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President Chris called the meeting to order and led the Club in reciting the 4-Way Test. President Chris introduced Mark Kraushaar for the Reflection which focused upon “positive transformative change” and how service clubs provide those opportunities to connect and change lives through the ways they work through the community and the world. Hari Kern led Rotarians in singing America the Beautiful. We were able to welcome guests to the meeting as President Chris introduced Lori Simon, with the Lansing Charter Commission and Simon Sez Consulting; Michelle Lantz introduced Cindy Kangas from the Capital Area Manufacturing Council, Judi Harris introduced Mike Mooney who is off to Dubai on a project; and visiting Rotarian Sung Lee from East Lansing promoting their Club’s golf outing with proceeds going to Nyaka. https://lansingrotary.org/stories/golf-outing-1 The health of the club had a sad update upon the announcement of the passing of Dave O’Leary. A moment of silence was shared by Rotarians for Dave. A visitation will be held on August 21 from 5 pm- 8 pm, at Estes Leadley Greater Lansing Chapel, 325 W. Washtenaw Street. There will be a private family memorial at a separate time. Dave was an enthusiastic Rotarian and Past President serving in 1996-1997 and was 94 years old when he passed. Please read the obituary to learn more about the amazing Dave O’Leary. He will be missed.  Click Here. President Chris welcomed Steve Robinson for special music of some banjo music. He told us that banjos are uniquely American with African influence. He played an open back banjo handcrafted locally by Bart Reiter and then he showcased a claw hammer banjo. And, if you ever frequented the Travelers Club International Restaurant & Tuba Museum, you probably saw Steve’s band playing there. Thank you to our Chair of the Day Camron Gnass who introduced today’s speaker, Russell Zarras, Director of Strategic Initiatives with Fraunhofer USA, Inc. Russell was a student in town in 2006 and moved back in 2012 and he is originally from the Detroit area.  Russell asked how many Rotarians were aware of the work of Fraunhofer and the response was mixed. Fraunhofer does global research to help impact the world at local levels. The German company is named after Joseph Von Fraunhofer who was a researcher, inventor and entrepreneur. He invented a new way to manufacture lenses and other optical instruments which led to impactful change and is the base of what Fraunhofer does. The Fraunhofer company is in 80 countries, has 32,000 employees, creates 10,000 publications per year, has 7,600 active patent families and they create an average of two patents per day. The company has three billion euros in revenue from contract research. Fraunhofer USA operates three technology hub laboratories located in the Midwest (Michigan), Northeast (Massachusetts), and Mid-Atlantic (Maryland) regions of the United States and in close collaboration with major research universities. The Midwest Center is in partnership with MSU in East Lansing. The USA headquarters is currently in Plymouth, MI and there are also offices in South Carolina and California. So…why you should know more about this company. They invented digital media (mp3 files), CAR-T cells for cancer therapy, AI speech assistance, streaming video technology, white light LED and MANY more transformative research breakthroughs. The research they support is for projects that would typically not find funding and sit between government and corporations. They focus on affordable healthcare solutions, energy transitions, fully circular economies, digitalized value chains, and a secure and resilient society. They put research into practice with contract research (like Apple and digital media research), spin-offs, intellectual property, standardization which is critical in a global economy, workforce development as their internship researchers go on to corporations globally, infrastructure services and science communications. The Center in East Lansing (Coatings & Diamond Technologies Division) is focused on Laser Applications. And 70% of their MSU interns stay in Michigan. They focus on: - Health – metal detection biocompostable coatings, neurotransmitter probes
- Environmental – PFAS
- Mobility – coatings for friction reduction in vehicles, water resistant coatings]
- Semiconductor – diamond electronics, acoustic resistant coatings
- Aerospace and Space – radiation hard electronics, additive manufacturing
Thanks to Russell for the informative presentation and the work they do that affects us all. There was a lot of scientific knowledge shared which I am not pretending to totally understand but I’m glad they are doing such great work for the world in such a collaborative way! For more info: https://www.fraunhofer.org/ Our next meeting will be on Friday, August 22 at LCC and our speaker will be the Rotary District Governor Jackie Huie and Paul Harris awards will be presented. See you there! Email for Julie Pingston: jpingston@lansing.org |
Since joining Rotary in 1994, Jackie has been an advocate for mentoring young people and featured in the Rotary magazine, on Rotary.org and at three Rotary International Conventions. In 2007, Jackie launched the Rotary Student Program, which matches high school students with professionals in dream careers. The pilot ignited a 60-member Southwest Michigan Interact Club in two weeks, growing into seven Interact Clubs, 1800 participants, annual mission trips to the Dominican Republic and website traffic from 169 countries, with 28,000 unique visitors (www.rotarystudentprogram.org)..jpg)
