News Staff

Contact Michigan IT News staff at umit-cio-newsletter@umich.edu.

Author Archives: News Staff

Tech takes a seat in Ann Arbor

By | February 8, 2018

Duo Security—an Ann Arbor-based company launched by two U-M alumni in 2009—is at the forefront of a fledgling wave of early-stage technology startups that have chosen to take root, not in the San Francisco and East Coast technology hubs, but within Metro Detroit. “Ann Arbor is our home,” Dug Song, one of Duo Security’s founders, said in an October,… Read More »

Gupta family and U-M team up for health communication ‘hackathon’

By | February 7, 2018

U-M alum and CNN health correspondent Sanjay Gupta is returning to Michigan to support an effort to bring new ideas and tools to health communication. The Gupta Family Hackathon of rapid innovation happens March 23-25 on the U-M Ann Arbor campus. The marathon event brings together bright minds from the worlds of health, digital technology, design, communication, and… Read More »

March 1 change to InCommon SSL certificate service

By | February 7, 2018

The CA/Browser Forum is a group of SSL certificate authorities and web-browser developers who work to set standards for SSL encryption. A new CABforum rule going into effect March 1, 2018 will shorten the maximum lifetime of SSL certificates from all commercial certificate authorities. After that time, certificates obtained via the ITS “Web Application Sign-up Page” can have… Read More »

New app reinvents U-M bus system to be more like Uber

By | February 6, 2018

Reinventing Urban Transportation and Mobility (RITMO) aims to revolutionize public transit through an online app that turns transportation into an on-demand service. RITMO, partnering with Ford Motor Company, will allow students, faculty, and staff to use on-demand shuttle transportation linked with the U-M bus system. Pascal Van Hentenryck, a professor at the College of Engineering who leads the project, hopes… Read More »

U-M startup offers new approach to cybersecurity

By | February 5, 2018

Rolling out what it’s calling a “street view for cyberspace,” Censys—a tech startup based on technology developed at the university—has launched a commercially available version of its internet-wide scanning tool. Based on technology developed in the lab of computer science and engineering professor J. Alex Halderman, Censys continuously scans the internet, analyzing every publicly visible server and device.… Read More »

Do online courses harm underperforming students?

By | February 2, 2018

Online courses can open up a world of knowledge to anyone with an internet connection, benefitting students who have limited access to educational resources. But mounting evidence suggests that online education could hurt less proficient students who are most in need of skilled classroom teachers. In a recent article for the “New York Times,” Susan Dynarski, professor of education, public… Read More »

Enriching Scholarship proposal deadline Feb. 5

By | January 29, 2018

Proposals for Enriching Scholarshop presentations are still being accepted until Monday, February 5, 2018. The Enriching Scholarship team welcomes past presenters to submit, and are also interested in hearing from new voices. If you’ve never presented before, sharing your experiences can bring a valuable new perspective to our community. Presentations can range from a 5-10 minute lightning talk… Read More »

Say hello to Jibo, the countertop robot

By | January 22, 2018

Chaun-Che “Jeff” Huang, a School of Information PhD student, was part of the team that developed the artificial intelligence for Jibo, the first social robot for the home. It made the cover of Time Magazine’s “25 Best Inventions of 2017” November issue. Huang, who is studying human-computer interaction, describes Jibo as “highly personalized,” and programmed to be engaging.… Read More »

U-M leads new $32M computer design center

By | January 19, 2018

As the computing industry struggles to maintain its historically rapid pace of innovation, a new, $32 million center based at U-M aims to streamline and democratize the design and manufacturing of next-generation computing systems. The Center for Applications Driving Architectures, or ADA, will develop a transformative, “plug-and-play” ecosystem to encourage a flood of fresh ideas in computing frontiers… Read More »

Search for new VPIT-CIO begins

By | January 16, 2018

President Mark Schlissel announced Monday that he has initiated a search for a new vice president for information technology and chief information officer. Schlissel will lead the selection process and will seek input from various university leaders and members of the university community. Andrew Rosenberg, chief information officer for Michigan Medicine, is currently serving as the university’s interim vice president… Read More »

U.S. News recognizes UM-Flint’s online grad programs

By | January 15, 2018

UM-Flint has been recognized for its excellence in online education by the U.S. News & World Report in its “Best Online Program” rankings. Flint received recognition in the online graduate programs for both nursing and education. UM-Flint offers an online Doctor of Nursing Program (DNP) that prepares nurses to become family, primary care adult-gerontology, psychiatric/mental health, and adult-gerontology acute care nurse practitioners. There is also an… Read More »

Academic Innovation events for January

By | January 12, 2018

The Office of Academic Innovation is hosting three events in January: AIM Analytics: Making Online Learning Work for Everyone Join us on Monday, January 22 from 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.  at North Quad Space 2435 (105 South State Street.) for AIM Analytics. Digital Tools & Youth Outreach Community: Privacy, Ethical Considerations and Pre-College Data Join us on… Read More »

EDUCAUSE proposal deadline Feb 2

By | January 9, 2018

Proposal submissions deadline for the EDUCAUSE Annual Conference is Friday, February 2. Presenter applicants will be notified in late June for the event, which takes place October 30–November 2 in Denver, Colorado. The EDUCAUSE Annual Conference is the premier opportunity for thousands of higher education IT professionals and technology providers to share their expertise with colleagues from around the world. The conference… Read More »

U-M releases tool to assess cybersecurity in self-driving cars

By | January 8, 2018

A new white paper by U-M researchers working with Mcity illustrates the breadth of the cybersecurity challenges that must be overcome before autonomous and connected vehicles can be widely adopted. While every new generation of auto tech brings new security risks, the vulnerabilities that come along with advanced mobility are both unprecedented and under-studied, the paper states. The… Read More »

UM-Flint’s new video production studio enhances online learning

By | January 5, 2018

UM-Flint’s Office of Extended Learning (OEL) has opened a new video production studio in the Northbank Center to help faculty enrich their online courses. Crews from the university’s Information Technology Services, Engineering Departmentand Facilities and Operations renovated an old locker room into the new professional space. The sound-proof studio features a 10-foot wide green screen and an 8-foot wide lightboard, which is “an internally illuminated sheet… Read More »

New web accessibility group forming

By | January 5, 2018

Interested in web accessibility and want to learn more? Check out the Ann Arbor Web Accessibility Meetup group. Their first general meeting will be held Tuesday, January 30 at Deque Labs, 2100 S Main St, Ste D.  The group is for developers, designers, content creators, and anyone who is interested in digital accessibility and inclusive design. They will host talks,… Read More »

Memristors power quick-learning neural network

By | December 26, 2017

A new type of neural network made with memristors can dramatically improve the efficiency of teaching machines to think like humans. The network, called a reservoir computing system, could predict words before they are said during conversation, and help predict future outcomes based on the present. The research team that created the reservoir computing system, led by Wei… Read More »