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Source: https://news.umich.edu/feed/

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<title>University of Michigan News</title>
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<title>Michigan economy going strong, US holding up—but inflation vexes and adds volatility to U-M forecast</title>
<link>https://news.umich.edu/michigan-economy-going-strong-us-holding-up-but-inflation-vexes-and-adds-volatility-to-u-m-forecast/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Fri, 17 May 2024 19:04:07 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Business & Economy]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[News Releases]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.umich.edu/?p=188498</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Michigan's economy is off to a strong start this year and expected to experience steady job growth, low unemployment and progress toward lower inflation over the next two years, according to University of Michigan economists.
Meanwhile, the U.S. economy as a whole offers a slightly noisier picture. It's holding up unexpectedly well in the face of monetary policy tightening by the Federal Reserve, the economists say, but stubborn inflation leads them to suspect a period of slower growth will be necessary to tame it later this year and pave the way for growth to re-accelerate by the end of 2025.
The findings come from the state and U.S. economic forecasts released Friday by U-M's Research Seminar in Quantitative Economics. The team of economic forecasters plan to present them at the Consensus Revenue Estimating Conference, a key step of the state's annual budgeting process.
Stateside, the economists envision solid success during the next two years: They project about 76,000 job gains in 2024-25 with a jobless rate hovering just below 4% (3.8%-3.9%).
The forecast takes Michigan's payroll job count to 2.]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
Michigan’s economy is off to a strong start this year and expected to experience steady job growth, low unemployment and progress toward lower inflation over the next two years, according to University of Michigan economists.
Meanwhile, the U.S. economy as a whole offers a slightly noisier picture. It’s holding up unexpectedly well in the face of monetary policy tightening by the Federal Reserve, the economists say, but stubborn inflation leads them to suspect a period of slower growth will be necessary to tame it later this year and pave the way for growth to re-accelerate by the end of 2025.
The findings come from the <a href="https://lsa.umich.edu/econ/rsqe/forecasts/michigan-forecast.html">state</a> and <a href="https://lsa.umich.edu/econ/rsqe/forecasts/u-s-forecast.html">U.S.</a> economic forecasts released Friday by U-M’s Research Seminar in Quantitative Economics. The team of economic forecasters plan to present them at the Consensus Revenue Estimating Conference, a key step of the state’s annual budgeting process.
Stateside, the economists envision solid success during the next two years: They project about 76,000 job gains in 2024-25 with a jobless rate hovering just below 4% (3.8%-3.9%). 
The forecast takes Michigan’s payroll job count to 2.4% above its pre-pandemic level by the end of 2025—though it leaves the state 3.2% below its all-time employment peak during the second quarter of 2000.
However, they note one “disappointing element” in their forecast: Growth of real disposable income remains tepid, with a decline of 0.6% this year—due in part to “pesky inflation”—and growth of 1.4% in 2025. 
On the national front, the economic outlook hinges on the near-term trajectory of inflation, and the report says “the recent spike suggests that the last mile of inflation normalization may take longer than many had hoped after the rapid disinflation at the end of 2023.”
The relatively strong economy has been buoyed by “robust” consumption—a lot of buying of goods and services—but the report sees cracks in the consumer facade: Credit card and auto loan delinquencies have been rising, growth of revolving consumer credit appears to be slowing and sales of new light vehicles seem to be flatlining. 
If those trends continue, the economists say, consumption and labor market outlooks could be in for some significant deterioration.
Adding complexity to the forecast is the real estate sector. They expect a gradual return to pre-pandemic pricing trends but affordability remains a concern.
“While we continue to expect rental inflation to slow, it is entirely too possible that rents will continue growing fast as unaffordable mortgages keep homeownership out of reach for many households,” said <a href="https://lsa.umich.edu/econ/people/rsqe/daniil.html">Daniil Manaenkov</a>, co-author of the U.S. economic forecast. “Such a development would make it more difficult for overall inflation to decline all the way toward the Fed’s target.”
Generally, the forecast for the labor market calls for a gradual cooldown this year and moderate to stable job growth next year, but it notes a more rapid cooling and higher-than-expected joblessness is not out of the question. The expectation is the Fed will cut rates slowly with only one cut later this year and three in 2025.  
The researchers say the recent pace of job gains likely has been helped by the inflow of immigrants. The additional workers could have alleviated some supply constraints by working jobs that wouldn’t have otherwise been filled and possibly restrained wage growth in some industries.
In sum, the economists expect a slight deceleration in economic growth in the near term but healthy growth throughout the forecast. They caution that while there is risk and volatility in every economic outlook, “inflation is notoriously hard to forecast.”
“Overall, we see the economy as nearing a ‘soft landing’ from the recent surge in inflation,” said <a href="https://lsa.umich.edu/econ/people/faculty/gehrlich.html">Gabriel Ehrlich</a>, RSQE director and co-author of the Michigan forecast. “It will take a while longer for inflation to qualify as truly tamed, but so far, both the U.S. and Michigan economies have held up better than we had feared in the face of high interest rates.”
Ehrlich’s co-authors on the Michigan forecast were Jacob Burton and Michael McWilliams. Manaenkov’s co-authors on the U.S. forecast were Ehrlich, Burton, Kyle Henson and Yinuo Zhang.
]]></content:encoded>
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<item>
<title>Michigan Stadium to begin alcohol sales this football season</title>
<link>https://news.umich.edu/michigan-stadium-to-begin-alcohol-sales-this-football-season/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Thu, 16 May 2024 20:55:21 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Announcements]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[News Releases]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.umich.edu/?p=188487</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The University of Michigan athletics department will begin selling alcohol at Michigan Stadium with the 2024 football season, after carefully reviewing previous alcohol-sale rollouts and fan experiences at Yost Ice Arena and Crisler Center.]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0"><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" width="1024" height="768" src="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/michigan-stadium-to-begin-alcohol-sales-this-football-season.jpg" alt="University of Michigan Stadium. Image credit: Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons" class="wp-image-188489" style="width:750px;height:auto" srcset="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/mc-image-cache/2024/05/michigan-stadium-to-begin-alcohol-sales-this-football-season.jpg 1024w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/michigan-stadium-to-begin-alcohol-sales-this-football-season-300x225.jpg 300w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/michigan-stadium-to-begin-alcohol-sales-this-football-season-768x576.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">University of Michigan Stadium. Image credit: <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0">Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons</figcaption></figure>
The University of Michigan athletics department will begin selling alcohol at Michigan Stadium with the 2024 football season, after carefully reviewing previous alcohol-sale rollouts and fan experiences at Yost Ice Arena and Crisler Center.
The Board of Regents voted May 16 to implement a Class C liquor license at the Big House, starting Aug. 31 with a home football game against Fresno State.
In October 2023, regents voted to ask the Michigan Liquor Control Commission for liquor licenses at three U-M athletic venues: Michigan Stadium, Yost Ice Arena and Crisler Center. The board also voted to implement licenses for Crisler and Yost—which began in February—and to review the rollout of alcohol sales at those two venues before considering implementation at Michigan Stadium.
Part of the implementation process included the athletic department collaborating and regularly meeting with campus partners—including the Office of Student Life, Division of Public Safety and Security, Risk Management and Government Relations—to ensure a safe and responsible rollout of alcohol sales at Crisler and Yost.
There have been no reported behavioral issues related to drunken behavior or medical responses related to alcohol at either venue since the implementation.
Information gathered from this review helped inform best university practices at the first two venues, and guide the expansion of alcohol sales to Michigan Stadium.
The athletic department also has implemented procedures to ensure compliance with Michigan laws and state Liquor Control Commission rules and regulations, as well as U-M policies related to alcohol.
To ensure a safe and enjoyable experience, regulatory features also include requiring all patrons to show ID at every purchase, and limiting each transaction to two alcoholic beverages per legal-drinking-age guest.
In addition, the athletic department has been collaborating with the Office of Student Life on responsible alcohol consumption messaging at each of the venues.
Michigan Athletics will use the alcohol-sale revenue for operational expenses, with a portion going to the university to help fund campus research projects.
]]></content:encoded>
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<item>
<title>Christopher Friese named vice provost for academic and faculty affairs at U-M</title>
<link>https://news.umich.edu/christopher-friese-named-vice-provost-for-academic-and-faculty-affairs-at-u-m/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Thu, 16 May 2024 20:47:12 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Announcements]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Education & Society]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[News Releases]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.umich.edu/?p=188484</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Christopher Friese, a national authority in measuring and improving the quality of cancer care delivery, has been named the next vice provost for academic and faculty affairs in the Office of the Provost at the University of Michigan.]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<figure class="wp-block-image alignright size-medium"><a href="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/mc-image-cache/2020/10/Christopher-Friese.jpg"><img decoding="async" width="300" height="295" src="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Christopher-Friese-300x295.jpg" alt="Christopher Friese" class="wp-image-65922" srcset="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Christopher-Friese-300x295.jpg 300w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Christopher-Friese-768x754.jpg 768w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/mc-image-cache/2020/10/Christopher-Friese.jpg 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Christopher Friese</figcaption></figure>
Christopher Friese, a national authority in measuring and improving the quality of cancer care delivery, has been named the next vice provost for academic and faculty affairs in the Office of the Provost at the University of Michigan.
His five-year appointment, effective June 1, was approved by the U-M Board of Regents at its May meeting. Friese is replacing Lori Pierce, who is stepping down June 30 after 20 years in the provost’s office.
Friese currently serves as the Elizabeth Tone Hosmer Professor of Nursing at U-M. This professorship focused on assisting and encouraging nurses, as well-trained professionals, to put themselves forward as equal participants in the planning and policy processes, and to serve as forceful advocates for the rights and interests of patients in all aspects of the delivery of health care.
Friese also will maintain a fractional faculty appointment as a Professor with tenure in the School of Nursing.
“Professor Friese is an outstanding scholar whose work has made a significant impact on the quality of patient care,” said Provost Laurie McCauley. “The incisive research that has earned him continuous funding and a national reputation is clearly motivated by his deep compassion for patients. It’s clear he is driven by an inspiring vision, and has proven he is collaborative and formidable in realizing it. I am thrilled to welcome him to this essential role.”
Friese’s first academic appointment was as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Center for Outcomes and Policy Research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Harvard University from 2005-2008. In 2008, he was appointed as an assistant research scientist at the U-M School of Nursing.
He was later appointed as an assistant professor in 2009. He was promoted to professor, with tenure, in September 2016. He serves as the inaugural director of the Center for Improving Patient and Population Health at the School of Nursing and is the associate director for Cancer Control and Population Sciences at the U-M Rogel Cancer Center.
“I am honored to accept this appointment,” Friese said. “The University of Michigan has been an incredibly supportive environment for me and I will work to assure that we continue to recruit, retain and support exceptional faculty.”
Friese is a national authority in measuring and improving the quality of cancer care delivery. Over his career, he has led pivotal studies to develop and test strategies to improve outcomes of high-risk care. His research findings were among the first to establish a significant relationship between favorable nurse practice environments and lower surgical mortality.
With more than 140 peer-reviewed publications, his research has informed clinical practice guidelines and state and federal health policy. His research has been published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the American Journal of Public Health, and Health Affairs, and has been presented at national and international meetings.
Friese is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, and in 2022, he was inducted into the Sigma Theta Tau International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame. In 2021, President Biden appointed him to a six-year term on the National Cancer Advisory Board.
He has taught undergraduate, graduate and doctoral courses across multiple disciplines. He lectures widely on evidence-based oncology nursing practice, nursing workforce and health care policy. An avid mentor to doctoral students, postdoctoral fellows and early career faculty, he most recently served as the inaugural director of a new T32 predoctoral and postdoctoral training program in cancer care delivery research.
Friese, a registered nurse and an Advanced Oncology Certified Nurse, received his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in nursing from the University of Pennsylvania, and was also a predoctoral fellow at Penn’s Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research.
]]></content:encoded>
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<item>
<title>U-M experts will share work at next week’s Great Lakes research conference</title>
<link>https://news.umich.edu/u-m-experts-will-share-work-at-next-weeks-great-lakes-research-conference/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Thu, 16 May 2024 13:23:01 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Education & Society]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Event Announcements]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[News Releases]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[climate change]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[great lakes]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[water]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.umich.edu/?p=188481</guid>
<description><![CDATA[University of Michigan freshwater scientists will be among the more than 700 researchers from the Great Lakes region and beyond to present their findings next week at the 67th annual conference of the International Association for Great Lakes Research.]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
University of Michigan freshwater scientists will be among the more than 700 researchers from the Great Lakes region and beyond to present their findings next week at the 67th annual conference of the International Association for Great Lakes Research.
Hosted by the University of Windsor at Caesars Windsor May 20-24, the hybrid conference will feature nearly 50 scientific sessions and more than 600 presentations and posters focusing on the theme “Shared Lakes: One Water, One Health.”
U-M participants include researchers from the Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research, School for Environment and Sustainability, Department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering, and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. U-M-led presentations at the meeting include:
<a href="https://event.fourwaves.com/iaglr2024/abstracts/30461a37-6e15-43df-b826-368084abc37b">Great Lakes Climate Futures: Storylines and Scenarios</a>, presented by Richard Rood (rbrood@umich.edu), Department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering and School for Environment and Sustainability. North America is at the beginning of a time of rapid change, most definitively characterized by the accumulation of heat and generally rising temperatures. The changes in the Laurentian Great Lakes have been especially apparent since the late 1990s. Throughout the early 2000s, the persistent increase in temperature got to the threshold where areas that were reliably below freezing for the winter months, often realized temperatures above freezing. This influenced the formation and persistence of lake ice and all aspects of precipitation. This talk focuses on the development of plausible storylines and scenarios of the climate future of the Laurentian Great Lakes. The goal is to develop narratives which help planning by narrowing possible climate outcomes, and at the same time, providing a meaningful representation of uncertainty.
