house a smaller library collection and increased health sciences instructional space, including a clinical skills and simulation suite, and spaces for computing, study, and faculty and student services. A total of about 137,000 square feet will be renovated. TMP Architecture Inc. and Ballinger will design the project.

This brief was filed from the Michigan Union’s Rogel ballroom, where the board held its April meeting.