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reWorking Michigan examines our evolving economy, as citizens of the Great Lake State explore new ways to make a living and build a future for their families. A project of WKAR NewsRoom, WKAR-TV and WKAR Online.
A new television series called LRN 101 is airing on WKAR TV. It’s the brainchild ofKeep Learning, a non-profit group committed to promoting education in the Lansing area. Our reWorking Michigan report looks at how the show can influence the perception of education.
Michigan Biotechnology Institute (MBI) CEO Bobby Bringi studies a 1-liter sized fermentation vessel containing various sugars and minerals. Substances like this create many usable products, including the food agent fumaric acid.
Credit Kevin Lavery / WKAR
A collection of some of the chemical substances created at the MBI laboratory at Michigan State University.
Credit Kevin Lavery / WKAR
MBI CEO Bobby Bringi studies a container of fumaric acid.
Credit Kevin Lavery / WKAR
MBI Vice President of Engineering David Senyk opens a hatch to a large fermentation chamber. During the scale-up process, bio-based compounds that were once tested in a smaller lab are measured for their effectiveness on a much larger scale.
Credit Kevin Lavery / WKAR
A view looking down into an 8 foot deep fermentation chamber.
Earlier this year, Michigan State University created the MSU Innovation Center. The university has long paired inventors with private sector businesses whom it licenses to turn their ideas into products. Now, the new center will help create new start-up companies around MSU inventions.
Michigan’s new law allowing motorcyclists to ride without a helmet is affecting insurance companies and agencies. A major provision of the law requires a biker to add at least $20,000 of medical coverage to their policy.
That has led to new activity for insurance companies. WKAR’s Scott Pohl reports that the extra work doesn’t seem to be adding much to the bottom line.
Whenever Michigan resident Robert McGeorge used to ride his motorcycle across the Indiana state line, he would stop at the first rest area to take his helmet off, where it was legal to do so.
Therapy for children with autism can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Until now, that kind of treatment was unaffordable for many parents of autistic children. But a new Michigan law will soon require insurance companies to cover autism diagnosis and treatment for children and teenagers. This law is also expected to create hundreds or perhaps thousands of new jobs for people who are trained to treat autistic children.
Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero (at podium) announces the city's involvement in a pilot program to place wind turbines atop City Hall and the Lansing Center. The unit shown at lower right is produced by Windstream Technologies of North Vernon, IN.
Last week, Mayor Virg Bernero announced that a series of small wind turbines would be installed on the roofs of City Hall and the Lansing Center in June. Generating electrical power from wind energy is part of Michigan’s overall renewable energy strategy. But there’s some debate as to whether the urban core is the best laboratory in which to try it out.
This week from reWorking Michigan, we look at the first project under development at the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University. The Land Grant Project will stretch the museum’s mission, bringing artists into the classrooms at MSU.
Our report this week looks at safety in the workplace. In 2011, the state of Michigan created the Workplace Safety Advisory Rules Committee. For months, its members combed through volumes of health and safety rules applying to a wide range of industries. The committee recommended eliminating hundreds of regulations it deemed obsolete or burdensome. State lawmakers are now considering that report. In the meantime, some labor groups say the recommendations go too far.
Record-breaking warm temperatures this spring have coaxed fruit trees and other perennial crops in Michigan to bud weeks ahead of schedule. Farmers are facing a much earlier growing season and several more weeks of anxiety over the threat of frost.
Starting in 2005, General Motors closed several of its mid-Michigan factories, including Lansing Car Assembly and the Craft Centre. The economic blow was devastating to thousands of families who had given generations of service to America’s auto industry. Now, a new task force is working to bring families, businesses and neighborhoods together to plant new seeds in those vacant brownfields.
To understand pharmacology, you first need to understand what it isn’t.
Being a pharmacologist doesn’t mean you work in a pharmacy.
Stephanie Watts is a professor in MSU’s Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology. She says skilled pharmacists are important, but their work follows that done by pharmacologists.
More people in Michigan are using yoga to keep their bodies toned and their stress level in check. For others, it's a growing business opportunity. reWorking Michigan looks at the growth potential of yoga studios.
Michigan Army National Guard Captain Amanda Falor is working on a master's degree in management. She says civilian employers sometimes find it difficult to understand her experiences in the military.
Credit Kevin Lavery / WKAR
CPT Amanda Falor is a logistics specialist with the 246th Transportation Battalion of the Michigan Army National Guard.
Credit Kevin Lavery / WKAR
Maj. General Gregory Vadnais commands the Michigan Army and Air National Guard. He believes the military has a responsibility to educate its own members and civilian employers about the abilities veterans bring to the workforce.
The military is a unique sub-culture of American life: it speaks in acronyms, it has its own justice system, and it places great responsibility on its members. Yet despite their high level of training, thousands of veterans who leave the military struggle to find a job. A new initiative in mid-Michigan is designed to bring warriors to the workplace.
The challenges facing companies catching and selling whitefish from Michigan waters have been many and varied over the years. A new cooperative of Great Lakes fishermen aims to improve quality. They hope the result is higher prices and bigger profits.
Can parks, natural areas and waterways affect employment growth and income? Yes, according to a new study by the Land Policy Institute and the Michigan Natural Features Inventory at Michigan State University.
ReWorking Michigan examines our evolving economy, as the people of the Great Lakes State explore new ways to make a living and build a future.
Today, our reWorking Michigan Monday report looks at the challenges facing immigrants with backgrounds in professional fields. Thousands of health care providers, engineers and financial specialists who’ve earned their credentials in their home countries often start at or near the bottom as they work to become re-certified in the United States. Experts say that can be an impediment for employers searching for prospective hires.
FLINT, MI (WKAR) - reWorking Michigan examines our evolving economy, as the people of the Great Lake State explore new ways to make a living and build a future.
For our Monday reWorking Michigan report this week, WKAR's Scott Pohl visited a laboratory where inventors can get help making a prototype of the product they want to take to market.
The Fab Lab is at Mott Community College in Flint.
East Lansing, MI – ReWorking Michigan examines our evolving economy, as the people of the Great Lakes State explore new ways to make a living and build a future.
East Lansing, MI – ReWorking Michigan examines our evolving economy, as the people of the Great Lakes State explore new ways to make a living and build a future. Today, our reWorking Michigan Monday report looks at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, or "F-RIB" on the Michigan State University campus.