<a href="https://event.fourwaves.com/iaglr2024/abstracts/767de1da-98d1-4615-b2ae-4870dc4e5578">Simulating Projected Climate Warming in the Laurentian Great Lakes Using FVCOM+CICE</a>, presented by David Cannon (djcannon@umich.edu), U-M Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research. Over the last century, the Laurentian Great Lakes have undergone significant changes, with increased surface and subsurface temperatures and decreased ice cover durations and concentrations. Future climate projections suggest that warming trends will continue into the next century, with a 50%-80% decrease in annual maximum ice cover under all scenarios by 2100. The most extreme warming scenario (SSP5-8.5) is expected to lead to severe increases (+3 -8 ℃) in summer surface temperatures by end-of-century, with commensurate increases in the strength of summer stratification. Analysis suggests that warming will result in mixing regime shifts in Lakes Michigan, Huron and Ontario, resulting in dramatic changes in food-web dynamics and biogeochemical cycles in each lake.
<a href="https://event.fourwaves.com/iaglr2024/abstracts/cef9a4fb-ec8a-4df9-be10-8525ffcb2329">The Future of the Line 5 Oil Pipeline: Implications at the Climate/Water/Policy/Rights Nexus</a>, presented by Mike Shriberg (mshriber@umich.edu), School for Environment and Sustainability. The future of Enbridge Energy’s Line 5 oil pipeline has become a defining issue for the future of the Great Lakes. The session will outline the extraordinary story of how Line 5 went from being unknown to all but a few regulators to an issue of national importance with the potential to shape the region’s future. A key part of this story is how oil spill science is being brought into the public sphere through governmental agencies and studies as well as non-governmental actors. The focus of the presentation will be assessing the implications of upcoming legal, policy and political decisions.
<a href="https://event.fourwaves.com/iaglr2024/abstracts/4a25c83f-b070-4229-8624-55fa981ebd76">Advances in Year-Round Hydroclimatic Data: 16 Years and Counting for the Great Lakes Evaporation Network</a>, presented by John Lenters (jlenters@umich.edu), U-M Biological Station. Lake evaporation is one of the most important physical processes of a lake ecosystem, affecting everything from water levels and stratification to ice cover, aquatic chemistry, and regional weather and climate. Yet prior to 2008 there were no direct measurements of evaporation over the Great Lakes, presenting a significant gap in knowledge for large-lake science, policy, and adaptive management. This presentation provides an overview of GLEN, the Great Lakes Evaporation Network. Through the collaborative effort of eight institutions, two countries and multiple funding sources, the monitoring network grew to seven stations across all of the Great Lakes.
<a href="https://event.fourwaves.com/iaglr2024/abstracts/d50a3ef3-30b1-43ed-8f1c-bdfaef9ffe44">Great Lakes Marine Protected Areas: Designating and Managing for Success</a>, presented by Willy Pevec (wpevec@umich.edu), Sophie Bryden and Ian Stone, School for Environment and Sustainability. The United States and Canada have set goals to conserve 30% of lands and waters by 2030 (i.e., 30×30 goals). Marine protected areas serve as one method for the U.S. and Canada to safeguard Great Lakes ecosystems and resources and achieve 30×30 goals. As 2030 approaches, the researchers investigate how the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Parks Canada might best leverage their MPA programs to meet 30×30 conservation targets, optimize conservation effectiveness, enhance transnational collaboration, involve local stakeholders, and incorporate Indigenous Nations and communities in governance.
<a href="https://event.fourwaves.com/iaglr2024/abstracts/a6f2d422-a3e5-4034-b714-b6ce1a8e3ae5">Trend and Variability in Hydro-Meteorological Extremes of Water Balance Components for the Great Lakes</a>, presented by Yi Hong (yhon@umich.edu), U-M Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research. Recent extreme fluctuations in Great Lakes water levels emphasize a growing need for accurate prediction of water level changes for adaptive water management. Changes in the water level of a lake are mainly dependent on the net basin supply, which considers factors such as over-lake precipitation, evaporation and total runoffs entering the lake from its drainage basin. Based on a recently developed dataset that includes daily records of water balance components for the Great Lakes since 1979, researchers performed a detailed trend and variability analysis of NBS and its components over the Great Lakes. The findings can serve as critical tools for sustainable and adaptive water management and guide the development of the next-generation water-level forecasting system for the Great Lakes.
<a href="https://event.fourwaves.com/iaglr2024/abstracts/19d755f4-6d9c-4929-a3a3-5726bed7bc87">Investing in the Future of the Great Lakes: The Next Generation of Scientists</a>, presented by Mary Ogdahl (ogdahlm@umich.edu), Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research. Over the last 25 years, NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory has supported more than 1,000 training opportunities for students and postdocs from more than 100 universities across the globe in partnership with U-M’s Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research. Through immersive, hands-on research experiences that span the Great Lakes’ most pressing issues, NOAA GLERL and CIGLR have inspired numerous students and early scholars to pursue research careers in the Great Lakes and beyond.
<a href="https://event.fourwaves.com/iaglr2024/abstracts/5520aab0-e5aa-4f75-b195-e2a6cfd2480c">The GLERL/CIGLR Omics Program: Insights and Opportunities</a>, presented by Gregory Dick (gdick@umich.edu) Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research. Rapidly advancing omics (any of several areas of biological study including genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics) technologies provide powerful new ways to characterize Great Lakes biology. These methods can be used to study harmful algal blooms, microbial communities and invasive species, and to understand how these and other aspects of the food web respond to climate change, pollution and other perturbations. The Omics Program at NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory and U-M’s Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research is training the next generation of omics scientists, developing new capacity for data analysis and sharing, generating and integrating omics datasets, and conducting experiments to benchmark and link omics data to biological traits. Results highlight the potential of omics methods to discover and characterize new and emerging harmful algal bloom toxins, determine what organisms produce HAB toxins, provide early warning of HAB toxins, understand top-down (mussels, viruses) and bottom-up (nutrients) controls on HABs, and monitor invasive species and larval fish dispersal.
<a href="https://event.fourwaves.com/iaglr2024/abstracts/3c795ba0-643e-4507-a671-15c67475b6bb">Modeling historical spawning habitat of cisco (Coregonus artedi) in Lake Erie to support coregonine restoration</a>, presented by Katelyn King (kingkb@umich.edu), School for Environment and Sustainability. Coregonine populations have generally declined over the past century throughout the Great Lakes, with some species now considered extirpated, and some considered extinct. The Council of Lake Committees endorsed a knowledge and science-based approach to restoring these culturally, ecologically, and economically important fishes known as the Coregonine Restoration Framework. As a part of the science planning component of this framework, researchers aim to compare historical and contemporary coregonine spawning distributions across the Great Lakes to identify suitable areas for stocking, habitat restoration, and the potential for habitat creation. They present a case study examining historical habitat suitability for cisco (Coregonus artedi) in Lake Erie.
<a href="https://event.fourwaves.com/iaglr2024/abstracts/a7c23f28-89ac-42b0-ba61-3c849be79783">Science Across Borders: The Global Center for Understanding Climate Change Impacts on Transboundary Waters</a>, presented by Megan Cort (cortm@umich.edu), School for Environment and Sustainability. The recently launched Global Center for Understanding Climate Change Impacts on Transboundary Waters addresses the complexities of managing water systems that span multiple jurisdictions and sovereign nations. The global center comprises researchers and partners from Indigenous Nations, the United States and Canada and aims to develop and apply multinational collaborative and interdisciplinary science. The Great Lakes serve as the initial focal point for the center’s global research vision, which is centered on three core themes: 1) developing predictive models for future hydroclimate conditions 2) co-producing research that incorporates Traditional Ecological Knowledge of Indigenous Sovereign Nations with conventional ecosystem and water quality monitoring and modeling protocols and 3) capacity-building for governance and management systems that incorporate Traditional Ecological Knowledge and the input of traditionally marginalized communities to develop governance and management models.
<a href="https://event.fourwaves.com/iaglr2024/abstracts/f90f55fc-c3c7-4143-a3ca-03fa013239eb">Trait Variation in Nutrient Requirements and Predation Resistance to Understand Microcystis Genotypic Succession</a>, presented by Vincent Denef (vdenef@umich.edu), Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Microcystis is a phylogenetically cohesive group of cyanobacteria marked by extensive genetic diversity. In field observations in western Lake Erie, complex dynamics in which different genotypes of Microcystis predominate across time (across weeks and years) have been observed. Researchers determined that different genotypes isolated from Western Lake Erie diverge in the minimal concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus at which they can maintain growth. These data allow us to predict competitive hierarchies that may explain field observations.
]]></content:encoded>
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<item>
<title>Housing crisis in Michigan: Report explores who owns, rents, has no home; examines racial gaps</title>
<link>https://news.umich.edu/housing-crisis-in-michigan-report-explores-who-owns-rents-has-no-home-examines-racial-gaps/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Thu, 16 May 2024 13:06:20 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Business & Economy]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Health]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Law & Politics]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[News Releases]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Black Americans]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[housing]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Michigan]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Michigan economy]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[racial disparities]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.umich.edu/?p=188448</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The burgeoning housing crisis affecting Michigan and much of the nation is addressed in a new report by the University of Michigan in partnership with the Michigan State Housing Development Authority.]]></description>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/mc-image-cache/2024/05/housing-crisis-in-michigan-report-explores-who-owns-rents-has-no-home-examines-racial-gaps.jpg"><img decoding="async" width="1024" height="574" src="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/housing-crisis-in-michigan-report-explores-who-owns-rents-has-no-home-examines-racial-gaps-1024x574.jpg" alt="Illustration of housing and an outline of the state of Michigan. Image courtesy: U-M School of Public Health" class="wp-image-188450" srcset="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/housing-crisis-in-michigan-report-explores-who-owns-rents-has-no-home-examines-racial-gaps-1024x574.jpg 1024w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/housing-crisis-in-michigan-report-explores-who-owns-rents-has-no-home-examines-racial-gaps-300x168.jpg 300w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/housing-crisis-in-michigan-report-explores-who-owns-rents-has-no-home-examines-racial-gaps-768x430.jpg 768w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/mc-image-cache/2024/05/housing-crisis-in-michigan-report-explores-who-owns-rents-has-no-home-examines-racial-gaps.jpg 1456w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure>
The burgeoning housing crisis affecting Michigan and much of the nation is addressed in a new report by the University of Michigan in partnership with the Michigan State Housing Development Authority.
<figure class="wp-block-image alignright size-thumbnail"><a href="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/mc-image-cache/2023/03/Roshanak-Mehdipanah.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="100" height="100" src="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Roshanak-Mehdipanah-100x100.jpg" alt="Roshanak Mehdipanah" class="wp-image-138355" srcset="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Roshanak-Mehdipanah-100x100.jpg 100w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Roshanak-Mehdipanah-300x300.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 100px) 100vw, 100px" /></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Roshanak Mehdipanah</figcaption></figure>
“The data in the report reveals a landscape of critical challenges and opportunities in supply, demand, quality, affordability and stability,” said <a href="https://sph.umich.edu/faculty-profiles/mehdipanah-roshanak.html">Roshanak Mehdipanah</a>, an associate professor at U-M’s <a href="https://sph.umich.edu/">School of Public Health</a> and director of <a href="https://www.urbanh3.com/">Housing Solutions for Health Equity</a>, whose team gathered and analyzed the data.
“Against the backdrop of COVID-19 recovery, rising concerns over nationwide housing unaffordability and insecurity add urgency to our state’s housing discourse.”
The challenges remain especially profound for Black Michiganders who are part of a stark 34-point gap in home ownership that has 79% of white households owning their home compared to just 45% of Black households—one of many findings that highlight racial disparities.
“This is a clear indication that systemic inequalities need to be addressed,” Mehdipanah said. “Addressing racial inequities in homeownership is critical in closing the racial wealth gap, as homeownership serves as an important means for intergenerational wealth accumulation and stability, offering families the opportunity to build equity, access credit and secure financial futures.”
<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/mc-image-cache/2024/05/housing-crisis-in-michigan-report-explores-who-owns-rents-has-no-home-examines-racial-gaps-researchers.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1500" height="838" src="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/mc-image-cache/2024/05/housing-crisis-in-michigan-report-explores-who-owns-rents-has-no-home-examines-racial-gaps-researchers.jpg" alt="(from left) Roshanak Mehdipanah, Kate Brantley, Melika Belhaj, David Allen. Image credit: U-M Housing Solutions for Health Equity(from left) Roshanak Mehdipanah, Kate Brantley, Melika Belhaj, David Allen. Image credit: U-M Housing Solutions for Health Equity" class="wp-image-188473" srcset="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/mc-image-cache/2024/05/housing-crisis-in-michigan-report-explores-who-owns-rents-has-no-home-examines-racial-gaps-researchers.jpg 1500w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/housing-crisis-in-michigan-report-explores-who-owns-rents-has-no-home-examines-racial-gaps-researchers-300x168.jpg 300w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/housing-crisis-in-michigan-report-explores-who-owns-rents-has-no-home-examines-racial-gaps-researchers-1024x572.jpg 1024w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/housing-crisis-in-michigan-report-explores-who-owns-rents-has-no-home-examines-racial-gaps-researchers-768x429.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">(from left) Roshanak Mehdipanah, Kate Brantley, Melika Belhaj, David Allen. Image credit: U-M Housing Solutions for Health Equity</figcaption></figure>
The report, “<a href="https://www.urbanh3.com/mi-statewide-housing-needs-assessment">2024 Michigan Statewide Housing Needs Assessment</a>,” delves into a decade of data around the complexities of housing availability, affordability and accessibility—information city officials, urban planners, county commissioners, the public and anyone working in housing or in housing solutions can use to make informed decisions.
To that end, the report also details case studies that “highlight local innovations that respond to some of Michigan’s housing challenges.” Each case study features a housing-focused organization’s success story.
“Data such as reduction in tax foreclosure rates tells us there is promise in housing-focused interventions, particularly those developed and implemented with community organizations working closely with residents on these issues,” Mehdipanah said.
David Allen, manager of the Office of Market Research at the Michigan State Housing Development Authority, said the intent of the assessment is to “provide pivotal data and analysis on a wide range of factors that impact Michiganders’ ability to obtain necessary shelter.”
“It can be used by a variety of stakeholders in the state’s housing ecosystem to better target resources and efforts to ensure that our families and individuals can enjoy a secure home, better health and a more inclusive economy,” he said.
