January 25, 2012 - 7:16pm
'U' energy institute receives new name, expands projects
BY LIANA ROSENBLOOM
After years of deliberation, the Michigan Memorial Phoenix Energy Institute is getting a new name.
As of Feb. 1, 2012, MMPEI, a University-run initiative to promote the peaceful use of nuclear and other forms of energy, will be known as the University of Michigan Energy Institute. The goal of the name change is to clarify the mission of the Institute and expand its scope. MMPEI emerged in 2006 out of the Michigan Memorial Phoenix Project, which was formed in 1948 to honor students and alumni who lost their lives in World War II and to illuminate a popular policy issue of the time: atomic energy.
Though the new University of Michigan Energy Institute is being revamped to explore the economics, policy, social science and business aspects of energy research, the Institute does not want to ignore the legacy of the MMPP and the reason it was created, according to Johannes Schwank, interim director of the University of Michigan Energy Institute.
“The University set up something very unique and, I think, wonderful, honoring the memory of these brave people who gave their lives in WWII,” Schwank said. “(It) created a project that lived on for decades and carries its legacy forward.”
Schwank said because energy has become a hot topic at universities across the country, many institutions have begun forming their own institutes. He added that this was the impetus for the University’s decision to expand the Phoenix Project beyond nuclear energy and formed the MMPEI in 2006.
Since 2006, there has been concern about the ambiguity of the Institute’s name, according to Schwank. He said discussion about changing the Institute’s name began before he took office on Aug. 15, 2011 and since then the Institute has reached out to constituents — faculty affiliates, professors doing research and stakeholders in the institute — for their opinions and support.
Schwank said a lot of effort went into this decision.
“We spent a lot of time explaining our rationale for (the name change),” he said. “The name (MMPEI) itself didn’t convey what we were doing.”
He added that by changing the name to the University of Michigan Energy Institute, the group’s mission becomes clearer. He said it draws a direct connection between the study of energy and the University.
“(The new name) streamlines our communication and our identity to the outside world,” said Schwank.
Schwank said the MMPP will remain an important subunit of the Institute and will continue to focus on nuclear energy, providing student and post-doctoral fellowships, organizing seminars and doing nuclear research in engineering and medicine under the umbrella of the Energy Institute.
— Wen-Ching Wei contributed to this report.
