News Staff

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Author Archives: News Staff

Ultra-low power brain implants find meaningful signal in grey matter noise

By | July 28, 2020
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Concept illustration of a brain and neural network.

Drastically reducing the power and computation needed to identify our intentions, researchers open up a future of advanced therapies and machines enabled by our thoughts. By tuning into a subset of brain waves, University of Michigan researchers have dramatically reduced the power requirements of neural interfaces while improving their accuracy—a discovery that could lead to long-lasting brain implants… Read More »

Google Chat for Gmail is now available

By | July 15, 2020
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Starting today, July 15, 2020, Google Chat has replaced classic Google Hangouts in Gmail and is now the default option for direct (one-to-one) messages, group messages, and team-based room discussions within Gmail.  For several years, classic Google Hangouts had been a part of Google at U-M and integrated with Google Mail. Google Chat is an updated, team-based experience… Read More »

Creating communications plans for online classes

By | July 13, 2020
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LSA Learning and Teaching Technology consultants have put together strategies to help educators create communication plans when teaching online. These strategies highlight the importance of regular, multifaceted, and meaningful communication with students, and suggest sharing communication plans with them. Read more at “Communication Plans for Online Classes.”

Brian Ellis awarded Sloan Foundation “net zero” grant

By | July 13, 2020
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(Portrait of Brian E. Ellis smiling.)

A research team led by Assistant Professor Brian Ellis has received a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s Net-Zero and Negative Emissions Technologies Request for Proposals (RFP). Ellis’s team will research ways in which carbon dioxide can be utilized for geothermal energy production and renewable energy storage. The RFP received nearly eighty submissions, and Ellis’s team is… Read More »

Nexus at CoE prepares to launch new Cybersecurity professional certificate program

By | July 13, 2020
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(Photo of the sun shining through trees and a tall building.)

Nexus at Michigan Engineering is partnering with HackerU, the world’s premier cybersecurity and digital skills center of excellence, to launch a new online Cybersecurity Professional Bootcamp. The bootcamp will help transform lives by enabling working professionals to break into a cybersecurity career in less than one year. Students at Michigan Engineering, and members of the Ann Arbor community,… Read More »

MiXR Studios Podcast: Anti-Black racism and the promise of virtual reality

By | July 13, 2020
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(Image of Dr. Courtney Cogburn smiling while in conversation with Jeremy Nelson.)

This week’s MiXR Studios podcast continues a conversation with Dr. Courtney Cogburn from Columbia University and discusses her groundbreaking work in virtual reality with 1000 Cut Journey and how it is as important as ever in the midst of the current Black Lives Matters movement. In the “1000 Cut Journey” virtual reality experience, the user becomes Mike Sterling,… Read More »

Making plastic more transparent while adding electrical conductivity

By | July 13, 2020
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(Image of Jay Guo holding a sheet of clear conductor on the College of Engineering North Campus. Through it, a lamp and tall building are visible.)

In an effort to improve large touchscreens, LED light panels and window-mounted infrared solar cells, a team of researchers at U-M has made plastic conductive while also making it more transparent. They provide a recipe to help other researchers find the best balance between conductivity and transparency by creating a three-layer anti-reflection surface. The conductive metal layer is… Read More »

Creating a Canvas course homepage

By | July 10, 2020
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Your course homepage will be the first thing students see when they open your course on Canvas. Take advantage of this by making a course home page that introduces the course and directs students where to go and what to do, to begin the course. This is especially important when teaching remotely, as students who are normally in-person… Read More »

Police brutality in America: Teach-Out encourages learners to get informed, involved

By | July 9, 2020
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As Black Lives Matter protests continue throughout the nation and deadly run-ins with police repeatedly make headlines, the University of Michigan explores the topic with a “Police Brutality in America Teach-Out.” Online now, the self-guided learning event on Coursera explores the history of policing in the United States and the legacy of mistrust between police and minority communities.… Read More »