In addition to Allen and Mehdipanah, who is also co-lead for the <a href="https://sph.umich.edu/ideas/">Public Health IDEAS for Creating Healthy and Equitable Cities initiative</a>, other authors of the report include U-M Housing Solutions for Health Equity team members. Kate Brantley is a research area specialist, whose work focuses on housing stability and eviction, and Melika Belhaj is the program manager whose research has focused on foreclosure, speculator behavior, naturally occurring affordable housing and low-income home ownership program outcomes in Detroit.
The group presented the report at the Building Michigan Communities conference this week.
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/mc-image-cache/2024/05/housing-crisis-in-michigan-report-explores-who-owns-rents-has-no-home-examines-racial-gaps-presentation.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="563" src="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/housing-crisis-in-michigan-report-explores-who-owns-rents-has-no-home-examines-racial-gaps-presentation-1024x563.jpg" alt="The research teams presents the 2024 Housing Needs Assessment at a statewide conference focused on addressing the housing crisis. Image credit: Housing Solutions for Health Equity" class="wp-image-188458" srcset="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/housing-crisis-in-michigan-report-explores-who-owns-rents-has-no-home-examines-racial-gaps-presentation-1024x563.jpg 1024w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/housing-crisis-in-michigan-report-explores-who-owns-rents-has-no-home-examines-racial-gaps-presentation-300x165.jpg 300w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/housing-crisis-in-michigan-report-explores-who-owns-rents-has-no-home-examines-racial-gaps-presentation-768x422.jpg 768w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/mc-image-cache/2024/05/housing-crisis-in-michigan-report-explores-who-owns-rents-has-no-home-examines-racial-gaps-presentation.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The research teams presents the 2024 Housing Needs Assessment at a statewide conference focused on addressing the housing crisis. Image credit: Housing Solutions for Health Equity</figcaption></figure>
<figure class="wp-block-image alignright size-thumbnail"><a href="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/mc-image-cache/2024/05/Melika-Belhaj.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="100" height="100" src="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Melika-Belhaj-100x100.jpg" alt="Melika Belhaj" class="wp-image-188465" srcset="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Melika-Belhaj-100x100.jpg 100w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Melika-Belhaj-300x300.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 100px) 100vw, 100px" /></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Melika Belhaj</figcaption></figure>
“Our findings confirm what many already know—Michiganders with the lowest incomes disproportionately face the greatest barriers to securing safe and affordable housing,” Belhaj said. “Our analysis reveals a 34-percentage-point homeownership gap between Black and white households, underscoring the lasting impact of U.S. housing policies, such as redlining, which imposed racialized segregation in the housing market.”
The report is divided into four sections: housing inventory, housing demand, housing affordability, and housing instability and homelessness. Each section weaves in eight priority areas: equity and racial justice, housing ecosystem, preventing and ending homelessness, housing stock, older adult housing, rental housing, homeownership and communication and education.
In addition to examining data across a 10-year timespan, the analysis focuses on the years 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2022. According to the report, “these years mark pivotal points in the housing ecosystem: 2017, nearly two years after the tax foreclosure crisis began to subside; 2019, the year before the global COVID-19 pandemic; 2021, during the height of the pandemic; and 2022.”
Key findings include:
<ul>
<li>In 2022, 32,589 individuals were identified as experiencing homelessness, up 8% from 2021.</li>
<li>Eviction filings increased by 38% between 2021 and 2022, after a significant drop in filings in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.</li>
<li>Homeowners’ median household income was just over $80,000, higher than the statewide median at $67,000, while renters’ median household income of $39,000 was significantly lower than both the statewide and homeowner average.</li>
<li>In 2022, 51% of renters were housing-cost burdened, or spending more than 30% of income on housing. This includes 26% of renters who were severely housing-cost burdened, or spending more than half of income on housing.</li>
<li>Among homeowners, 24% with mortgages and 14% without mortgages are housing cost-burdened.</li>
<li>61% of all housing units were built before 1980. The federal government banned lead-based paint in homes in 1978, meaning the majority of housing units across the state today are at high risk of exposing tenants to lead and its risks to health, especially for children. Nationally, the number of homes built before 1980 is at 49%.</li>
</ul>
More positive findings include:
<ul>
<li>From 2012 to 2022, Michigan experienced a notable 50% surge in median home values, now standing at $224,400.</li>
<li>From 2019 to 2021, 25- to 34-year-olds in Michigan saw higher gains in the number of people heading households, compared to their younger and older counterparts. This change likely reflects life stages or milestones common among this age, including increased cohabitation, marriage and child rearing.</li>
<li>Rising household growth among 25- to 34-year-olds may have been influenced by federal stimulus checks and student loan repayment pauses during the pandemic which provided opportunities to live independently as renters and homeowners.</li>
<li>In 2022, the median household income across renter- and owner-occupant households jumped from $40,683 annually for those under age 25 and to nearly $76,000 for those aged 25-44.</li>
<li>From 2012-2022, building permits for new construction of multifamily dwellings increased 4.4 times and made up 26% of total permits allotted, a departure from the state’s historical pattern of predominantly single-family structure construction.</li>
</ul>
The research was funded in part by a $50,000 grant from U-M’s Office of the Vice President for Research under the Bold Challenges Initiative, which supports research that applies a health equity lens to housing issues such as unaffordability, inaccessibility and quality. Other support comes from the U-M Poverty Solutions and the <a href="https://michr.umich.edu/rdc/community-engagement-studios-2f9ht">MICHR PACE</a> grant.
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<title>Copper can’t be mined fast enough to electrify the US</title>
<link>https://news.umich.edu/copper-cant-be-mined-fast-enough-to-electrify-the-us/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 15 May 2024 13:30:23 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Law & Politics]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[News Releases]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[alternative energy]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[electric vehicles]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Inflation Reduction Act]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Transportation Technology]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.umich.edu/?p=188435</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Copper cannot be mined quickly enough to keep up with current U.S. policy guidelines to transition the country's electricity and vehicle infrastructure to renewable energy, according to a University of Michigan study.]]></description>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><a href="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/mc-image-cache/2024/05/copper-cant-be-mined-fast-enough-to-electrify-the-us.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="564" src="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/copper-cant-be-mined-fast-enough-to-electrify-the-us.jpg" alt="Pima County Arizona copper mine. Image credit: Joyce Cory, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons" class="wp-image-188437" style="width:750px;height:auto" srcset="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/mc-image-cache/2024/05/copper-cant-be-mined-fast-enough-to-electrify-the-us.jpg 1024w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/copper-cant-be-mined-fast-enough-to-electrify-the-us-300x165.jpg 300w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/copper-cant-be-mined-fast-enough-to-electrify-the-us-768x423.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Pima County Arizona copper mine. Image credit: <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0">Joyce Cory, CC BY 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons</figcaption></figure>
<aside class="wp-block-michigan-news-callout alignright ">
Study: <a href="https://www.ief.org/focus/ief-reports/copper-mining-and-vehicle-electrification#:~:text=To%20electrify%20the%20global%20vehicle,require%20negligible%20extra%20copper%20mining.">Copper mining and vehicle electrification</a>
</aside>
Copper cannot be mined quickly enough to keep up with current U.S. policy guidelines to transition the country’s electricity and vehicle infrastructure to renewable energy, according to a University of Michigan study.
The Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law in 2022, calls for 100% of cars manufactured to be electric vehicles by 2035. But an electric vehicle requires three to five times as much copper as an internal combustion engine vehicle—not to mention the copper required for upgrades to the electric grid.
“A normal Honda Accord needs about 40 pounds of copper. The same battery electric Honda Accord needs almost 200 pounds of copper. Onshore wind turbines require about 10 tons of copper, and in offshore wind turbines, that amount can more than double,” said <a href="https://lsa.umich.edu/earth/people/faculty/simonac.html">Adam Simon</a>, U-M professor of earth and environmental studies. “We show in the paper that the amount of copper needed is essentially impossible for mining companies to produce.”
The study examined 120 years of global data from copper mining companies, and calculated how much copper the U.S. electricity infrastructure and fleet of cars would need to upgrade to renewable energy. It found that renewable energy’s copper needs would outstrip what copper mines can produce at the current rate. The study, led by Simon and Cornell University researcher <a href="https://www.eas.cornell.edu/faculty-directory/lawrence-m-cathles">Lawrence Cathles</a>, was published by the International Energy Forum and discussed in a webinar, “Copper mining and vehicle electrification.”
The shortfall is in part because of the permitting process for mining companies. The average time between discovering a new copper mineral deposit and getting a permit to build a mine is about 20 years, according to Simon.
Copper is mined by more than 100 companies operating mines on six continents. The researchers drew data for global copper production back to the year 1900, which told them the global amount of copper mining companies had produced over 120 years. They then modeled how much copper mining companies are likely to produce for the rest of the century.
The researchers found that between 2018 and 2050, the world will need to mine 115% more copper than has been mined in all of human history up until 2018 just to meet “business as usual.” This would meet our current copper needs and support the developing world without considering the green energy transition.
To meet the copper needs of electrifying the global vehicle fleet, as many as six new large copper mines must be brought online annually over the next several decades. About 40% of the production from new mines will be required for electric vehicle-related grid upgrades.
“I’m a huge fan of the Inflation Reduction Act. I think it’s fantastic. I’ve got solar panels, batteries and an electric vehicle,” Simon said. “I’m fully on board with the energy transition. However, it needs to be done in a way that’s achievable.”
Instead of fully electrifying the U.S. fleet of vehicles, the researchers suggest focusing on manufacturing hybrid vehicles.
“We are hoping the study gets picked up by policymakers who should consider copper as the limiting factor for the energy transition, and to think about how copper is allocated,” Simon said. “We know, for example, that a Toyota Prius actually has a slightly better impact on climate than a Tesla. Instead of producing 20 million electric vehicles in the United States and globally, 100 million battery electric vehicles each year, would it be more feasible to focus on building 20 million hybrid vehicles?”
The researchers also point out that copper will be needed for developing countries to build infrastructure, such as building an electric grid for the approximately 1 billion people who don’t yet have access to electricity; to provide clean water drinking facilities for the approximately 2 billion people who don’t have access to clean water; and wastewater treatment for the 4 billion people who don’t have access to sanitation facilities.
“Renewable energy technologies, clean water, wastewater, electricity—it cannot exist without copper. So we then end up with tension between how much copper we need to build infrastructure in less developed countries versus how much copper we need for the energy transition,” Simon said.
“We think our study highlights that significant progress can be made to reduce emissions in the United States. However, the current—almost singular—emphasis on downstream manufacture of renewable energy technologies cannot be met by upstream mine production of copper and other metals without a complete mindset change about mining among environmental groups and policymakers.”
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<title>$15M to fund U-M, Los Alamos National Laboratory collaboration</title>
<link>https://news.umich.edu/15m-to-fund-u-m-los-alamos-national-laboratory-collaboration/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 15 May 2024 13:22:38 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Announcements]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Education & Society]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[News Releases]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Artificial Intelligence]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.umich.edu/?p=188433</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Artificial intelligence and scientific computing play a critical role in helping researchers address some of the world's most complex challenges—from finding solutions to environmental challenges and developing solutions that combat climate change to modeling the spread of infectious diseases.]]></description>
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Artificial intelligence and scientific computing play a critical role in helping researchers address some of the world’s most complex challenges—from finding solutions to environmental challenges and developing solutions that combat climate change to modeling the spread of infectious diseases.
With a new five-year, $15 million award from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory, the University of Michigan will partner with the New Mexico-based laboratory to develop advanced computing technologies—including artificial intelligence and increasingly sophisticated modeling techniques—to address critical challenges. Efficiently characterizing the behavior of turbulent plasma, for example, is a key to unlocking the potential of fusion as a limitless source of clean energy and to understanding fundamental phenomena that describe the evolution of stars.
“Even though there have been significant advances in computational algorithms and computer hardware, much of the potential of modeling and simulations remains to be realized in many applications that are of broad interest to society,” said Karthik Duraisamy, principal investigator on the project, a professor of aerospace engineering and director of the Michigan Institute for Computational Discovery and Engineering.
“In many cases, this is primarily due to a lack of alignment between the complex underlying physical processes, the computational algorithms to describe them and the computer codes and hardware used to execute the algorithms. Through this award, we have a unique opportunity to address this challenge by harnessing the breadth and depth of expertise from across U-M and LANL. Together, we will create a vertically-integrated solution to help unlock a spectrum of unmet needs in scientific discovery and engineering design.”
The vertically integrated solution involves tightly coupling extreme-scale algorithm development and domain knowledge with elements of AI and computer architecture to generate significant efficiencies, scales and throughput so that researchers can address the root causes of, and potential solutions for, important global challenges. While the research is foundational in nature and focuses on transformational advances in scientific computing, the team will initially apply these methods to explore the fundamental physics of fusion and its potential impact on clean energy and basic processes in stellar evolution.
As part of their ongoing collaboration, U-M also will provide LANL researchers with access to its suite of custom generative AI tools, as developed by the university’s Information & Technology Services team.
“We created these AI services to foster a spirit of innovation in our community and beyond,” said Ravi Pendse, U-M vice president for information technology and chief information officer. “We look forward to growing that spirit exponentially through our ongoing work with Los Alamos National Laboratory.”
The new research collaboration between U-M and LANL builds upon President Santa J. Ono’s universitywide strategy to amplify research and scholarship, which explicitly calls for enhanced partnerships with national laboratories. LANL is one of 17 national laboratories overseen by the Department of Energy, and each one possesses unique facilities and instruments to facilitate transdisciplinary research, with a strong emphasis on translating basic science to innovation.
In addition to its latest partnership with LANL, U-M also maintains strong collaborative research agreements with five other DOE national laboratories, including Idaho National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory and Fermilab in Illinois, Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Washington state.
“To strengthen and sustain our place as an exceptional public research university, and to establish and build U-M’s leadership in emerging research areas that are of high value to the nation, we are striving to enhance our partnerships with the Department of Energy’s national laboratories,” said Arthur Lupia, interim vice president for research and innovation at U-M.
“This particular partnership is especially exciting because it presents significant opportunities for a stronger collaboration between U-M and Los Alamos National Laboratory that spans a vast range of areas, including artificial intelligence, sustainability and clean energy, genomics, bioinformatics and quantum sciences.”
U-M faculty who are co-principal investigators on this research project include: Reetuparna Das, associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science; Alex Gorodetsky, assistant professor of aerospace engineering; Brendan Kochunas, assistant professor of nuclear engineering and radiological sciences; Scott Mahlke, professor of electrical engineering and computer science. The team also includes faculty and students from the College of Engineering and the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts.
