U-M takes in $5 million gift, expands Google agreement

Wednesday, May 27, 2009 | Source: Concentrate

The University of Michigan took two big steps forward recently, accepting a $5 million gift and expanding its relationship with Google.

The D. Dan and Betty Kahn Foundation recently awarded $5 million to the University of Michigan Cardiovascular Center. The money will fund research in biomedicine and bioengineering, such as understanding irregular heartbeats and other heart or blood vessel diseases.

Dr. Kim Eagle, a director of U-M's Cardiovascular Center, says this money will help push forward the research of dozens of doctors at U-M and Israel's Technion University. The money is expected to last many years and produce a number of collaborations in higher education and medicine under the name of Dr. Kahn, a West Bloomfield-based physician.

"He is establishing a legacy that will last forever," Eagle says.

U-M is also continuing its legacy of working with Google. The two institutions have expanded their agreement to digitize U-M’s library so it will create millions of copies of U-M texts. The expansion is made possible thanks to the settlement reached between Google and a broad class of authors and publishers.

The idea behind the project is to put the enormous wealth of U-M’s libraries at the fingertips of any Internet surfer in the world. Making these 8 million books and more (Google has similar partnerships with other notable libraries) available will give everyone equal access to this wealth of information.

Source: Dr. Kim Eagle, a director of U-M’s Cardiovascular Center and the University of Michigan
Writer: Jon Zemke