GREG C. MELVIN

www.gregcmelvin.com

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Title: Wayne State senior pays it forward for the good of Detroit On behalf of: The Pay It Forward Initiative Published: August 26, 2011 Notes: A feature story I wrote about Charlie Cavell, executive director of the Pay It Forward Initiative, a

501(c)(3) non-profit organization working to provide unemployed residents of Detroit with paid internships at non-profit agencies across the city. This article was the featured story on Wayne State University's homepage.

Title: Researcher uses artificial intelligence to find evidence of ancient caribou hunters beneath Lake

Huron On behalf of: Wayne State University, Office of Marketing and Communications Published: April 28, 2011 Notes: A feature story I wrote while interning at the Wayne State University Office of Marketing and

Communications. This article was the featured story on Wayne State University's homepage.

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Wayne State senior pays it forward for the good of Detroit

Twenty-year-old Charlie Cavell is a man of many titles. He is a senior in Wayne State University’s School ofSocial Work. He is an entrepreneur, the founder and executive director of his own nonprofit, the Pay It ForwardInitiative. He is vice president of the Loving Elementary Charter School Board. He is a community organizer, coordinating numerous parkcleanups throughout the city. But of all his titles, the one Cavell holds most dear is that of Detroiter.

Cavell is a leader in the creative youth movement sweeping the city. In September 2010, he began recruiting volunteers to helpimplement his idea for a paid internship program for Detroit youth, what would soon become the basis of his Pay It Forward Initiative. “Ithought it would be a good idea for a school project,” said Cavell, “so I talked to other social work students, and they were interested inworking on it.”

Cavell then talked to some of the movers and shakers of Detroit’s business community. Most advised him to establish a nonprofitorganization to increase opportunities for grants and other funding. “That’s when I stopped seeing my idea as a school project and beganto see it as an engine to help others,” said Cavell.

At the same time, the Blackstone LaunchPad was just opening its doors to support Wayne State’s student entrepreneurs, and CharlieCavell was one of the first to sign up. “The opportunities he’s provided for people in this community are extraordinary,” said William Volz,executive director of Blackstone. “His success is largely a function of the boundless energy, the tremendous enthusiasm and thefundamental good heart of Charlie Cavell. This is a very special person.”

With Blackstone’s help, Cavell developed a business plan for his internship program, and the Pay It Forward Initiative was incorporated asan IRS-certified 501(c)(3) nonprofit agency in November 2010. Pay It Forward recently completed its second round of internshipplacements; so far, Cavell has provided 16 young Detroiters with paying jobs and first-hand work experience.

Earlier this summer, the Pay It Forward Initiative was awarded a grant by Wayne State to begin parenting classes for low-incomeresidents from the North End District. The six-week program, dubbed Parent U, will begin in late September and enlist students majoringin education, psychology and social work as facilitators.

“It’s double the benefit, because we are able to give parents a safe, nonjudgmental environment to learn how to become more involved intheir children’s lives,” Cavell explained, “while at the same time giving Wayne State students first-hand experience of social work inaction.”

In addition, Cavell recently met with executives from Automation Alley and Bizdom U to present his most ambitious program yet: a small-business incubator for low-income single parents. “I’m looking for ways to make Pay It Forward more sustainable — something that willtruly transform people,” said Cavell. “What’s more sustainable and transformational than owning your own business and having controlover your own future?”

Charlie Cavell would know. His efforts as a student at Wayne State will sustain him well beyond his graduation next May, and continue totransform both his own future and the city of Detroit.

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Researcher uses artificial intelligence to find evidence of ancientcaribou hunters beneath Lake Huron

Underneath Lake Huron lie the remnants of an ancient land bridge that once connected the United States andCanada. The ten-mile wide ridge once split the Great Lake in two, and spanned from Alpena to Amberley,Ontario.

You're a scientist, looking for evidence of caribou hunters that prowled the land bridge 10,000 years ago. The problem, of course, is thatthe site is now submerged in the second largest of the Great Lakes. What do you do?

You call Bob Reynolds, professor of computer science at Wayne State University and the director of the Artificial Intelligence lab. With thehelp of his team, Reynolds designed a multi-agent modeling software that simulated caribou migration (if you program it, they will come).By understanding how caribou would have traveled across the land bridge, archaeologists can more accurately predict the location ofcaribou hunting grounds.

Extensive research was conducted in programming the simulator. Reynolds and his team interviewed modern caribou hunters about theanimal's movements and behaviors. For example, caribou are biologically conditioned to follow lines in a trail or each other's footprints.They also gathered information from geologists and archaeologists to get a better sense of what the terrain would have looked like10,000 years ago.

Reynolds then inputted this data into a computer program - the same kind used to create video games. However, unlike most videogames - where a characters movement is based on programmed patterns - Reynolds' caribou actually learn from previous simulations.The lab gave the caribou starting and end points, but the virtual creatures, like their authentic brethren, have to adapt to theirenvironment in order to find the most efficient route.

After hundreds of simulations, Reynolds' data supported the predictions of an independent study conducted by researchers at theUniversity of Michigan. The results give scientists a better idea of where to begin their underwater search.

At the end of this month, divers will try to confirm these findings by uncovering direct evidence of the hunters in Lake Huron - bones,antlers, spearheads, etc. Until then, we must look to technology - and to the human innovation behind it - for answers, recognizing thatone man's video game is another man's scientific breakthrough.

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