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<title>Managing screen time by making phones slightly more annoying to use</title>
<link>https://news.umich.edu/managing-screen-time-by-making-phones-slightly-more-annoying-to-use/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Derek Smith, U-M College of Engineering]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Mon, 13 May 2024 16:11:54 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Education & Society]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Health]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[News Releases]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Videos]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Mental Health]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[screen time]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Social Media]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.umich.edu/?p=188411</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The best way to help smartphone users manage their screen time may be to make phones progressively more annoying to use, according to new University of Michigan research.]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Delaying a phone’s swiping and tapping functions forces users to think harder, making it easier for them to consider whether to keep scrolling</h3>
<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe loading="lazy" class="fluid" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/08oIdSd-ytM?feature=oembed&si=rCtRzIjpyJDxW5_Q&rel=0" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen title="An app that limits screen time by making your phone slightly more annoying to use"></iframe>
</div></figure>
<aside class="wp-block-michigan-news-callout alignright ">
Study: <a href="https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642317">InteractOut: Leveraging Interaction Proxies as Input Manipulation Strategies for Reducing Smartphone Overuse</a> (DOI: 10.1145/3613904.3642317)
</aside>
The best way to help smartphone users manage their screen time may be to make phones progressively more annoying to use, according to new University of Michigan research.
The study shows that interfering with swiping and tapping functions is around 16% more effective at reducing screen time and the number of times an app is opened than forcibly locking users out of their phones.
The lockout strategy is used by many screen-time management apps today, and such apps also send users a notification offering more time before locking. Researchers planned to discuss the findings Monday at the Association for Computing Machinery’s Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems in Honolulu.
“Lockout apps are pretty disruptive, so if someone is in the middle of an important task or a game, they’ll scramble to skip through the screen timer. Then, they can forget about the time limit and spend more time on the phone than they wanted to,” said <a href="https://eecs.engin.umich.edu/people/guo-anhong/">Anhong Guo</a>, U-M assistant professor of computer science and engineering and the corresponding author of the study.
The researchers’ InteractOut app is more effective at limiting screen time because it is less restrictive and harder to ignore than hard lockouts. Once the user’s designated screen limit has been reached, InteractOut can delay the phone’s response to a user’s gesture, shift where tapping motions are registered or slow the screen scrolling speed.
The strength of the delays and shifts continues to increase each time the user touches the phone, up to a pre-set maximum, and the user can decide how the app interferes with their phone use. The app’s gradual interference allows users to continue using their phone, but with a little extra difficulty.
“If we just continuously add a little bit of friction to the interaction with the phone, eventually the user becomes more aware of what they are doing because there’s a mismatch between what they expect to happen and what actually happens. That makes using smartphones a more deliberate process,” said Guo, who also is an assistant professor of information.
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/mc-image-cache/2024/05/managing-screen-time-by-making-phones-slightly-more-annoying-to-use-Phone-App-Timer_1-1.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="693" src="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/managing-screen-time-by-making-phones-slightly-more-annoying-to-use-Phone-App-Timer_1-1-1024x693.jpg" alt="A smartphone displays that the phone's owner has reached their screen-time limit on YouTube. A notification at the bottom of the screen asks if the user would like 1 or 15 more minutes of YouTube, or if they would like to cancel their YouTube limit for today." class="wp-image-188420" srcset="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/managing-screen-time-by-making-phones-slightly-more-annoying-to-use-Phone-App-Timer_1-1-1024x693.jpg 1024w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/managing-screen-time-by-making-phones-slightly-more-annoying-to-use-Phone-App-Timer_1-1-300x203.jpg 300w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/managing-screen-time-by-making-phones-slightly-more-annoying-to-use-Phone-App-Timer_1-1-768x520.jpg 768w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/managing-screen-time-by-making-phones-slightly-more-annoying-to-use-Phone-App-Timer_1-1-1536x1039.jpg 1536w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/mc-image-cache/2024/05/managing-screen-time-by-making-phones-slightly-more-annoying-to-use-Phone-App-Timer_1-1.jpg 2000w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Existing apps for managing screen time can abruptly lock users out of their phone. If users were in the middle of an important task, they could scramble to skip the time limit, opening themselves up to spend more time on their phone than originally intended. InteractOut’s interventions are more gradual and allow users to decide when to put down their phones while also encouraging them to think harder about their smartphone use. Image credit: Jeremy Little, Michigan Engineering</figcaption></figure>
The researchers believe that forcing more mindfulness into otherwise mindless gesturing is the key to making smartphones less addictive.
“We want to evoke users’ awareness of using their smartphone so that they can use it more productively,” said study first author <a href="https://isthatdistance.github.io/">Tao Lu</a>, a recent U-M bachelor of science graduate in computer science who is now a master’s student at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
While designing InteractOut, the researchers had to be careful not to make the phone so inconvenient that it became insufferable. To ensure their software strikes the right balance, the team tested their app’s performance in a field study of 42 participants that took place over five weeks.
In the first week of the study, the researchers reviewed how often each participant used their phones without screen time management tools. Then, each participant installed the InteractOut app on their Android phone and chose which other apps it could monitor and interfere with. The researchers fixed the participants’ daily screen time allowance to one hour, after which InteractOut began to modify swipe and tap functions inside of the specified apps.
All participants received a random swipe and tap intervention from InteractOut for a single two-week period, and their screen time was compared to a separate two-week period in which they used Timed Lockout, a widely available app that imposes hard lockouts.
The researchers found that InteractOut was not only more effective at reducing screen time for the targeted apps than a hard lockout, but it was also better received by the study participants. When the screen-time management apps were activated, around 62% of the participants kept InteractOut’s interventions on for the day, but only 36% of the participants did the same with Timed Lockout.
There is still room for improvement, however. The participants thought that InteractOut was too intrusive for some games that require precise, real-time movements. It was also less effective at limiting the amount of time spent on apps that require few tapping or swiping gestures, such as video streaming services. Guo plans to find ways to tailor the app’s interventions to be better suited for different kinds of phone apps.
The research was partially supported by a Google Cloud Platform Credit Award. The team submitted an invention disclosure for the software and hope to eventually bring it to market.
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<title>Laurence B. Alexander recommended as chancellor of UM-Flint</title>
<link>https://news.umich.edu/laurence-b-alexander-recommended-as-chancellor-of-um-flint/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Mon, 13 May 2024 16:05:00 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Announcements]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[News Releases]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.umich.edu/?p=188408</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Laurence B. Alexander, a recognized leader in higher education who for 11 years has served as chancellor of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, has been recommended as the next chancellor of the University of Michigan-Flint.]]></description>
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Laurence B. Alexander, a recognized leader in higher education who for 11 years has served as chancellor of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, has been recommended as the next chancellor of the University of Michigan-Flint.
His five-year appointment will be effective July 1, pending approval by the U-M Board of Regents at its May 16 meeting on the UM-Dearborn campus. He also will serve as an executive officer of the university.
“We are honored to have Dr. Alexander join the U-M family,” President Santa J. Ono said in an email to the Flint campus community. “His exceptional professional experience coupled with his extraordinary achievements as an administrator and university leader make him an outstanding fit for UM-Flint.”
A reception to welcome Alexander to UM-Flint will occur at 10 a.m. May 17 in the Grand Ballroom at the Northbank Center, 432 Saginaw St. and is open to UM-Flint students, faculty and staff.
Alexander succeeds Donna Fry, a longtime faculty member and current dean of the College of Health Sciences at UM-Flint, who has served as that campus’s interim chancellor since August 2023. The prior chancellor, Debasish Dutta, left UM-Flint in September 2023 for a position at the University of Illinois.
“Donna Fry has proven herself to be invaluable during this time of transition,” Ono said. “I’m deeply grateful that she was willing to step up and provide us much-needed stability and guidance as we searched for the new chancellor.”
Alexander brings more than three decades of combined professional and academic experience as a university chancellor, professor, attorney and journalist.
“I am thrilled to join the University of Michigan-Flint community,” said Alexander, whose selection caps a 10-month national search. “I’m pleased to become a part of one of the world’s greatest universities. I’ve been impressed by the people, existing programs, facilities and the solid foundation that’s been laid by previous leadership, and I can’t wait to get to campus and build on those things with the experience I’ve gained throughout my career.”
Under his leadership, UAPB grew enrollment, increased retention and graduation rates, and launched several new academic programs. The university reached higher levels of research investment and grant funding, acquired funding for new construction and renovation, and developed new corporate partnerships that led to multiple major gift donations and increased the endowment by 250%.
He takes the helm at UM-Flint during a time of uncertainty, as the campus in recent years has grappled with declining enrollment and lagging graduation rates. In 2022, then-President Mary Sue Coleman ordered leadership at UM-Flint to develop a strategic plan to transform the campus and address an enrollment that had declined 25% over the previous seven years, and a six-year graduation rate that ranked at the bottom of Michigan’s 15 public universities. However, that trend has seen a recent uptick. For the first time in nearly a decade, UM-Flint recorded an increase in total fall enrollment last September with more than 6,100 students enrolled at the downtown campus, a gain of 2.4% from the previous year. Likewise, winter enrollment followed suit with an increase of more than 9% from the prior year. Former Chancellor Dutta led an initial planning phase, and after his departure, Interim Chancellor Fry continued refining the plan and working to integrate academic and student services into the overall strategy.
The goal of the transformation is to help UM-Flint emerge as an academically strong and financially viable institution that is an undisputed engine for economic growth and social mobility in the region.
“The Board of Regents and I remain firmly committed to a brighter future for the Flint campus. That transformation work will now continue under the leadership of Chancellor Alexander,” Ono said in his message. “He is the right person at the right time to lead UM-Flint.”
President Joe Biden appointed Alexander in 2022 to chair the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development, a seven-member, presidentially appointed advisory board that ensures the U.S. Agency for International Development brings the assets of U.S. universities to bear on development challenges in agriculture and food security and supports their representation in USAID programming.
Prior to joining the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Alexander served 22 years as a professor and administrator at the University of Florida, where he held key leadership roles, including Provost Administrative Fellow in the Office of Academic Affairs, associate dean of the graduate school, director of the Office of Graduate Minority Programs, chair of the Department of Journalism and Distinguished Teaching Scholar.
Alexander received a bachelor’s degree in drama and communications from the University of New Orleans, a master’s degree in journalism and communications from the University of Florida, a Juris Doctor degree from Tulane University, and a Ph.D. in higher education from Florida State University.
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<title>Weekend geomagnetic storm: Experts can discuss potential US impacts</title>
<link>https://news.umich.edu/weekend-geomagnetic-storm-experts-can-discuss-potential-us-impacts/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Fri, 10 May 2024 20:48:44 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Advisories]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[News Releases]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[space]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[space weather]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.umich.edu/?p=188395</guid>
<description><![CDATA[A severe geomagnetic storm watch beginning this evening and continuing through the weekend has been issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)—the first since 2005.]]></description>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/mc-image-cache/2024/05/weekend-geomagnetic-storm-experts-can-discuss-potential-us-impacts.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="574" src="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/weekend-geomagnetic-storm-experts-can-discuss-potential-us-impacts-1024x574.jpg" alt="Concept illustration of solar eruptions. Image credit: Nicole Smith, made with Midjourney" class="wp-image-188397" srcset="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/weekend-geomagnetic-storm-experts-can-discuss-potential-us-impacts-1024x574.jpg 1024w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/weekend-geomagnetic-storm-experts-can-discuss-potential-us-impacts-300x168.jpg 300w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/weekend-geomagnetic-storm-experts-can-discuss-potential-us-impacts-768x430.jpg 768w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/mc-image-cache/2024/05/weekend-geomagnetic-storm-experts-can-discuss-potential-us-impacts.jpg 1456w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure>
EXPERTS ADVISORY
A severe <a href="https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/news/swpc-issues-its-first-g4-watch-2005">geomagnetic storm watch</a> beginning <a href="https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/news/media-advisory-noaa-forecasts-severe-solar-storm-media-availability-scheduled-friday-may-10">this evening</a> and continuing through the weekend has been issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)—the first since 2005.
The storm watch is the result of five coronal mass ejections, bundles of plasma and magnetic field, that launched toward Earth from the sun. They could be strong enough to disrupt Earth’s magnetic field, potentially moving aurora further south than usual and disrupting radio and GPS communications.
University of Michigan researchers developed the space weather model used by NOAA’s <a href="https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/">Space Weather Prediction Center</a> and experts on the sun, aurora and Earth’s magnetic field are available to discuss geomagnetic storms and how a severe one could impact the U.S. this weekend.
<a href="https://clasp.engin.umich.edu/people/liemohn-michael-w/">Michael Liemohn</a> is a professor of climate and space sciences and engineering who studies the aurora. He can comment on how the geomagnetic storm’s severity can affect the intensity and location of the northern and southern lights, and can provide tips for seeing the aurora this weekend. Liemohn leads <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-selects-four-small-explorer-mission-concept-studies/">NASA’s Magnetospheric Auroral Asymmetry Explorer (MAAX) mission concept study</a>, which would be two spacecraft to simultaneously view the northern and southern auroral zones. MAAX aims to improve predictions of where the aurora will form and how energy from geomagnetic storms could increase atmospheric drag on satellites, potentially causing them to fall out of orbit.
“As of this afternoon, the magnetic storm has already begun and it’s looking like it could be a strong one. A severe storm would mean that the aurora will likely be visible in southern Michigan,” Liemohn said. “Get away from city lights to a place with clear skies and you should be able to see the green or red glow of aurora across the sky.”
Contact: liemohn@umich.edu
<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide"/>
<a href="https://clasp.engin.umich.edu/people/daniel-welling/">Daniel Welling</a> is an assistant professor of climate and space sciences and engineering who studies how the Earth’s magnetic field can be perturbed by the sun, causing technology disruptions in addition to aurora. He can comment on the likelihood that a geomagnetic storm could disrupt communications and the science behind predicting a coronal mass ejection’s impact on Earth.
