A growing partnership between U-M and a company in Dexter is a model for how university-to-business ties can produce significant mutual benefits.
The collaboration between Valicor, Inc., and the U-M College of Engineering also illustrates how innovative programs can keep recent graduates working in Michigan on world-class technologies.
At the heart of the sharing agreement are important new scientific and technological advances in what could be called the greenest of the burgeoning green energy movement – algae research. Valicor is working with the lab of U-M chemical engineering professor Phillip Savage on new, more efficient ways to extract oil and other elements from microalgae for use in biofuels, pharmaceuticals, nutritional supplements, animal feed and other products.