Author Archives: News Staff
The average person touches their smartphone more than 2,000 times a day, surveys have shown. Also, people tend to carry their phones everywhere with them, including the bathroom where most contamination happens. So it’s not surprising that phones can harbor lots of bacteria and germs. Wiping your phone or cleaning it with soap and a little water, or preventing your phone… Read More »
On January 31, 2019, the midwestern United States experienced a period of extremely cold temperatures that drove wind chills to as low as -57°F. In response, U-M and many other academic institutions in the area canceled classes for two or more days. “I teach an introductory course titled Extreme Weather. It seemed wrong to allow such a teachable… Read More »
Researchers at U-M have discovered the widespread use of popular, commercial network filtering technologies for purposes of censorship in as many as 103 countries around the world. With a framework they call FilterMap, the researchers took advantage of several tools designed to detect censorship in real time to call attention to the proliferation of this technology for these… Read More »
Join us on Tuesday, April 14 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. for the first ever Extended Reality (XR) at Michigan Summit. We’ll welcome speakers from all over the country to share their knowledge and insight around XR. Please register if you plan to attend. The XR at Michigan Summit expects to feature the following: Featured speakers who are national leaders in… Read More »
With devices listening everywhere you go, privacy concerns are endemic to advancing technology. For example, a virtual assistant that can learn to adapt to a user’s mood creates more useful, human-like interactions. But what if the audio powering these insights stores the user’s gender and demographic information on company servers – leaving the user open to identification by… Read More »
With the rapid rise in drug resistance in many pathogens, new antibiotics are desperately needed. Yet few new antibiotics have entered the market of late, and even these are just minor variants of old antibiotics. While the prospects look bleak, a recent article by Sriram Chandrasekaran, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, explores how researchers hunting for new drugs… Read More »
A collaboration between UM-Dearborn and U-M Information and Technology Services departments is bringing a Tech Shop to the Dearborn campus. Located in the University Center, the 700-square-foot storefront space will also have certified Apple, Dell, and HP repair. Construction will begin in May with a grand opening scheduled for this fall. “We saw there was a hole in… Read More »
Two computer science and engineering professors were recently recognized for their outstanding work: Jenna Wiens, co-director of University of Michigan Precision Health, was selected for a 2020 Sloan Research Fellowship by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for her work harnessing patient data to improve healthcare outcomes. Wiens’ primary research is in the development of data-driven predictive models needed… Read More »
In response to the coronavirus epidemic that has restricted millions of Chinese people to their homes and towns, U-M and online learning platform Coursera are offering three popular online data science specializations to learners in China for $1 a month. The specializations are Python for Everybody, the most popular specialization on Coursera; Python 3 Programming; and Applied Data Science with Python.… Read More »
The faculty at U-M’s computer science and engineering department wrote a letter calling for professor Jason Mars to take a leave of absence, following an investigation from The Verge into his behavior as CEO of Clinc, an AI startup with ties to the school. Michigan’s School of Information also said it was suspending its recruiting relationship with Clinc due to Mars’… Read More »
The Alexa Socialbot Grand Challenge 3 is a university competition to further the capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI) by building a conversational Alexa skill. Out of hundreds of entries from 15 countries, 10 teams were selected, including one from U-M. Teams are tasked with creating a socialbot, a robotic automated program that can have conversations about popular societal… Read More »
Save the dates! The Michigan Institute for Computational Discovery and Engineering (MICDE) will host its 2020 Annual Symposium on April 9-10, 2020 at the Rackham Building. External experts will talk about how they are driving new fronts in computing. The symposium will showcase some of the game-changing research supported by the MICDE Catalyst Grants program. Participants will also… Read More »
The Center for Academic Innovation invites all U-M community members on Feb. 21 for conversation about privacy, security, and ethics in extended reality (XR).
Maria Cotera, associate professor of American Culture and of women’s studies, is one of the founders of the Chicana por mi Raza Digital Memory Project. Launched in 2009, the project aims to preserve records of self-identified Chicana feminists by conducting interviews and digitizing artifacts in their personal collections. The repository has collected about 150 oral history interviews and… Read More »
A new U-M report detailing access to career and technical education programs in Michigan has found that while CTE courses are popular among high school students, there’s a gap in access to them. CTE courses prepare students to work in specific careers. Some enter the labor market right out of high school, while others enroll in college. Michigan’s… Read More »
UM-Flint recently announced plans to introduce an esports team to campus in Fall 2020. Esports are organized, multiplayer video game competitions played by teams or individuals. Games can be played locally or against players around the globe. “We are always seeking ways in which UM-Flint can be responsive to what prospective students are looking for in a campus,” said Kristi… Read More »
On February 3, Logistics, Transportation & Parking (LTP) launched a new real-time bus information system. The new system will enable riders to see university bus locations in real-time and predicts precise arrival times for every campus route and stop. The old (DoubleMap) system will remain live until February 29, 2020. Riders will enjoy a number of new features,… Read More »
J. Alex Halderman, director of the Center for Computer Security and Society in the College of Engineering, will receive the President’s Award for National and State Leadership, which honors individuals who provide sustained, dedicated, and influential leadership and service in major national or state capacities. Halderman, professor of computer science and engineering, focuses his research on computer security… Read More »
Connectivity looks very different in emerging markets, and especially in Africa, where historically the cost of internet and mobile devices have prohibited the majority of the population from accessing the internet. That’s now changing, thanks to advances in technology, the falling price of smartphones, and the work being done on the ground by leaders like 2011 Michigan Ross… Read More »
Friday, February 14 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. in the Hussey Room of the Michigan League (911 N University Ave, Ann Arbor, MI 48104). Please register to attend. The Center for Academic Innovation invites all University of Michigan community members to join us for a morning of conversations about the data that power higher education and educational research. We’ll hear from faculty,… Read More »