The March 16, 2022 meeting opened on Zoom and in person with social time including assessing Michigan’s chances in the basketball tournament. Dawn Johnson provided Zoom etiquette guidelines to the virtual attendees.
At 12:29, President Susan Froelich started the meeting by ringing the bell. Tom Strode led us in “The Star-Spangled Banner”. Inspiration was provided by Joanne Pierson decked out in green regalia and focused on “What does being a Rotarian mean” with an emphasis on the seven pillars and spoken in rhyme. Steve Pierce & Don Duquette with matching green bowties led us in Irish-themed songs with Deanna Relyea providing accompaniment.
President Froelich welcomed attendees and guests. Thank you to the meeting coordinators: Lori Walters, Sara Maddock & Leo Shedden; reporter-Jennifer Fike; and photographer-Fred Beutler with attendance taken by Dawn Johnson. Upcoming birthdays were announced, including Eric Lipson, Tim Marshall, Doug Weber, Elaine Didier, Downs Herold, Sally Petersen, and Carlos Valderrama.
Ann Arbor Public Schools are in need of more tutors through the end of the school year (June 10), so please contact Jim Egerdal at jim.egerdal@att.net or 734-612-9887 if you are able to volunteer and “Help Kids Succeed”.
The fundraising effort for Ukraine relief was matched by $5,000 in Rotarian donations.
The Rotary Fights Child Hunger effort is underway. Gifts of $25 or more made through the website https://give.foodgatherers.org/ge/rotary will be matched by the Harold & Kay Peplau Family Fund up to $10,000. A gift of $25 will provide enough food for 150 meals when you include the match!
Incoming Rotary Administrative/Financial Manager, Emily Olson was introduced by Kathy Waugh. Emily has been heavily involved in the local community both as a musician and volunteer for many years. Her background includes Senior Admissions Counselor U-M’s School of Music Theater and Dance and as Financial Trustee with Friends of the Children’s Creative Center. We are excited to have Emily on board!
Other announcements: Dawn Johnson encouraged Rotarians to volunteer with meetings setup/take down. With current Rotary meetings embodying a hybrid model there is a need for more assistance with making sure meetings run smoothly and volunteers are needed to assist with this effort. The SignUpGenius web platform will be utilized to sign up for these duties (coming shortly). Please see Dawn for more information and to assist.
Norma Sarkar reminded us to submit nominations by March 16 for the Robert S. Northrup Humanitarian Award. There is a District 6380 webinar scheduled for March 24 from 7-8:30 p.m. entitled “The Impact of Women in Rotary”.
Dennis Powers introduced today’s speaker: Damen Provost, who discussed “Ushering In A Robot Assisted Future” focused on modern robotics. He serves as Managing Director of the Robotics Institute at the University of Michigan. Provost has project management and systems engineering experience on a wide range of NASA, DOD, commercial, and university autonomous vehicle and satellite systems.
Robotics should be thought of as embodied intelligence which is built on 3 pillars – sense, reason & action. Robotics students work together as teams. Robotics can be used in many disciplines including dental applications, autonomous vehicles and prosthetics. Autonomous vehicles are being tested on U-M’s North Campus along with drones. Provost showed a video demonstrating how a drone can be used to install roof shingles. Prostheses are another robotics application that U-M is working on. The Robotics Department collaborates with the health care team to develop prosthetic limbs. Information and technology are shared between the health care and robotics research teams utilizing open source platforms across disciplines. Provost demonstrated how the robotics field has improved and grown over the last several years and partnerships and collaboration with industry are key. Michigan is the leader in youth robotics. U-M is uniquely position – #2 nationally in six years, >1000 graduate applications per year, 30 core faculty and 42 affiliate faculty & 14 departments. Michigan Robotics is fostering a culture of equity by collaborating with HBCU’s. Long term goals for the Robotics Department is to work on addressing the national challenge for accessible and affordable engineering education. The Regents just approved the launch of an undergraduate robotics program.
Next week: Jennifer Hall, “Affordable Housing in Ann Arbor”
Quote for the Day: “Well done is better than well said” – Ben Franklin
President Froelich adjourned the meeting at 1:30.
Respectfully submitted by,
Jennifer Fike
Photography by Fred Beutler
