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In July 2022, the Monarch butterfly was put on the endangered species list by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

But now, thanks to efforts by concerned communities and businesses, one of the most recognized butterflies in the world may be saved from extinction.

Locally, Southfield City Centre and Eaton have spearheaded an initiative to call attention to the plight of the Monarch butterfly. The first phase was the addition of a vibrant Monarch butterfly sculpture on the Southfield City Centre Trail last spring. The sculpture has received rave reviews by Southfield employees and residents alike.

Most recently, plans have been finalized for a dramatic Monarch Butterfly & Pollinator Garden to attract and sustain butterflies, bees and other pollinators. Located at Eaton, adjacent to the Southfield City Centre Trail, the Pollinator Garden was designed by Juno Solutions, LLC, and will be fully installed next spring and fall by Artistic Outdoor Services, Inc.

According to Laurie Conn, facility manager for Eaton’s Mobility Group, “Our company promotes environmentally friendly green initiatives and is proud to support the Monarch sculpture and Pollinator Garden.”

Like many companies, she says, “Eaton is doing its share to dedicate green space and invest in landscaping that contributes to sustainability. We support green partnerships, including Green Guardians, an employee group that promotes environmental sustainability.”

Conn sees her company’s efforts as a win-win for employees and the environment. “The Pollinator Garden will really add to the walking Trails, which many of our employees enjoy.” She says the company’s wellness group encourages employees to participate in fitness walks on the Trails to help reduce stress and promote physical and mental well-being.

Joane Slusky, landscape architect and owner of Juno Solutions, LLC, collaborated with Terry Croad, AICP, ASLA and director of planning for the City of Southfield, in the design of the Monarch Butterfly & Pollinator Garden.

“These types of gardens feature native plants that provide food and shelter to a variety of local wildlife, especially Monarch butterflies after their long migration from Mexico,” says Slusky.

Layout design and plant selection for the Pollinator Garden are based on a variety of elements, including bloom time, nectar supply, plant height, deer/rabbit resistance, sun/shade tolerance and more, says Slusky. “We even added rocks in the design for butterfly puddling. This allows butterflies to extract salts and minerals from water-filled indentations in the rocks.”

An educational panel and other people-focused amenities, including benches and wayfinding signs, have been installed to complement the area, says Croad. “We’re excited to see our new pollinator-friendly demonstration garden, which will help the City promote sustainability and enhance the beautiful Monarch sculpture and overall Southfield City Centre Trail.”

Those walking the Southfield City Centre Trail near Red Pole Park in the evenings are finding things a little brighter, the result of a new solar-powered, motion-activated lighting system recently installed this fall.

The lights, known as solar bollards, have been added along a 400-foot-stretch of the Trail as part of a grant awarded by the Michigan Mobility Funding Platform to Ann Arbor lighting system developer APT Solar Solutions.

The group represents a partnership with the Office of Future Mobility and Electrification, Michigan Economic Development Corporation and Michigan Department of Transportation. The goal is to accelerate the growth of non-motorized transportation initiatives throughout the state.

With 20 miles of non-motorized pathways, Southfield was a natural to be selected as one of 12 Michigan test sites for the solar bollards, says Souzan Hanna, ENV SP, LEED AP and sustainability planner for the City of Southfield.

“Each unit is completely offgrid, which means there’s no connection to any electric lines or conduit being run from a utility. The source of energy is from the series of solar panels within each bollard,” says Hanna. “The lights begin to activate around dusk and give off a soft glow. Because they’re motion-activated, if someone walks or rides a bike along the path, the sensors illuminate a brighter light for safety purposes.”

Hanna imagines a future where solar bollards could be installed throughout the Southfield City Centre’s 20 miles of trails.

“These types of projects are part of our commitment to sustainable initiatives throughout the city. They’re an important enhancement to the quality-of-life advantages Southfield offers its businesses and residents.”

Learn more about Southfield’s sustainability efforts

The Centrepolis Accelerator at Lawrence Technological University has won a $150,000 Stage Two Growth Accelerator Fund grant from the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Investment and Innovation.

Centrepolis was one of only 35 awardees nationwide, two of which were in Michigan.

The SBA’s Growth Accelerator Fund program aims to boost equitable investment in innovative startups and high-growth small businesses. Priorities of the program are National Security and Global Competitiveness; Domestic Manufacturing and Production; Climate and Renewable Energy; and Underserved Communities.

Centrepolis is one of just a handful of hardtech accelerators nationwide focusing on developing physical products, not software and services. Its award came under the domestic manufacturing priority.

The SBA award enables Centrepolis to dedicate grant services to develop physical products for tech companies in the Upper Peninsula in partnership with the UP’s designated SmartZones, MTEC in Houghton, Innovate Marquette, and Sault Ste.Marie, along with UP universities and other economic development partners, including Invest UP and Shophouse Park.

“Since our launch in 2018, the Centrepolis Accelerator has launched over 100 new products made in Michigan, resulting in the creation of hundreds of jobs and over $36 million of contracted business to Michigan’s supply chain,” said Centrepolis Accelerator Executive Director Dan Radomski. “This grant will help us assist even more companies across the state with a focus on developing and manufacturing products in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.”

SBA Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman said the grants “will help ensure high-growth small businesses and innovative startups have access to resources and networks to scale in critical technologies across America.”

