Comerica Bank’s Michigan Index Inches Downward

DETROIT — Comerica Bank’s Michigan Economic Activity Index was down slightly in December, by 0.1 percentage points, to a level of 129.7.

Tech Startups, Co-Working On M2 TechCast

ROYAL OAK — A lineup of small business and entrepreneurship experts will provide the latest information on a wide variety of business topics on the Monday, Feb. 27 edition of the M2 TechCast podcast.

Three more LTU students named University Innovation Fellows

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. – Three students from Lawrence Technological University have been named University Innovation Fellows.

LTU’s newest Fellows are Leah Hall, a sophomore from Kingsley; Aneeka Patel, a junior from Troy; and Joe Pishek, a sophomore from Plymouth. Hall is majoring in biomedical engineering, while Patel and Pishek are majoring in industrial engineering.

The University Innovation Fellows program trains students to improve education in entrepreneurship, design thinking and creativity at their schools. Fellows design innovation spaces, start entrepreneurship organizations, host experiential learning events and work with faculty to develop new courses.

Lawrence Tech to build fourth residence hall

SOUTHFIELD – The Lawrence Technological University Board of Trustees approved construction of a new, 95,000-square-foot residence hall on its Southfield campus, to open in the fall of 2018.

The new residence hall will be four stories tall and include space for 300 students, along with 22 resident assistants and housing administration staff, according to Michael Guthrie, a partner at inForm Studio, the Northville architecture firm that is designing it.

All four principals at inForm are Lawrence Tech architecture alumni – Guthrie (Bachelor of Science in Architecture, 1995), Corey Lavigne (Bachelor of Architecture, 1996), Ken Van Tine (Bachelor of Science in Architecture, 1985, Bachelor of Architecture, 1986), and Gina Van Tine (Bachelor of Science in Architecture, 1989, Bachelor of Architecture, 1994).

Visteon Profits Dip On Discontinued Operations

VAN BUREN TWP. — The auto supplier Visteon Corp. (NYSE: VC) reported fourth quarter net income of $2 million or 6 cents a share, down from $21 million or 52 cents a share a year earlier. Revenu ewas $816 million, up from $809 million a year earlier.

For the full year, net income was $75 million or $2.14 a share, down from $2.28 billion or $52.63 a share a year earlier. Revenue for the full year was $3.16 billion, down from $3.25 billion a year earlier.

EnvisionTEC Previews High-Speed 3D Printer for Dental Market

DEARBORN — The 3D printer manufacturer EnvisionTec Friday plans to preview a new high-speed printer to joint the company’s Vida line for dental professionals.

The unveiling will come at the LMT Lab Day in Chicago Feb. 24-25. Now in its 33rd year, LMT Lab Day is the largest dental lab event in the United States. Sponsored by LMT Communications Inc., publishers of LMT, or Lab Management Today, it showcases printers, scanners and other machinery to the dental lab industry.

The new Vida cDLM is the second 3D printer based on EnvisionTec’s patented and groundbreaking Continuous Digital Light Manufacturing (cDLM) technology, which allows for accurate, high-speed 3D printing with fewer supports.

Gentherm Profits Dip

NORTHVILLE — Gentherm Inc. (NASDAQ: THRM), the Northville-based manufacturer of thermal management products, reported net income of $26 million or 71 cents a share in the fourth quarter of 2016, down from $28.4 million or 78 cents a share a year earlier.

Revenue was $236.5 million for the quarter, up from $212.3 million a year earlier.

For the full year, net income was $76.6 million or $2.09 a share, down from $95.4 million or $2.62 a share in 2015. Revenue was $917.6 million, up from $856.4 million in 2015.

Esperion Provides Drug Development Update, Financial Results

ANN ARBOR — Esperion Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:ESPR), the pharmaceutical startup working on a new class of cholesterol-reducing drugs, provided a drug development update and financial results for 2016.

NASA Taps Michigan Tech Prof to Lead $15M Space Research Institute

HOUGHTON — Michigan Technological University Professor Greg Odegard will lead a new, multidisciplinary and multi-institution Space Technology Research Institute.

The institute is funded by a $15 million 5-year grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

Odegard, pictured at right above, is the Richard and Elizabeth Henes Professor of Computational Mechanics at Michigan Tech and associate chair and director of undergraduate studies in the Department of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics. He is also an adjunct professor of materials science and engineering at Tech.

Odegard’s team will include 22 faculty members from 10 universities, two companies and the U.S. Air Force Research Lab. Their STRI is called the Institute for Ultra-Strong Composites by Computational Design or US-COMP.

LTU Kahn events featured on M2 TechCast

SOUTHFIELD — Lawrence Technological University will celebrate the architectural legacy of the legendary Albert Kahn in several events and exhibitions in the days and weeks ahead.

LTU staff highlighted the events on a podcast last week.