Google announced plans today to build a research center in downtown Ann Arbor, near the University of Michigan—where one of the company’s founders, Larry Page, studied as an undergraduate.
The new facility may employ as many as 1,000 people, according to The New York Times, including staffers working to scan volumes from the university’s libraries for Google’s book-digitization project (The Chronicle, January 7, 2005).
The research center will not be affiliated with the university. But Mary Sue Coleman, Michigan’s president, was quick to call the arrival of the offices "an immensely important opportunity" for her institution. "Google growing in the University of Michigan’s backyard will mean more research and discoveries, more opportunities for student engagement, and the potential of new technologies and new jobs," she said in a statement. —Brock Read