“More than any storm we have yet seen in this active phase of the sun’s 11-year cycle, this storm has the potential to cause disruptions to radio communication and GPS accuracy,” Daniel said. “There is still a lot of uncertainty about the impacts because the magnetic field polarity greatly dictates the storm’s ability to drive effects at Earth, and we do not yet have direct observations of the coronal mass ejections’ magnetic fields. But, given the multiple strong CMEs, we should be paying attention to this event.”
Contact: dwelling@umich.edu
<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide"/>
<a href="https://clasp.engin.umich.edu/people/akhavan-tafti-mojtaba/">Mojtaba Akhavan-Tafti</a> is an assistant research scientist who specializes in studying the sun’s ionized gas, or plasma, and its associated magnetic fields. He can comment on how coronal mass ejections are monitored and how forecasts of solar activity can be improved.
“We currently have the know-how to vastly improve our solar activity detection and prediction capabilities, but we need Congress to approve funding to develop more infrastructure for real-time monitoring of space weather,” he said. “At the University of Michigan, we are helping to plan future space missions, such as the <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspas.2023.1185603">Space Weather Investigation Frontier</a>, that aim to further our understanding of how and when the sun can impact Earth, while significantly enhancing our prediction lead times.”
Contact: khavant@umich.edu
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<title>U-M researchers receive Javits Award for work on stroke health disparities in Mexican Americans</title>
<link>https://news.umich.edu/u-m-researchers-receive-javits-award-for-work-on-stroke-health-disparities-in-mexican-americans/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Andrea LaFerle, U-M School of Public Health]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Fri, 10 May 2024 18:38:24 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Announcements]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Education & Society]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Health]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[News Releases]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[stroke]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.umich.edu/?p=188382</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Two University of Michigan researchers have received the Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke for their work on stroke health disparities in Mexican Americans.]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<h3 class="wp-block-heading">$5M in funding allows Texas-based research project to reach 32-year milestone, expand to 35-to-44-year-olds whose incidence of stroke is increasing</h3>
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/mc-image-cache/2024/05/u-m-researchers-receive-javits-award-for-work-on-stroke-health-disparities-in-mexican-americans.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="769" src="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/u-m-researchers-receive-javits-award-for-work-on-stroke-health-disparities-in-mexican-americans-1024x769.jpg" alt="Lynda Lisabeth and Lewis Morgenstern" class="wp-image-188385" srcset="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/u-m-researchers-receive-javits-award-for-work-on-stroke-health-disparities-in-mexican-americans-1024x769.jpg 1024w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/u-m-researchers-receive-javits-award-for-work-on-stroke-health-disparities-in-mexican-americans-300x225.jpg 300w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/u-m-researchers-receive-javits-award-for-work-on-stroke-health-disparities-in-mexican-americans-768x577.jpg 768w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/mc-image-cache/2024/05/u-m-researchers-receive-javits-award-for-work-on-stroke-health-disparities-in-mexican-americans.jpg 1356w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Lynda Lisabeth and Lewis Morgenstern</figcaption></figure>
Two University of Michigan researchers have received the <a href="https://www.ninds.nih.gov/funding/about-funding/types-research-support/achievement-awards/javits-neuroscience-investigator-award-r37">Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award</a> from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke for their work on stroke health disparities in Mexican Americans.
<a href="https://sph.umich.edu/faculty-profiles/lisabeth-lynda.html">Lynda Lisabeth</a>, professor of epidemiology at the School of Public Health and research professor of neurology at the Medical School, and <a href="https://sph.umich.edu/faculty-profiles/morgenstern-lewis.html">Lewis Morgenstern</a>, professor of neurology, neurosurgery and emergency medicine at the Medical School and professor of epidemiology at the School of Public Health, received the award in recognition of their distinguished record of substantial contributions to the field of neurological science.
This is only the second time in its 39-year history that the Javits Award has gone to a pair of epidemiological principal investigators.
The award from NINDS, which is part of the National Institutes of Health, comes with a $5 million grant that will provide additional funding to support the researchers’ BASIC Study (<a href="https://medschool.umich.edu/departments/neurology/research/stroke-program/basic-project/basic-patient">Brain Attack Surveillance in Corpus Christi</a>), as well as the potential for a three-year extension and additional funding after the initial four-year period.
Started by Morgenstern in the mid-1990s, BASIC was established as a health equity study using stroke as a common model of severe illness to look at health inequities between Hispanic and non-Hispanic white populations in Corpus Christi, Texas. Every person in Nueces County who has a stroke becomes part of the BASIC cohort, and the researchers and their team follow the patients over time to better understand outcomes, recurrence, deaths and more.
<h4 class="wp-block-heading">BASIC has enrolled more than 15,000 participants</h4>
“Having written 146 manuscripts together, Lynda and I have had an incredibly successful research partnership,” Morgenstern said. “It’s special to win the award with her, and a good statement of our collaboration.
“We also accept this award on behalf of our team and the project, which has been going on for 25 years, and will go on for at least 32 with the funding from this award. More than 15,000 participants have trusted us and allowed us to provide the data that has gone into all these publications and made a real impact on health equity.”
Lisabeth and Morgenstern have a team of about 30 U-M researchers and staff, including several based in Corpus Christi, who manage the day-to-day operations of the study, going into hospitals to meet with patients and obtain data.
“Epidemiology is the foundation by which we understand disease burden in a population, evaluate emerging trends including disparities, and design impactful interventions,” said Lisabeth, who is also senior associate dean for faculty affairs at Michigan Public Health.
“The significance of this award for an epidemiologic study such as ours signals the critical importance of acquiring a deep understanding of stroke within and between subgroups of the population. Our longstanding work in a diverse, biethnic community allows us to explore the many facets impacting stroke risk and recovery in Mexican American persons, including social determinants of health and other risk and resilience factors such as aspects of Mexican American culture.”
<h4 class="wp-block-heading">The project has gone through many cycles</h4>
Early on, the researchers documented clear disparities. Mexican Americans had higher rates of stroke and worse outcomes than their non-Hispanic white counterparts. More recently, they have shown that some of those disparities have disappeared. Incidence of stroke, recurrence rates and all-cause mortality have become roughly equal between Mexican Americans and whites. However, outcome disparities—such as worse neurological or cognitive outcomes following a stroke—remain.
With the help of this new funding, Morgenstern and Lisabeth will kick off the sixth five-year cycle of BASIC. While they had previously only enrolled patients 45 and older, they will now expand their study to include people ages 35 to 44. Having seen a recent uptick in the number of people having strokes in midlife, the researchers wanted to look more carefully at a younger population.
In addition, the researchers will explore resilience mechanisms within the Mexican American population.
“We’ve always made comparisons between Mexican American and non-Hispanic white populations,” Morgenstern said. “Now we’re going to look more closely within the Mexican American population to understand why some people get better after a stroke and others don’t. We’ll look at psychosocial, medical, cultural, spiritual and other factors that may explain these differences.”
The Javits Awards were established by the U.S. Congress to honor the late Sen. Jacob Javits of New York, who for several years battled amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a degenerative neurological disorder also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Javits was a strong advocate for support of research in a wide variety of disorders of the brain and nervous system.
The Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award is a conditional seven-year research grant given to scientists selected by staff and the National Advisory Neurological Disorders and Stroke Council from among the pool of competing applicants during a given grants cycle. Awardees must have demonstrated exceptional scientific excellence and productivity in one of the areas of neurological research supported by the NINDS, have proposals of the highest scientific merit, and be judged highly likely to be able to continue to do research on the cutting edge of their science.
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<title>‘Saturdays in the D’ expands summer offerings for students and adults</title>
<link>https://news.umich.edu/saturdays-in-the-d-expands-summer-offerings-for-students-and-adults/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Fri, 10 May 2024 18:17:01 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Education & Society]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Event Announcements]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[News Releases]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Detroit]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.umich.edu/?p=188372</guid>
<description><![CDATA[A partnership between the University of Michigan and the city of Detroit, the 2024 Saturdays in the D program provides free access to high-quality learning experiences for Detroit middle school and high school students, as well as professional development opportunities for adult residents.]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/mc-image-cache/2024/05/saturdays-in-the-d-expands-summer-offerings-for-students-and-adults.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/saturdays-in-the-d-expands-summer-offerings-for-students-and-adults-1024x683.jpg" alt="Rapheal French poses with his certificate of completion. Image courtesy: Saturdays in the D" class="wp-image-188374" srcset="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/saturdays-in-the-d-expands-summer-offerings-for-students-and-adults-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/saturdays-in-the-d-expands-summer-offerings-for-students-and-adults-300x200.jpg 300w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/saturdays-in-the-d-expands-summer-offerings-for-students-and-adults-768x512.jpg 768w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/mc-image-cache/2024/05/saturdays-in-the-d-expands-summer-offerings-for-students-and-adults.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Rapheal French poses with his certificate of completion. Image courtesy: Saturdays in the D</figcaption></figure>
DETROIT—<a href="https://detroit.umich.edu/engagement-projects/featured-projects/saturdays-in-the-d/">Saturdays in the D</a> returns for another summer of learning and enrichment for residents of Detroit, Hamtramck and Highland Park.
A partnership between the University of Michigan and the city of Detroit, the 2024 Saturdays in the D program provides free access to high-quality learning experiences for Detroit middle school and high school students, as well as professional development opportunities for adult residents.
“We are thrilled that Detroit youth participating in the program this year will have the opportunity to experience higher learning on the campus of one of the world’s best universities,” said Mayor Mike Duggan. “Adults in our community will also be introduced to enrichment courses as part of Saturdays in the D’s commitment to provide our residents with the tools and skills they need to succeed.”
The 2024 program, which begins in June, will provide enrichment opportunities focused on STEM/STEAM camps offered by U-M that encourage learning and expose students to new skills, interests and potential career considerations.
“We are excited to build on the success of this outstanding program with expanded offerings as we continue to strive to be the university for Michigan,” said Scott Shireman, director of the U-M Center for Innovation in Detroit. “Our commitment to Detroit is obviously a huge part of that and we look forward to increasing our engagement with the community as we move forward with UMCI.”
UMCI staff coordinate the Saturdays in the D programming. The center, under construction, expects to open in 2027.
<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Youth camps & opportunities</h3>
Saturdays in the D youth programming is focused on science, technology, engineering and arts-based education for Detroit middle and high school students. Despite the name, not every program is offered on Saturdays. The program strives to provide a range of different activities and structures to meet the various interests and needs of Detroit students.
“This year’s set of opportunities are exceptional—from applying physics to learning to become an entrepreneur, exploring careers in the city’s art scene, learning Python and AI, or spending a week learning about the Detroit River,” said Lauren Atkins Budde, director of academic content strategy for the U-M Center for Innovation. “The people behind these programs are incredibly passionate and devoted to helping Detroit students connect to a huge range of interests and future careers. This summer is all about having fun and learning in supportive, innovative environments.”
What to know:
<ul>
<li>Programs are offered by different units within the University of Michigan and will have their own unique schedule, set of activities, registration process and location.</li>
<li>Participants must register for each camp individually but can register for more than one as long as they do not occur at the same time.</li>
<li>Some may recur on Saturdays, others are one or two weeks long, and still others may be residential where students stay overnight on the U-M Ann Arbor campus.</li>
<li>Some camps will list application and/or tuition fees. These program costs are free to residents of Detroit, Hamtramck and Highland Park and will be covered by Saturdays in the D.</li>
<li>Some camps are located within the city of Detroit; others may occur in Ann Arbor. For Detroit students interested in participating in those camps offered on the U-M Ann Arbor campus, free transportation can be provided through Saturdays in the D.</li>
</ul>
Middle school camps
<ul>
<li>Applying Physics in the D</li>
<li>Thinkabit Lab Tech for Good Camp</li>
<li>Engineering Academy</li>
<li>WISE GISE</li>
<li>Galaxy Girls+</li>
</ul>
High school camps
<ul>
<li>Intro to Entrepreneurship</li>
<li>Career Connections in the Arts</li>
<li>Girls Who Code Summer Experience</li>
<li>Intro to Data Science and AI</li>
<li>Detroit River Scholars</li>
<li>WISE Python Bootcamp</li>
<li>Harper Academy</li>
<li>NAF Future Ready Scholars</li>
<li>Joy of Coding</li>
</ul>
Adult professional development opportunities
The Saturdays in the D adult learning program is focused on job skills around leadership, business, programming and emerging technology. Participants can sign up for one certificate course of their choosing, and also have access to short workshops around ChatGPT and project management. The adult program will begin in late June.
For more information on courses and registration details, visit <a href="https://detroit.umich.edu/engagement-projects/featured-projects/saturdays-in-the-d/">Saturdays in the D</a>.
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<title>ER screening tool can help identify youth at risk of experiencing firearm violence</title>
<link>https://news.umich.edu/er-screening-tool-can-help-identify-youth-at-risk-of-experiencing-firearm-violence/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Kate Barnes, U-M Office of the Vice President for Research]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 08 May 2024 20:14:44 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Education & Society]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Health]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[News Releases]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Firearms]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[youth]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.umich.edu/?p=188361</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Doctors may be better able to identify young adults and youth at risk of firearm violence by implementing a new screening questionnaire, according to a study published by researchers at the University of Michigan.]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/mc-image-cache/2024/05/er-screening-tool-can-help-identify-youth-at-risk-of-experiencing-firearm-violence.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="574" src="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/er-screening-tool-can-help-identify-youth-at-risk-of-experiencing-firearm-violence-1024x574.jpg" alt="Concept photo of a nurse interviewing a patient. Image credit: Nicole Smith, made with Midjourney" class="wp-image-188363" srcset="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/er-screening-tool-can-help-identify-youth-at-risk-of-experiencing-firearm-violence-1024x574.jpg 1024w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/er-screening-tool-can-help-identify-youth-at-risk-of-experiencing-firearm-violence-300x168.jpg 300w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/er-screening-tool-can-help-identify-youth-at-risk-of-experiencing-firearm-violence-768x430.jpg 768w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/mc-image-cache/2024/05/er-screening-tool-can-help-identify-youth-at-risk-of-experiencing-firearm-violence.jpg 1456w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure>
<aside class="wp-block-michigan-news-callout alignright ">
Study: <a href="https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M24-0026">Association Between the SaFETy Score and Self-reported Firearm Violence Among Young Adults Presenting to Emergency Departments in Three Cities: A Cross-Sectional Study</a> (DOI: 10.7326/M24-0026)
</aside>
Doctors may be better able to identify young adults and youth at risk of firearm violence by implementing a new screening questionnaire, according to a study published by researchers at the University of Michigan.
