A Detroit Economic Growth Corp. plan to support entrepreneurs that are just getting started with short-term, low risk, pop-up opportunities got a boost from University of Michigan students who recently competed in the annual Social Impact Challenge.

The seventh annual Social Impact Challenge (SIC) features a partnership between the University of Michigan (U-M) Ross School of Business’ Center for Social Impact and the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation (DEGC).

Rick Haas has been passionate about cars from a young age, purchasing his first vehicle with lawn-mowing money before he was old enough to get behind the wheel. His passion never waned, steering him toward engineering and a career in the automotive industry.

Organized by the Sanger Leadership Center, the Impact Challenge is one of the most immersive and collaborative programs of its kind among top business schools. More than 400 first-year Full-Time MBA students will embark on a journey involving complex problem-solving, innovative business development and true social impact.

University of Michigan researchers studied three Detroit neighborhoods — Grandmont Rosedale, East English Village and MorningSide. They found that those under the leadership of a community development corporation, along with volunteer efforts, weathered the city’s housing crisis better than the rest.

More Detroit-area high school students will have access to expanded hands-on science and engineering after-school programs, thanks to a $250,000 Google grant to the Midtown makerspace known as the Michigan Engineering Zone.

In 2015, U-M researchers at the Graham Sustainability Institute were awarded a $3 million grant from the Erb Family Foundation to determine the relative contributions of various phosphorus sources, both urban and agricultural, in the Detroit River watershed.

A new study of native bumblebee populations in southeastern Michigan cities found, surprisingly, that Detroit has more of the large-bodied bees than some surrounding, less urbanized locations.

A study of the St. Clair River by U-M scientists shows that despite river-current speeds of more than 3 feet per second, some recently hatched lake sturgeon manage to remain in the St. Clair’s North Channel, a surprising finding with implications for the siting of future spawning reefs.