News Staff

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Author Archives: News Staff

Registration opens Jan. 19 for HEDW Forum hosted by U-M

By | November 20, 2018

The Higher Education Data Warehousing Forum (HEDW) is a network of higher education representatives dedicated to sharing knowledge about data management, best practices, data warehousing designs, institutional reporting strategies and more. HEDW is now accepting proposals for the upcoming 2019 conference. To submit your proposal, please follow the link below. The deadline for submissions is December 15, 2018.… Read More »

Can language courses be just as good (or better) online?

By | November 16, 2018

For a long time, language instruction has been among those subjects that conventional wisdom held was a tough one to put online. But things are changing as Dearborn faculty are exploring the promise of creating hybrid language courses that pair class time with digital learning. UM-Dearborn instructional designer Alfonso Sintjago is a big believer in digital education, but he’ll be the first… Read More »

Dearborn professor achieves “holy grail” of software engineering

By | November 15, 2018

Cleaning up messy legacy software is a bane of companies big and small, but it’s long been considered an unclimbable mountain. Now, UM-Dearborn faculty member Marouane Kessentini might have found a solution. His software refactoring tool—which helps automate the process of cleaning up messy legacy code—was impressive enough that U-M’s Office of Technology Transfer named if one of eight… Read More »

ARC director Geva elected chair of CASC

By | November 13, 2018

Sharon Broude Geva, director of Advanced Research Computing at U-M, has been elected chair of the Coalition for Academic Scientific Computation (CASC) for 2019. The chair position is one of four elected CASC executive officers. Geva served as CASC secretary in 2015 and 2016, and vice-chair in 2017 and 2018. Founded in 1989, CASC advocates for the use of advanced… Read More »

Can an AI lie detector tell when you’re fibbing?

By | November 12, 2018

Artificial intelligence is everywhere—but here’s a use you may not have considered: lie detection. It sounds like science fiction, but such an AI system is possible. The question is: How accurate can it be? Rada Mihalcea, a professor of computer science and engineering at U-M, has worked on deception detection for about a decade. Mihalcea’s used 121 video… Read More »

A secure future for US elections starts in the classroom

By | November 9, 2018

Voting machines have largely replaced paper ballots – but many of these machines are susceptible to errors, manipulation, or hacking, raising concerns about the integrity of election results. Professor J. Alex Halderman has been at the forefront of exposing vulnerabilities in electronic voting systems around the world. By pointing to root causes behind these shortcomings, he hopes to… Read More »

Your kid’s apps are crammed with ads

By | November 2, 2018

Many developers market apps for children as being educational. So Jenny Radesky, a pediatrician at the U-M Medical School who wrote the American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines for children and media, wanted to check that out. Her team of researchers spent hundreds of hours playing 135 different games. Published in the Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, the… Read More »

David Chesney receives 2018 James T. Neubacher Award

By | November 2, 2018

The U-M Council for Disability Concerns has named David Chesney, a lecturer in computer science and engineering, as the 2018 recipient of the James T. Neubacher Award. Reimagining the way in which U-M campus learning and living can be designed for those affected by a disability poses a number of challenges, but Chesney encourages his students to do… Read More »

Computing pioneer to receive honorary U-M doctorate

By | November 2, 2018

Forty years after her paradigm-shifting work in microchip design and education, Lynn Conway will receive an honorary Doctor of Science degree at Winter Commencement 2018 on the University of Michigan’s Ann Arbor campus. Conway, U-M professor emerita of electrical engineering and computer science, is one of four respected leaders in the fields of engineering, English, business and academic… Read More »

Flint names new disability services coordinator

By | October 29, 2018

As the new disability services coordinator at the University of Michigan-Flint, Harvey “Chip” Evans oversees services that ensure equal opportunity to students with disabilities and helps to promote a welcoming campus environment for any student requiring accommodations. That help can come in a variety of forms, from campus transportation to a test-taking center. It’s technology, though, that has… Read More »

Take a look at the ART 2.0 Academic Spotlight

By | October 24, 2018

Academic Reporting Tools (ART 2.0) serve the U-M community by exposing historical academic data including information about courses, instructors, and majors. ART 2.0 is a data visualization tool that will assist decision makers in accessing and analyzing U-M course and academic program data to help administration, faculty, and students make more informed decisions. In service of meeting this objective, ART… Read More »

The logic of feeling: Teaching computers to identify emotions

By | October 19, 2018

Using machine learning to decode the unpredictable world of human emotion might seem unusual. But computer science and engineering associate professor Emily Mower Provost has discovered a rich trove of data waiting to be analyzed in the ambiguity of human expression. Mower Provost uses machine learning to help measure emotion, mood, and other aspects of human behavior; for… Read More »

U-M selects vendors to supply new “Great Lakes” computing cluster

By | October 18, 2018

U-M has selected Dell EMC as lead vendor to supply its new $4.8 million Great Lakes computing cluster, which will serve researchers across campus. Mellanox Technologies will provide networking solutions, and DDN will supply storage hardware. Great Lakes will be available to the campus community in the first half of 2019, and over time will replace the Flux… Read More »

Academic Innovation offers Communities of Practice

By | October 15, 2018

Each academic term and year, the Office of Academic Innovation hosts communities of practice any faculty or staff may join. Current offerings are listed below. Gameful Learning Community of Practice: Gameful teaching is a pedagogical approach that takes inspiration from how good games function and applies that to the design of learning environments. Gameful seeks to support students’ intrinsic… Read More »

CoE’s Todd Austin recognized for outstanding achievements

By | October 12, 2018

Professor of computer science and engineering Todd Austin, a recognized leader in the area of computer architecture research, was recently recognized with the University of Michigan’s Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award, which honors senior faculty who have consistently demonstrated outstanding achievements in the areas of scholarly research or creative endeavors, teaching and mentoring of students and junior faculty, service, and… Read More »

Software companies lead 2018 tech startups at U-M

By | October 11, 2018

The number of startups launched at U-M nearly doubled in fiscal year 2018 to 21 as U-M inventors went to market with a broad array of discoveries. Nine of the 21 startups are software companies. The majority of this year’s startups are also headquartered in southeast Michigan, where they’re creating jobs and helping to diversify the economy. “We… Read More »

U-M tool measures ‘iffy’ news on social media

By | October 11, 2018

As the mid-term election approaches, the U-M Center for Social Media Responsibility offers media and the public a tool to help monitor the prevalence of fake news on social media through a Platform Health Metric called the Iffy Quotient. Housed in the U-M School of Information, the center’s first report confirms from a deep analysis what was suspected… Read More »