The SaFETy (Serious fighting, Friend weapon-carrying, community Environment and firearm Threats) score is a clinical tool developed at U-M and is believed to be the only free resource of its kind.
It uses four items and a 10-point scale to specifically identify firearm violence risk among young adults and youth. The items include:
<ul>
<li>Frequency of fighting behaviors</li>
<li>Number of friends who carry weapons</li>
<li>Frequency of hearing gunshots in their neighborhood</li>
<li>Frequency of experiencing firearm violence threats</li>
</ul>
The findings, published in Annals of Internal Medicine, show that those who score higher on the SaFETy score scale are more likely to have experienced some form of firearm violence.
“Youth are being disproportionately affected by firearm injuries, fatal and nonfatal, and firearms are the No. 1 cause of death for children and teens in the U.S.,” said Jason Goldstick, U-M research associate professor of emergency medicine and co-director of the Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention’s Data and Methods Core.
“By evaluating, tailoring and utilizing tools like the SaFETy score, we can better identify young adults and youth in crisis and, therefore, increase opportunities for intervention and expand access to support.”
Researchers note the preliminary results of the study suggest the SaFETy score may be important for discussions around the allocation of resources for firearm injury prevention. The study also shows the tool may be an effective, and less intrusive, way to identify young adults and youth with firearm violence history, which could be important to both tailoring and implementing interventions.
Related story: <a href="https://www.michiganmedicine.org/health-lab/predicting-patients-future-firearm-violence-risk-emergency-department">Predicting a Patient’s Future Firearm Violence Risk in the Emergency Department</a>
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<title>Researchers hope new report fuels reproductive health care research involving minors</title>
<link>https://news.umich.edu/researchers-hope-new-report-fuels-reproductive-health-care-research-involving-minors/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 08 May 2024 19:55:25 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Education & Society]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Expert Q&A]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Health]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Law & Politics]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[News Releases]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[reproductive health]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[reproductive rights]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[youth]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.umich.edu/?p=188344</guid>
<description><![CDATA[A new report from Youth Reproductive Equity, a national collaborative of researchers and clinicians, outlines a research agenda to examine the impact of the Dobbs decision on minors.]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/mc-image-cache/2024/05/researchers-hope-new-report-fuels-reproductive-health-care-research-involving-minors.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="574" src="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/researchers-hope-new-report-fuels-reproductive-health-care-research-involving-minors-1024x574.jpg" alt="Concept photo of minors advocating for reproductive freedom. Image credit: Nicole Smith, made with Midjourney" class="wp-image-188353" srcset="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/researchers-hope-new-report-fuels-reproductive-health-care-research-involving-minors-1024x574.jpg 1024w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/researchers-hope-new-report-fuels-reproductive-health-care-research-involving-minors-300x168.jpg 300w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/researchers-hope-new-report-fuels-reproductive-health-care-research-involving-minors-768x430.jpg 768w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/mc-image-cache/2024/05/researchers-hope-new-report-fuels-reproductive-health-care-research-involving-minors.jpg 1456w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure>
EXPERT Q&A
<aside class="wp-block-michigan-news-callout alignright ">
Related story: <a href="https://psc.isr.umich.edu/news/abortion-policy-is-changing-every-day-minors-are-the-most-vulnerable-and-the-least-understood/">Abortion policy is changing every day. Minors are the most vulnerable– and the least understood</a>
</aside>
A new report from Youth Reproductive Equity, a national collaborative of researchers and clinicians, outlines a research agenda to examine the impact of the Dobbs decision on minors.
The lead author of the report, “<a href="https://www.youthreproequity.org/research-agenda">Adolescence Post-Dobbs: A Policy-Driven Research Agenda for Minor Adolescents and Abortion</a>,” is <a href="https://nursing.umich.edu/faculty-staff/faculty/julie-maslowsky">Julie Maslowsky</a>, associate professor at the University of Michigan School of Nursing and an affiliate of the Population Studies Center at the Institute for Social Research. She discusses details of the report.
<figure class="wp-block-image alignright size-thumbnail"><a href="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/mc-image-cache/2024/05/Julie-Maslowsky.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="100" height="100" src="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Julie-Maslowsky-100x100.jpg" alt="Julie Maslowsky" class="wp-image-188345" srcset="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Julie-Maslowsky-100x100.jpg 100w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Julie-Maslowsky-300x300.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 100px) 100vw, 100px" /></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Julie Maslowsky</figcaption></figure>
To the best of your knowledge, what has happened to adolescents’ access to abortion and reproductive health care after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade and the constitutional right to an abortion two years ago?
Prior to Dobbs, minors already faced many more legal and logistical barriers to abortion access than adults. Now, those barriers have increased. More than half of U.S. adolescents now live in a state with severely restricted or no abortion access. We don’t yet know the full impact of these restrictions on young people seeking abortion or on adolescents who are coming of age at this chaotic time. However, we know that even very young rape victims are unable to access abortion in restrictive states and that there has been a spike in the number of young people seeking permanent sterilization, with higher rates of sterilization in states with abortion bans. The impacts are already dire.
Why are minors underrepresented in abortion and reproductive health research studies and will this report address that?
The field of abortion research does not have a strong tradition of including minors in their studies. We identify six enduring and overarching challenges relating to infrastructure, oversight, and workforce composition and capacity that systematically hamper the field’s ability to produce actionable research evidence related to minors and abortion. We propose recommendations to address these challenges: researcher training; diversify the research workforce; encourage interdisciplinary expertise; eliminate roadblocks to approving research proposals involving minors; prioritize funding; and disseminate and translate research.
What impact does excluding minors have on policy and reproductive health?
Minors are disproportionately impacted by new abortion restrictions and are often targeted by restrictive state abortion policies or overlooked in protective policies. Minor abortion access is regulated by all the laws that impact adults as well as many minor-specific laws, which we review in our report. Even when minors can overcome legal obstacles, they face greater barriers related to cost, information and access than adults. Minor adolescents are in a vulnerable position legally. In political negotiations, minors’ rights are often restricted as a compromise in order to secure votes for abortion policies that apply to adults. Restricting the rights of minors sets a dangerous precedent for other marginalized groups.
What are the areas of adolescent reproductive health care policy and research that are most neglected or misunderstood by science?
Minors are systematically underrepresented in all areas of abortion research. We need to include them in all types of abortion-related studies.
Regarding minors and abortion and reproductive health care policies, are there areas that are more neglected or misunderstood by the public than others?
One common misunderstanding is that policies that require parents to be involved in a minor’s decision to have an abortion are protective. In fact, research shows that these policies cause harm to those youth for whom involving their parents is not possible or not safe. Several studies document evidence of delays in care-seeking after introduction of a parental involvement requirement, in particular for those traveling from out of state for care.
Delays are even more pronounced among those who cannot involve a parent and instead seek judicial bypass. For example, studies of minors seeking judicial bypass in Massachusetts and Illinois highlight that they obtain abortion care 5-6 days later than those who satisfy parental consent or notification requirements, sometimes pushing them past the 10-week limit for medication abortion and limiting their options for care. Judicial bypass has also been shown to cause emotional harm and trauma to young people seeking abortion and to not consistently function as a true alternative to parental involvement in some settings where requests for bypass are denied.
What are a few of the most compelling facts that researchers do know about minors and abortion that the public should know?
Abortion restrictions do not only impact minors who become pregnant or those who seek abortion care. Restricted access to reproductive health care is impacting all U.S. minors. The experience of adolescence itself has fundamentally changed: adolescents are thinking differently about many aspects of their lives: their relationships, where to live or go to college, how to vote, and what their future may look like. For example, recently, several studies have shown nationwide increases in the number of young people who are choosing to undergo permanent sterilization. These increases are larger in states with abortion bans.
Who will use this report and why would they want to use it?
The report’s target audiences are researchers, funders of research and individuals and organizations who help translate research evidence into policy. The recommendations of the report will help to shape research and funding portfolios and guide research questions to be more applicable to policy. The report is a comprehensive treatment of the issue, from why minors matter in the abortion debate and how they’re driving it, to what state policies currently impact minors’ abortion access (either by protecting or restricting it), to a specific research agenda focused on policy-driving data, to recommendations for building the field’s (and the nation’s) capacity to generate evidence-based policies for minors.
Co-authors include Laura Lindberg of Rutgers University and Emily Mann of the University of South Carolina.
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<title>How much influence does social media have on India’s ongoing elections?</title>
<link>https://news.umich.edu/how-much-influence-does-social-media-have-on-indias-ongoing-elections/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 08 May 2024 14:43:00 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[International]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Law & Politics]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.umich.edu/?p=188282</guid>
<description><![CDATA[India's multiphase general elections have reached the halfway mark. The results of the seven-phase election, running from April 19 to June 1, will be announced June 4. This year's election, the world's largest with 960 million eligible voters, will determine 543 seats of the Lok Sabha (the lower house of India's parliament) and India's next prime minister.]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
FACULTY Q&A
India’s multiphase general elections have reached the halfway mark.
The results of the seven-phase election, running from April 19 to June 1, will be announced June 4. This year’s election, the world’s largest with 960 million eligible voters, will determine 543 seats of the Lok Sabha (the lower house of India’s parliament) and India’s next prime minister.
<figure class="wp-block-image alignright size-thumbnail"><a href="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/mc-image-cache/2024/03/Pal_Joyojeet_032022_courtyard_02-Joyojeet-Pal.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="100" height="100" src="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Pal_Joyojeet_032022_courtyard_02-Joyojeet-Pal-100x100.jpg" alt="Joyojeet Pal" class="wp-image-184986" srcset="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Pal_Joyojeet_032022_courtyard_02-Joyojeet-Pal-100x100.jpg 100w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Pal_Joyojeet_032022_courtyard_02-Joyojeet-Pal-300x300.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 100px) 100vw, 100px" /></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Joyojeet Pal</figcaption></figure>
<a href="https://www.si.umich.edu/people/joyojeet-pal">Joyojeet Pal</a>, associate professor at the University of Michigan School of Information, discusses social media’s role in the current elections. Pal studies technology in democracy and labor, specializing in politicians’ use of social media and misinformation, particularly in India.
How popular is social media in India?
It is estimated that about half a billion Indians are <a href="https://www.statista.com/topics/5113/social-media-usage-in-india/#topicOverview">social media users</a>, most using WhatsApp, YouTube, or both.
How big of a role do you think social media is playing in these elections?
Social media plays a massive role on two fronts. The first is the top-down communication from politicians to citizens, which has, for all functional purposes, moved from broadcast television or print to direct communication. Almost every prominent politician uses Twitter/X as an output channel at this point. In addition, they have teams that work on their Facebook, Koo, WhatsApp, YouTube or Instagram strategies, which involve direct outreach or through influencers. The second significant change involving social media and elections is the last mile outreach on WhatsApp, which includes regular/daily messaging with political or ideological content and voting-day reminders for turnout maximization. The WhatsApp coordination is often done using electoral roll information, so politicians have very granular information about who will and will not vote for them and where the pressure points for maximizing results lie.
How do you think AI on social media is affecting these elections?
There is a significant impact on the quality of messaging since social media teams working for politicians now use technology to check the quality of messaging before they put things out, as well as the data collection and analysis work, which has a good amount of technology. There is some use of AI for things like generating stock images, and while deepfake videos are the thing that gets talked about a lot, there is a lot less of that happening in practice and we happen to hear of it only because the cases where it is caught quickly make the news.
Is there a particular form of social media that spreads more false information than others?
In general, encrypted platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram are where the most misinformation gets spread because there are no structured avenues for checks. Our <a href="https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3491102.3517588">research</a> found that fact-checking does not work well on WhatsApp because the people who spread the most misinformation tend to be up the hierarchy, so they rarely get challenged.
How do you think the political parties are using social media in India?
At this point, most major political parties have very comparable strategies. They have brand managers who work at the national level, large teams for major national leaders, and smaller teams dedicated to working for each politician standing for a local election. Since state legislature and national elections are underway, the teams’ sizes can vary.
How can Indians avoid misinformation on social media or at least know the difference?
As such, the problem is not “misinformation,” typically understood as explicitly false information, but innuendo, which is the constant flow of polarizing content. This is much more dangerous since it cannot be “debunked” per se but leads to a slow and much longer-term radicalization of people.
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<item>
<title>Public invited to free summer lecture series at U-M Biological Station</title>
<link>https://news.umich.edu/public-invited-to-free-summer-lecture-series-at-u-m-biological-station/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Chrissy Billau, U-M Biological Station]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 08 May 2024 12:45:09 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Education & Society]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Event Announcements]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[News Releases]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.umich.edu/?p=188278</guid>
<description><![CDATA[PELLSTON, Michigan—The University of Michigan Biological Station, a more than 10,000-acre research and teaching campus along Douglas Lake just south of the Mackinac Bridge, will host distinguished scientists, artists and authors from across the United States as part of its 2024 Summer Lecture Series.]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/mc-image-cache/2024/05/public-invited-to-free-summer-lecture-series-at-u-m-biological-station-Camp-from-South-Fishtail-Bay-June-2019-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="768" src="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/public-invited-to-free-summer-lecture-series-at-u-m-biological-station-Camp-from-South-Fishtail-Bay-June-2019-1024x768.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-188284" srcset="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/public-invited-to-free-summer-lecture-series-at-u-m-biological-station-Camp-from-South-Fishtail-Bay-June-2019-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/public-invited-to-free-summer-lecture-series-at-u-m-biological-station-Camp-from-South-Fishtail-Bay-June-2019-300x225.jpg 300w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/public-invited-to-free-summer-lecture-series-at-u-m-biological-station-Camp-from-South-Fishtail-Bay-June-2019-768x576.jpg 768w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/public-invited-to-free-summer-lecture-series-at-u-m-biological-station-Camp-from-South-Fishtail-Bay-June-2019-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/public-invited-to-free-summer-lecture-series-at-u-m-biological-station-Camp-from-South-Fishtail-Bay-June-2019-2048x1536.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The U-M Biological Station from South Fishtail Bay, Douglas Lake. Image credit: U-M Biological Station.</figcaption></figure>
<aside class="wp-block-michigan-news-callout alignright ">
<a href="https://lsa.umich.edu/umbs/news-events/all-news/search-news/public-invited-to-free-summer-lecture-series-at-u-m-biological-s0.html">Biological Station’s full slate of free summer lectures</a>
</aside>
PELLSTON, Michigan—The <a href="https://lsa.umich.edu/umbs">University of Michigan Biological Station</a>, a more than 10,000-acre research and teaching campus along Douglas Lake just south of the Mackinac Bridge, will host distinguished scientists, artists and authors from across the United States as part of its 2024 Summer Lecture Series.
