Regents Roundup

By Diane Brown / Facilities and Operations

The following actions were taken by the Board of Regents at the Sept. 19 meeting:

Engineering renovations approved
Laboratories and offices will be expanded and renovated at the Chemical Engineering (ChE) and Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) departments of the College of Engineering (CoE) after major renovations are completed in early 2004. Space on the second, third and penthouse floors of the G.G. Brown Building will be renovated for ChE wet labs and faculty offices after the Department of Biomedical Engineering moves to new labs in the Carl A. Gerstacker Building this fall. Existing ChE labs and offices on the third floor of the Herbert H. Dow Building also will be updated. On the Dow second floor, MSE will add two large shared labs and offices for faculty and graduate students. The renovation project is estimated to cost $3.1 million, which will be funded by the CoE.

New lab for Life Sciences Corridor
A new mass spectrometer laboratory will be built on the 11th floor of the 300 North Ingalls Building by next summer for the Michigan Proteome Consortium (MPC), a part of the Core Technology Alliance. The state-of-the-art protein analysis facility will allow the MPC to fulfill its objective of meeting the research requirements of investigators affiliated with the University and other investigative groups throughout the Michigan Life Sciences Corridor. The project is estimated to cost $850,000 and will be funded by the Office of the Vice President for Research.

Two Health System projects approved
New magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) equipment will be added at the University Hospital when current office space for the Department of Radiology support staff is renovated. The new equipment will help meet the growing demand for MRI scans and improve the scan speed and image clarity of current services.
Two scanners currently are used in the University Hospital, while a third is at the East Ann Arbor Health Center. The support staff will be relocated to another area of the hospital. The estimated project cost is $7.5 million, with approximately $4.5 million for moveable equipment. The construction is scheduled to be completed in early 2004.

One of four linear accelerators that provide radiation treatment services to cancer patients in the University Hospital will be replaced next spring, and about 1,000 square feet of existing treatment area and workspace will be renovated. The nearly 20-year-old accelerator requires frequent repair and maintenance. The estimated project cost of $2.2 million, which includes $1.5 million for moveable equipment, will be funded by the Hospitals and Health Centers.

U-M to purchase two properties
The University will acquire the property at 1041 Wall St. for $250,000 after satisfactory due diligence, including an environmental assessment. The property, which includes an unoccupied single-family house, is located between a University-owned apartment building and the Kellogg Eye Center parking lot.
Additionally, the regents approved the purchase of the property at 513 S. Division St. for $475,000 contingent on completion of due diligence, including an environmental assessment, and successful negotiation of a purchase agreement. The property, west of the Thompson Street parking structure, is contiguous on three sides to University-owned property. The 2,704-square-foot, two-story frame house has been converted to six apartments. For now, the University will continue to lease the units.

Regents meeting dates
The regents will meet on the following dates between Oct. 2002 and Dec. 2003: Oct. 17, Nov. 14, Dec. 12, Jan. 16, Feb. 20, March 20, April 17, May 15 at U-M–Dearborn, June 19, July 17, Sept. 18, Oct. 16 at U-M–Flint, Nov. 20 and Dec. 18.