Google Chat for Gmail is arriving July 15

By | July 8, 2020
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Google Chat will be replacing classic Google Hangouts in Gmail. Google Chat is an evolution of classic Hangouts, adding additional features that let you chat with individuals, send group messages, and engage in team-based collaboration with rooms across the entire university community and externally. Starting July 15, 2020, Google Chat will become the default option for direct (one-to-one)… Read More »

Preparing your teaching team for teaching remotely

By | July 7, 2020
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LSA Learning and Teaching Technology consultants have written a short article with tips on preparing teaching teams for remote teaching. The article offers advice for both senior instructors and graduate student instructors, covering tools like Canvas, Zoom, and Bluejeans. It includes linked resources and concrete steps and tips, as well as further reading. 

Gift from EECS alumnus Kuck establishes CSE Dissertation Prize

By | July 7, 2020
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(Portrait of Professor David J. Kuck smiling.)

U-M EECS alumnus David J. Kuck (BSE EE 1959), Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois and distinguished computer scientist, has made a generous gift to the University of Michigan to establish the David J. Kuck Ph.D. Dissertation Prize in Computer Science and Engineering. Each year, the prize will recognize the most impactful Ph.D. dissertation submitted by a… Read More »

Wireless sensors for N95 masks could enable easier, more accurate decontamination

By | July 7, 2020
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(Graphic of a container storing small shelves of N95 masks with small red sensors attached to the masks. It also shows a phone with graphs corresponding to data gathered from the sensors.)

Tiny wireless sensors for recycled N95 masks could verify, in real time, whether the respirators are being exposed to proper decontamination conditions. They’re being developed and tested at the University of Michigan through a new National Science Foundation RAPID COVID-19 grant. The batteryless sensors are designed to provide more accurate and less cumbersome  monitoring during the decontamination of… Read More »

To the moon and beyond: Aerospace engineering is on the cutting edge of electric space propulsion

By | July 5, 2020
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(Image of an X3 thruster. From the angle of the image, it looks like four white rings with a small metal bullseye.)

The University of Michigan Aerospace Engineering Department’s Plasmadynamics and Electric Propulsion Laboratory (PEPL) is developing the next-generation of Hall thruster technology that may one day propel the first human missions to Mars. A Hall thruster is a form of electric space propulsion that replaces conventional rockets with a stream of charged ions that can propel a spacecraft for… Read More »

Distinctly Detroit podcast

By | July 2, 2020
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The Detroit Center is proud to present “Distinctly Detroit,” a Podcast on what makes one want to be in the D. Join host Katie Lehman as she interviews students, scholars, innovators, and leaders from across the city to learn how they came to live, work, and love in Detroit. Click here to listen to the latest episodes.

Semester in Detroit offers learning hybrid format for the fall

By | July 1, 2020
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U-M recently announced plans for the fall 2020 semester, which will include a combination of online and in-person courses. In keeping with this, and in recognition of the ongoing public health crisis, the Semester in Detroit (SiD) program will be offered in a hybrid format. For fall 2020, all SiD classes, including community-based internships and projects. will be offered… Read More »

Google Cloud Print changes

By | July 1, 2020
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As of December 31, 2020, Google will no longer support Google Cloud Print, Google’s beta, cloud-based printing solution.  Beginning January 1, 2021, devices across all operating systems will not be able to print using Google Cloud Print. It is recommended that you find an alternative print solution and migrate your print services by the end of 2020. One alternative, MPrint, is U-M’s printing… Read More »

Inclusive technology: How a single step could pave the way

By | June 30, 2020
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(Chad Jenkins standing with his arms around two robots that almost reach his shoulders standing upright.)

In the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd and other recent incidents of police brutality, a coalition of Black computer scientists drafted an open letter calling for action in the computing community to address systemic and structural inequities Chad Jenkins, a roboticist and associate professor of computer science and engineering at the University of Michigan, is among… Read More »