Featured on Wednesdays at 7 p.m. from May 29 through July 31 at the U-M campus in northern Michigan, topics include the evolution of foraging traits in hummingbirds, the adventures of U-M botanists who braved the Grand Canyon in 1938, environmental mercury toxicity, and Indigenous languages and grammatical gender.
The community is invited to the free, public events at the U-M Biological Station, located at 9133 Biological Road in Pellston. The talks will take place in Gates Lecture Hall.
“We are proud to welcome a spectacular lineup of dynamic speakers to our field station who will open windows into our natural world and ignite discussions,” said Aimée Classen, director of the U-M Biological Station and a professor in the U-M Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.
“Families are always invited to visit and use our beautiful trails, but on summer evenings they also have the opportunity to hear directly from leading experts in the U.S. focused on critical environmental issues and learn how the science impacts all of us.”
The summer lecture series begins May 29 with “Alternative Community States in Floral Microbes,” a Bennett Lecture in Mycology and Plant Biology. Tadashi Fukami, professor of biology and Earth system science at Stanford University, is an ecologist known for exploring complex plant and animal communities with small-scale experiments.
At Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve in California, Fukami studies the interactions between sticky monkey flowers, the hummingbirds and insects that pollinate them, and the colonies of microbes that live in the nectar of these flowers.
The June 5 lecture is titled “Michigan Botanists Brave the Grand Canyon.” Melissa Sevigny is a science journalist at KNAU (Arizona Public Radio) and author of the award-winning book “Brave the Wild River: The Untold Story of Two Women Who Mapped the Botany of the Grand Canyon.”
The book features the grand adventures of Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter, two pioneering U-M botanists who frequented the Biological Station throughout their careers. The two women took a historic boat trip down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon in 1938 to record the plants that lived along what was then the most dangerous river in the world.
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<item>
<title>Oakland County economy logs nearly full recovery from pandemic, with more growth in forecast</title>
<link>https://news.umich.edu/oakland-county-economy-logs-nearly-full-recovery-from-pandemic-with-more-growth-in-forecast/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 08 May 2024 12:30:00 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Business & Economy]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[News Releases]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Michigan]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Michigan economy]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.umich.edu/?p=188280</guid>
<description><![CDATA[For Oakland County, most of the pandemic-fueled recession is in the rearview mirror, and its economy is expected to keep growing in most areas over the next few years, according to University of Michigan economists.]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
For Oakland County, most of the pandemic-fueled recession is in the rearview mirror, and its economy is expected to keep growing in most areas over the next few years, according to University of Michigan economists.
Oakland, one of the state’s most populous counties and among the nation’s most prosperous, is back to or even better than pre-pandemic levels when it comes to its jobless rate, labor force rate and gross domestic product, though the count of payroll jobs within its boundaries was still shy of a full recovery.
In its annual forecast of the Oakland County economy, the <a href="https://lsa.umich.edu/econ/rsqe.html">U-M Research Seminar in Quantitative Economics</a> predicts the number of jobs will grow by about 1% annually (about 8,000 jobs per year) through 2026 and the jobless rate should hold steady—around 3%—during the same period. By the end of 2026, the economists say the county’s labor force should be 3.8% higher than before the pandemic.
Among the prime gainers: the private health and social services sector, which the economists forecast will add a total of 6,800 jobs over the next three years.
“We are counting on continued growth in the county’s labor force to accommodate ongoing job growth,” said <a href="https://lsa.umich.edu/econ/people/faculty/gehrlich.html">Gabriel Ehrlic</a>h, who leads RSQE, U-M’s economic forecasting team, and co-authored the forecast with Jacob Burton, Donald Grimes and Michael McWilliams.
The forecast is “less bullish” when it comes to real wage growth: The economists expect average real wages in the county to grow by .5% during the next three years—modest growth due in part to local inflation that runs well above its pre-pandemic norm. Still, they say real wages are forecast to stand 4% above 2019 levels in 2026.
The forecast notes that Oakland County consistently has the highest gross domestic product (the value of all goods and services produced less the value of goods and services used in production) of all counties in Michigan. In fact, the county’s total GDP—representing roughly $127 billion in 2022—was higher than 14 states and had the 30th highest nominal GDP among all U.S. counties.
The county also fares well when stacked up against its peers—32 other U.S. counties with populations between 950,000 and 1.5 million residents in 2022. Oakland, with 1.27 million inhabitants, ranks in the top 10 in professional occupations, child poverty, median family income and educational attainment.
In this year’s forecast, the economists also examine Oakland’s advanced manufacturing industries. The county has a relatively high share of employment, 11.5%, in advanced manufacturing and related industries.
It particularly excels at providing services support to advanced manufacturing, with a concentration more than double the U.S. average. One concern, however, is that Oakland’s average wage trails the national average for these industries.
Despite a “relatively rosy forecast,” Ehrlich and colleagues caution that economic challenges loom for the county and state overall because of an aging population. They expect residents who are 65 and older will account for more than 20% of total state population by the end of 2026, and growth likely will be hindered as more people reach retirement age.
Although the county isn’t immune from those challenges, the forecast says it stacks up well against its peers and is “well-positioned for the future.” Even so, the economists advise that Oakland will increasingly need to compete for talent, especially in its advanced manufacturing industries.
“We project that Oakland can resist the downward pull of demographic trends on its workforce over the next three years,” Ehirlich said. “The resilience of the county’s economy positions it for continued progress in the years ahead.”
The annual U-M forecast of Oakland County’s economy was hosted by the county’s Department of Economic Development.
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<title>More feelings of misinformation, more news avoidance, U-M study shows</title>
<link>https://news.umich.edu/more-feelings-of-misinformation-more-news-avoidance-u-m-study-shows/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Tue, 07 May 2024 18:14:32 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Education & Society]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Law & Politics]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[News Releases]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[democracy]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[misinformation]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Social Media]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.umich.edu/?p=188267</guid>
<description><![CDATA[As people have more difficulty distinguishing fact from fiction in the United States, they are more likely to feel news fatigue and avoid news altogether, according to a University of Michigan study.]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/mc-image-cache/2024/05/more-feelings-of-misinformation-more-news-avoidance-u-m-study-shows.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/more-feelings-of-misinformation-more-news-avoidance-u-m-study-shows-1024x683.jpg" alt="Stressed man tired of information and news. Image credit: iStock" class="wp-image-188269" srcset="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/more-feelings-of-misinformation-more-news-avoidance-u-m-study-shows-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/more-feelings-of-misinformation-more-news-avoidance-u-m-study-shows-300x200.jpg 300w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/more-feelings-of-misinformation-more-news-avoidance-u-m-study-shows-768x512.jpg 768w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/mc-image-cache/2024/05/more-feelings-of-misinformation-more-news-avoidance-u-m-study-shows.jpg 1253w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure>
<aside class="wp-block-michigan-news-callout alignright ">
Study: <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1461670X.2024.2345676?scroll=top&needAccess=true">Feeling misinformed? The role of perceived difficulty in evaluating information online in news avoidance and news fatigue</a> doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2024.2345676
</aside>
As people have more difficulty distinguishing fact from fiction in the United States, they are more likely to feel news fatigue and avoid news altogether, according to a University of Michigan study.
More than an unintentional avoidance because of lack of media exposure, the researchers say people actively avoid news.
The researchers also find that people who identify as strong Democrats begin relying more on nonpartisan news media when feeling misinformed, while people who identify as strong Republicans report using less news media overall, including less conservative news media. Their results are published in Journalism Studies.
“The more confusing or difficult to navigate that you find the news environment, the more you actively avoid news—but it’s not just news,” said lead author <a href="https://lsa.umich.edu/comm/people/regular-faculty/ariel-hasell.html">Ariel Hasell</a>, U-M assistant professor of communication and media and faculty affiliate of the Center for Political Studies at the Institute for Social Research. “News avoidance also includes people avoiding discussing politics with others as well. So it’s not just not consuming news, you’re stepping out of the conversation completely.”
Hasell and <a href="https://lsa.umich.edu/comm/people/graduate-students/audreyha.html">Audrey Halversen</a>, U-M doctoral student in communication and media, drew data from three waves of a national online survey of adults in the United States. The first two waves were collected leading up to the 2020 presidential election, and the final wave was collected shortly after. Nearly 1,200 adults completed the surveys, and the sample closely resembled the U.S. adult population.
The researchers asked the respondents to rate their feelings of being misinformed online, their active news avoidance, their news fatigue and their online news media use. They also asked the respondents detailed questions about what kinds of news and news websites they read, and found that news avoidance and fatigue increased leading up to the 2020 presidential election.
Additionally, the researchers showed that being white, conservative and using more conservative media were all significantly associated with feeling more misinformed online, while political interest, political knowledge and nonpartisan news use were significantly associated with feeling less misinformed online.
“For a lot of people, public discussion about misinformation, the crowdedness of digital media environments and social media, and the amount of information that comes out from so many different sources, drives them away from news,” Hasell said. “There’s this paradox that the more information that is available, the more people just opt out because it becomes too hard for them to make sense of it.”
Hasell says she thinks the United States’ low trust environment is contributing to the effect.
“That is, when we don’t trust institutions, we don’t have those mental shortcuts to determine whether nonpartisan news outlets are sharing information viewers can trust,” she said. “Ten years ago, 20 years ago, 30 years ago, we had a higher trust environment. Even among Democrats, the trust in mainstream news is declining. If you looked at another Western democracy that had more institutional trust in the news media, I’m not sure you would get this same effect.”
]]></content:encoded>
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<item>
<title>U-M hand health initiative pairs students with older adults to improve hand function</title>
<link>https://news.umich.edu/u-m-hand-health-initiative-pairs-students-with-older-adults-to-improve-hand-function/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Sarah Cahalan and Laura Bailey]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Tue, 07 May 2024 17:46:57 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Education & Society]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Health]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[News Releases]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Aging]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[caregiving]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.umich.edu/?p=188247</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Researchers know that fine motor skills decline with age, but despite the many daily tasks that are performed with the hands—dressing, grooming, taking medications—there isn't much research on hand health in older adults.]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/mc-image-cache/2024/05/u-m-hand-health-initiative-pairs-students-with-older-adults-to-improve-hand-function.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/u-m-hand-health-initiative-pairs-students-with-older-adults-to-improve-hand-function-1024x683.jpg" alt="Rachel Logue Cook shows three master's students how to conduct the exercises needed for Hands and Health at Home. Image credit: José Juarez" class="wp-image-188258" srcset="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/u-m-hand-health-initiative-pairs-students-with-older-adults-to-improve-hand-function-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/u-m-hand-health-initiative-pairs-students-with-older-adults-to-improve-hand-function-300x200.jpg 300w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/u-m-hand-health-initiative-pairs-students-with-older-adults-to-improve-hand-function-768x512.jpg 768w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/mc-image-cache/2024/05/u-m-hand-health-initiative-pairs-students-with-older-adults-to-improve-hand-function.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Rachel Logue Cook shows three master’s students how to conduct the exercises needed for Hands and Health at Home. Image credit: José Juarez</figcaption></figure>
Researchers know that fine motor skills decline with age, but despite the many daily tasks that are performed with the hands—dressing, grooming, taking medications—there isn’t much research on hand health in older adults.
<a href="https://www.kines.umich.edu/directory/susan-brown">Susan Brown</a>, associate professor of movement science at the University of Michigan School of Kinesiology, hopes to change that. Through her Motor Control Lab, Brown oversees the Hands and Health at Home program, where kinesiology students visit older adults in the Ann Arbor area twice a week to perform exercises to improve hand function.
Hands and Health at Home began as a grant proposal from Ann Arbor Meals on Wheels. The U-M Health Department of Community Health Services, which houses Meals on Wheels, had funding available for community organizations to address priority areas, including obesity and related illnesses.
Meals on Wheels and Brown’s lab sought to address this issue by improving older adults’ hand function and thus increasing their ability to access and consume healthy foods.
The initiative developed from there into a for credit experiential study course where students would visit older adults in their homes and teach them exercises focused on improving the dexterity and strength of their hands.
<a href="https://www.kines.umich.edu/directory/rachel-logue-cook">Rachel Logue Cook</a> has run the program for five years. She recently successfully defended her doctoral dissertation.
“When I heard about the program, I thought, ‘Oh, this has teaching, this has aging, this has all the different aspects that I really enjoy in one project,'” she said.
Before sending students into clients’ homes, Logue Cook teaches them how to perform the exercises and monitor their clients’ progress, and how to keep sessions on track while still engaging in meaningful conversations.
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/mc-image-cache/2024/05/u-m-hand-health-initiative-pairs-students-with-older-adults-to-improve-hand-function-students.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/u-m-hand-health-initiative-pairs-students-with-older-adults-to-improve-hand-function-students-1024x683.jpg" alt="Two master's students observe as a Hands and Health at Home participant practices buttoning on a sample button board. Image credit: Erin Kirkland, Michigan Photography" class="wp-image-188251" srcset="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/u-m-hand-health-initiative-pairs-students-with-older-adults-to-improve-hand-function-students-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/u-m-hand-health-initiative-pairs-students-with-older-adults-to-improve-hand-function-students-300x200.jpg 300w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/u-m-hand-health-initiative-pairs-students-with-older-adults-to-improve-hand-function-students-768x512.jpg 768w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/u-m-hand-health-initiative-pairs-students-with-older-adults-to-improve-hand-function-students-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/mc-image-cache/2024/05/u-m-hand-health-initiative-pairs-students-with-older-adults-to-improve-hand-function-students.jpg 1800w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Two master’s students observe as a Hands and Health at Home participant practices buttoning on a sample button board. Image credit: Erin Kirkland, Michigan Photography</figcaption></figure>
<h3 class="wp-block-heading">The program benefits students and older adults</h3>
Logue Cook collects data at each client’s first and last session, which was used for her dissertation and also the larger work of Brown’s lab. A small <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38084764/">pilot study</a> of eight individuals who took the six-week training program was published in the Journal of Gerontology & Geriatrics Education in December.