In 2023, the SBA introduced a new two-stage format for the Growth Accelerator Fund Competition. In May, Stage One winners received $50,000 to build capacity and connections across the U.S. innovation ecosystem, and the SBA encouraged them to apply for Stage Two grants. During Stage Two, the SBA will provide $150,000 to ecosystem partnerships led by Stage One winners to support high-growth STEM and R&D-focused small businesses.

“These new Growth Accelerator partnerships will strengthen collaboration among local and national entrepreneurial organizations committed to enhancing the chance of success for science and technology driven companies to turn their innovations into impact,” said SBA Associate Administrator for Investment and Innovation Bailey DeVries.

A complete list of winners can be found here.

Since its launch in 2014, the Growth Accelerator Fund Competition has awarded 387 prizes totaling more than $19 million to 284 winners across 50 states and U.S. territories. For more information visit https://www.sbir.gov/accelerators

About the U.S. Small Business Administration

The U.S. Small Business Administration makes the American dream of business ownership a reality. As the only go-to resource and voice for small businesses backed by the strength of the federal government, the SBA empowers entrepreneurs and small business owners with the resources and support they need to start, grow, or expand their businesses, or recover from a declared disaster. It delivers services through an extensive network of SBA field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations. Learn more at sba.gov.

Lawrence Technological University is one of only 13 private, technological, comprehensive doctoral universities in the United States. Located in Southfield, Mich., LTU was founded in 1932 and offers more than 100 programs through its Colleges of Architecture and Design, Arts and Sciences, Business and Information Technology, Engineering, and Health Sciences, as well as Specs@LTU as part of its growing Center for Professional Development. PayScale lists Lawrence Tech among the nation’s top 11 percent of universities for alumni salaries. Forbes and The Wall Street Journal rank LTU among the nation’s top 10 percent. U.S. News and World Report list it in the top tier of the best Midwest colleges. Students benefit from small class sizes and a real-world, hands-on, “theory and practice” education with an emphasis on leadership. Activities on Lawrence Tech’s 107-acre campus include more than 60 student organizations and NAIA varsity sports.

Lawrence Technological University has again been listed among the nation’s top colleges by the academic publisher Princeton Review.

LTU is included in “The Best 389 Colleges,” the company’s annual list of top colleges and universities in the nation, now available at bookstores and online.

The Princeton Review chose the colleges based on data it collects annually from surveys of 2,000 college administrators about their institutions’ academic offerings, and from interviews with 165,000 college students about all aspects of campus life. Only about 15% of America’s 2,600 four-year colleges made the list.

“We salute Lawrence Technological University for its outstanding academics, and its many other impressive offerings. We’re delighted to recommend it as an ideal choice for students searching for their ‘best-fit’ college,” said Rob Franek, Princeton Review’s editor-in-chief and lead author of “The Best 389 Colleges.”

“This recognition by Princeton Review is a validation of the hard work of our faculty and staff to provide our students with a world-class, technology-based education–an education that results in rewarding and meaningful careers,” said Tarek M. Sobh, LTU president. “Reading the positive comments from students is especially gratifying, and a signal to young people searching for a college, that they’ll find a welcoming, high-achieving atmosphere at LTU.”

The Princeton Review profile praises LTU’s small class sizes, individual attention from faculty, and many opportunities for internships and co-op jobs related to students’ majors, including at LTU’s Centrepolis Accelerator, an on-campus business incubator for high-tech manufacturing firms.

The “Students Say” section of the profile notes that “With having a small campus comes having a close-knit student body,” and there is “a strong sense of community” where “everyone really looks out for each other.” As one student says: “If you ask for help from any of your peers, you’ll receive it, or you’ll solve the problem together.” Despite its small size, this is a “group of diverse students who come from different backgrounds, race, and countries.” Around half of students are athletes and many are also “a part of Greek life or a part-time on-campus job.”

LTU was also featured on Princeton Review’s “Best Midwestern” colleges and “Best Green Colleges” list. Only 150 of the 655 four-year colleges in Michigan and eight other Midwestern states made the Best Midwestern list. Just 455 four-year colleges made the Green Colleges list.

The Princeton Review does not rank the colleges in the book from 1 to 389. The company’s  student survey asked students to rate their colleges on dozens of topics and report on their campus experiences.  Information on the survey process and methodology for the ranking lists can be found at https://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings/ranking-methodology.

For the full list of “The Best 389 Colleges,” visit https://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings/best-colleges.

The Princeton Review is an education services company known for its tutoring, test-preparation, and admission services, as well as a line of more than 150 books on K-12 and higher education.

Lawrence Technological University, www.ltu.edu, is one of only 13 private, technological, comprehensive doctoral universities in the United States. Located in Southfield, Mich., LTU was founded in 1932, and offers more than 100 programs through its Colleges of Architecture and Design, Arts and Sciences, Business and Information Technology, Engineering, and Health Sciences, as well as Specs@LTU as part of its growing Center for Professional Development. PayScale lists Lawrence Tech among the nation’s top 11 percent of universities for alumni salaries. Forbes and The Wall Street Journal rank LTU among the nation’s top 10 percent. U.S. News and World Report lists it in the top tier of best in the Midwest colleges. Students benefit from small class sizes and a real-world, hands-on, “theory and practice” education with an emphasis on leadership. Activities on Lawrence Tech’s 107-acre campus include more than 60 student organizations and NAIA varsity sports.