The study found:
<ul>
<li>75% of clients reported better upper limb mobility after training.</li>
<li>Significant improvement in pinch strength was observed in most clients.</li>
<li>Dexterity and grip strength improved in several clients.</li>
<li>Modest improvements in psychosocial well-being occurred in three clients.</li>
<li>88% of trainers saw improvement in their client’s function.</li>
</ul>
George Valenta volunteered for the program because at age 90, his hand strength had declined. By the end, he saw significant improvement, opening water bottles that once gave him trouble and gripping the rowing machine handles with more force.
“I had absolutely outstanding students,” he said, adding that he appreciated their dedication to developing a tailored program for him. “We were the only group in the project that had perfect attendance. I had so much respect for them.”
Researchers know that there are disparities in hand health, with older Black and Hispanic adults experiencing greater declines than older white adults. They also know that more than 90% of homebound older adults need assistance with at least one activity of daily living, so this type of training is of particular interest to this population, although it’s not just for homebound adults.
“We have enough evidence now to say we could make recommendations,” Brown said. “You know, ‘Here are activities that you could be doing on your own.’ This could go into a nursing home. This doesn’t have to be one-on-one in a home setting.”
<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Program needs funding</h3>
Brown and Logue Cook are now working on securing long-term funding solutions to maintain and scale up the Hands and Health at Home program within U-M’s Movement Science curriculum. They are looking at ways to share their training with other organizations—from memory care facilities to rural senior centers—that might benefit.
“We currently have funding to run the program next fall. In the absence of support past that, it will be difficult to continue,” said Brown, who is looking for a part-time coordinator to work with the Meals on Wheels programs and with students.
Long-term goals include taking the program into local chronic care/memory care facilities and expanding to other Meals on Wheels programs. Brown would also like to reach people in the community with age-related hand impairments, such as stroke and Parkinson’s disease.
While it may not result in improved hand function in specific clinical populations, the intergenerational model can help with mood and feelings of isolation, Brown said.
“There’s a lot of different directions this program could go in, so right now it’s just, ‘How do we build it up?’ Because we know it works,” she said.
]]></content:encoded>
</item>
<item>
<title>Snowfall and drought: $4.8M field campaign will improve forecasts in western US, led by U-M</title>
<link>https://news.umich.edu/snowfall-and-drought-4-8m-field-campaign-will-improve-forecasts-in-western-us-led-by-u-m/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Derek Smith, U-M College of Engineering]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Mon, 06 May 2024 17:02:39 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Announcements]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[News Releases]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[climate change]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[drought]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[water]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.umich.edu/?p=188178</guid>
<description><![CDATA[A new science expedition in Yampa Valley, Colorado, will improve forecasts of snowfall and estimates of how climate change will impact snowpack and water availability in the western U.S. mountains, funded with $4.8M from the National Science Foundation.]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<h3 class="wp-block-heading">A mountaintop laboratory and a suite of radar instruments will study winter storms from large-scale cloud movement down to individual snowflakes in an NSF-funded project</h3>
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/mc-image-cache/2024/05/snowfall-and-drought-4-8m-field-campaign-will-improve-forecasts-in-western-us-led-by-u-m-StormPeakLab.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="576" src="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/snowfall-and-drought-4-8m-field-campaign-will-improve-forecasts-in-western-us-led-by-u-m-StormPeakLab-1024x576.jpg" alt="The outside of storm peak lab resembles a cabin at a ski resort, except it has several metal radio towers with instruments that collect data on the properties of clouds and snow." class="wp-image-188222" srcset="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/snowfall-and-drought-4-8m-field-campaign-will-improve-forecasts-in-western-us-led-by-u-m-StormPeakLab-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/snowfall-and-drought-4-8m-field-campaign-will-improve-forecasts-in-western-us-led-by-u-m-StormPeakLab-300x169.jpg 300w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/snowfall-and-drought-4-8m-field-campaign-will-improve-forecasts-in-western-us-led-by-u-m-StormPeakLab-768x432.jpg 768w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/snowfall-and-drought-4-8m-field-campaign-will-improve-forecasts-in-western-us-led-by-u-m-StormPeakLab-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/mc-image-cache/2024/05/snowfall-and-drought-4-8m-field-campaign-will-improve-forecasts-in-western-us-led-by-u-m-StormPeakLab.jpg 2000w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Storm Peak Lab sits atop Mt. Werner, a summit overlooking Colorado’s Yampa Valley. The lab has multiple instruments for studying clouds and snow, and scientists from the University of Michigan, Colorado State University, and Stony Brook University are bringing multiple radar instruments to link small-scale measurements of snow to larger changes to clouds and atmospheric currents. Image credit: Melissa Dobbins</figcaption></figure>
A new science expedition in Yampa Valley, Colorado, will improve forecasts of snowfall and estimates of how climate change will impact snowpack and water availability in the western U.S. mountains, funded with $4.8M from the National Science Foundation.
The field campaign, led by the University of Michigan, brings together scientists from the University of Washington, University of Wisconsin, University of Utah, Colorado State University and Stony Brook University. The team will use an extensive suite of radars and snow-sampling instruments to measure the size and shape of snowflakes and aerosols. The resulting catalog of data will help estimate water availability in the region, where <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/2017GL073551">around 67%</a> of the water in large reservoirs comes from melting snow and low winter snowfall can lead to <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1128834">more severe wildfires</a> the following summer.
<figure class="wp-block-image alignright size-large is-resized"><a href="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/mc-image-cache/2024/05/snowfall-and-drought-4-8m-field-campaign-will-improve-forecasts-in-western-us-led-by-u-m-microrain-radar.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="768" height="1024" src="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/snowfall-and-drought-4-8m-field-campaign-will-improve-forecasts-in-western-us-led-by-u-m-microrain-radar-768x1024.jpg" alt="A black radar dish is mounted on a metal pole on the roof of a building. A scientist in winter clothes has a hand on the dish and stands on a ladder leading down from the roof." class="wp-image-188202" style="width:300px" srcset="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/snowfall-and-drought-4-8m-field-campaign-will-improve-forecasts-in-western-us-led-by-u-m-microrain-radar-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/snowfall-and-drought-4-8m-field-campaign-will-improve-forecasts-in-western-us-led-by-u-m-microrain-radar-225x300.jpg 225w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/mc-image-cache/2024/05/snowfall-and-drought-4-8m-field-campaign-will-improve-forecasts-in-western-us-led-by-u-m-microrain-radar.jpg 1125w" sizes="(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px" /></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Claire Pettersen, an assistant professor of climate and space sciences and engineering at the University of Michigan, climbs down a ladder after installing a MicroRain Radar at a former field site. The radar will determine the properties of snow throughout a vertical column of air in the new project. Image credit: Steve Cooper, University of Utah</figcaption></figure>
“We hope that our data will ultimately improve winter storm forecasts and tell western cities when to expect a drought because of insufficient snowpack,” said <a href="https://clasp.engin.umich.edu/people/pettersen-claire/">Claire Pettersen</a>, an assistant professor of climate and space sciences and engineering at the University of Michigan and the lead principal investigator of the project.
The researchers will deploy more than 30 scientific instruments for studying climate and precipitation for the 2024-2025 winter season in Colorado’s Park Range, a region poorly covered by the National Weather Service’s radar network. The first instruments will arrive at Mt. Werner, a summit near Steamboat Springs, Colorado, this summer. Measurements will begin this December.
Collecting data over an entire winter will provide the statistical power necessary to more accurately predict snowpack after winter storms and over longer periods of time. The data catalog will go not just into an online repository for scientists, but directly to the Yampa Basin Rendezvous, a working group that brings together scientists and local water managers.
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/mc-image-cache/2024/05/snowfall-and-drought-4-8m-field-campaign-will-improve-forecasts-in-western-us-led-by-u-m-wind-vane-overlooking-Yampa-Valley.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="661" src="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/snowfall-and-drought-4-8m-field-campaign-will-improve-forecasts-in-western-us-led-by-u-m-wind-vane-overlooking-Yampa-Valley-1024x661.jpg" alt="A finned cylinder protrudes from a metal box situated on a tower on the snow-capped roof of a laboratory. The lab and tower overlook a mountainous landscape covered in bright white snow." class="wp-image-188195" srcset="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/snowfall-and-drought-4-8m-field-campaign-will-improve-forecasts-in-western-us-led-by-u-m-wind-vane-overlooking-Yampa-Valley-1024x661.jpg 1024w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/snowfall-and-drought-4-8m-field-campaign-will-improve-forecasts-in-western-us-led-by-u-m-wind-vane-overlooking-Yampa-Valley-300x194.jpg 300w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/snowfall-and-drought-4-8m-field-campaign-will-improve-forecasts-in-western-us-led-by-u-m-wind-vane-overlooking-Yampa-Valley-768x496.jpg 768w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/snowfall-and-drought-4-8m-field-campaign-will-improve-forecasts-in-western-us-led-by-u-m-wind-vane-overlooking-Yampa-Valley-1536x991.jpg 1536w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/mc-image-cache/2024/05/snowfall-and-drought-4-8m-field-campaign-will-improve-forecasts-in-western-us-led-by-u-m-wind-vane-overlooking-Yampa-Valley.jpg 2000w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">From their perch in a wind vane atop the Storm Peak Laboratory, several cloud probes measure the properties of snowflakes and aerosols. Image credit: Melissa Dobbins</figcaption></figure>
“There is a lot of discussion over how water is used in this basin, as it’s a region that could help feed water to large cities downstream, and water managers need good estimates of snowfall to use that water sustainably,” said <a href="https://faculty.utah.edu/u6007667-GANNET_HALLAR/hm/index.hml">Gannet Hallar</a>, professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Utah and director of <a href="https://atmos.utah.edu/storm_peak_lab/index.php">Storm Peak Laboratory</a>, a facility atop Mt. Werner that will house many of the instruments.
<figure class="wp-block-image alignright size-large is-resized"><a href="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/mc-image-cache/2024/05/snowfall-and-drought-4-8m-field-campaign-will-improve-forecasts-in-western-us-led-by-u-m-Gannet-imaging-probe.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="576" height="1024" src="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/snowfall-and-drought-4-8m-field-campaign-will-improve-forecasts-in-western-us-led-by-u-m-Gannet-imaging-probe-576x1024.jpg" alt="A woman stands with one hand on a cloud imaging probe, which looks like a golden cylinder that stands to about hip height. The probe has a smaller, antenna-like cylinder that extends from the domed top of the probe." class="wp-image-188210" style="width:300px" srcset="https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/snowfall-and-drought-4-8m-field-campaign-will-improve-forecasts-in-western-us-led-by-u-m-Gannet-imaging-probe-576x1024.jpg 576w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/snowfall-and-drought-4-8m-field-campaign-will-improve-forecasts-in-western-us-led-by-u-m-Gannet-imaging-probe-169x300.jpg 169w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/snowfall-and-drought-4-8m-field-campaign-will-improve-forecasts-in-western-us-led-by-u-m-Gannet-imaging-probe-768x1365.jpg 768w, https://news.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/mc-image-cache/2024/05/snowfall-and-drought-4-8m-field-campaign-will-improve-forecasts-in-western-us-led-by-u-m-Gannet-imaging-probe.jpg 844w" sizes="(max-width: 576px) 100vw, 576px" /></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Gannet Hallar, the director of Storm Peak Laboratory, stands with a cloud imaging probe, which will measure the size and shape of ice particles in clouds during the field campaign. Image credit: Melissa Dobbins</figcaption></figure>
By combining snow-sampling instruments with radars that indirectly study snow, the researchers will overcome a major challenge of using radar—it’s hard to connect the reflected radar signal with the size, shape and number of snowflakes, which determines the amount of water in the snow.
“We will have the actual characteristics of the snow that we can relate back to what we infer from our radar, which will improve what we can say about snow with radar in mountains moving forward,” said <a href="https://www.aos.wisc.edu/faculty/Rowe/">Angela Rowe</a>, professor of atmospheric and ocean sciences at the University of Wisconsin and a principal investigator of the study.
Without such fundamental information, today’s models of snowfall often underperform in mountainous areas.
“In the West, our forecasting models and satellite estimates of precipitation really underpredict snowfall and often don’t get the distribution right,” said <a href="https://atmos.uw.edu/faculty-and-research/core-faculty/lynn-mcmurdie/">Lynn McMurdie</a>, research professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Washington and a principal investigator of the study.
The team’s radars at Storm Peak Lab will use multiple radar frequencies for detecting snowflakes of many different sizes. At the same time, <a href="https://bdolan44.github.io/">Brenda Dolan</a>, research scientist at Colorado State University, will deploy the <a href="https://seapol.colostate.edu/">Sea-Going Polarimetric Radar</a>, in Hayden, Colorado. The radar’s view toward Mt. Werner and the surrounding 62 miles will be combined with the National Weather Service’s radars to see how the strength of the storms change as they move toward the Rockies from the west.
The Sea-Going Polarimetric Radar can’t see how clouds change inside the Yampa Valley beneath Mt. Werner because its view is blocked by the mountains. To cover the gap, <a href="https://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/somas/people/_profiles/mariko-oue">Mariko Oue</a> and <a href="http://radarscience.weebly.com/professor.html">Pavlos Kollias</a>, both research assistant professors of marine and atmospheric sciences at Stony Brook University, will deploy the <a href="http://radarscience.weebly.com/observatories.html">Ka-band Scanning Polarimetric Radar</a>. The instrument will detect clouds and snow inside the valley up to Mt. Werner.
Blending multiple scales of data will improve what can be ascertained from radar and link changes in cloud movements to changes in the amount of water in snowflakes.
“Integrating these different scales is a very unique thing to do. The only other way to do it is with an airplane, but that is extraordinarily expensive and only provides one snapshot,” said <a href="https://atmos.utah.edu/about/people/all-faculty/gerald-mace.php">Jay Mace</a>, professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Utah and a principal investigator of the study.
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