Category Archives: Campus News

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Disinformation, misinformation, and fake news Teach-Out

By | September 11, 2020
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Ben Nimmo

In a new Center for Academic Innovation Teach-Out, Ben Nimmo, director of investigations at Graphika, an online social media monitoring company, outlines tactics everyday people can use to anticipate, spot, and react to disinformation from potential “threat actors.” He calls it the “Four D’s” — Dismiss, Distract, Distort, and Dismay. The Disinformation, Misinformation, and Fake News Teach-Out helps people understand the… Read More »

Some children at higher risk of privacy violations from digital apps

By | September 10, 2020
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(iPad screen showing a child's game with a cartoon dog working a food stand and a monkey sitting at a desk with books. The iPad is held by a child's hands.)

Although federal privacy laws prohibit digital platforms from storing and sharing children’s personal information without verifiable parental consent, a study led by U-M researchers finds that those rules aren’t always enforced, and privacy violations are most likely to affect children from lower-education households. Children raised by parents without college degrees showed two to three times higher rates of… Read More »

U-M receives grants to improve solar storm forecasting software

By | September 3, 2020
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(Close-up image of the sun wit bright spots in the bottom left and top right.)

Solar storms and other space weather events have the potential to impact society on a national or global scale. U-M researchers lead two multimillion-dollar projects to improve forecasting by developing next-generation space weather modeling software. Funded by the National Science Foundation and NASA, the U-M projects aim to accurately predict solar storms and coronal mass ejections and to… Read More »

CoE researcher uses machine learning to improve brain imaging

By | September 2, 2020
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(Portrait of Melissa Haskell smiling.)

Melissa Haskell, an ECE postdoctoral researcher, was awarded the Ruth L. Kirschstein Postdoctoral Individual National Research Service Award from the National Institutes of Health for her work using machine learning to improve functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Many factors, including movement, can affect the quality of an fMRI, which is used to measure and study brain activity. Haskell works to… Read More »

Online court tool that reduces disparities, virus spread wins annual U-M innovation award

By | September 1, 2020
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JJ Prescott

For developing technology that’s helping to democratize the justice system while decreasing the spread of COVID-19, U-M law professor J.J. Prescott has earned this year’s Distinguished University Innovator Award. Prescott launched the U-M Online Court Project years ago to design and build technology to help people resolve minor disputes with the government and courts online and without the… Read More »

Student’s COVID-19 data model reaches CDC

By | August 31, 2020
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Sabrina Corsetti

U-M senior Sabrina Corsetti‘s efforts to model the pandemic’s spread using a machine learning algorithm has now been included in those being aggregated for the CDC’s weekly projections. Corsetti had her previous research halted when U-M suspended in-person classes and labs back in March. Thomas Schwarz, one of Corsetti’s research professors, happened to be modeling the pandemic’s data… Read More »

Michigan Medicine introduces touchless check-in experience

By | August 28, 2020
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Hand holding mobile phone with welcome screen.

Michigan Medicine is constantly looking for ways to improve the patient experience, even during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. One way the organization is doing just that is by optimizing eCheck-in and introducing mobile arrival, touchless processes that allow patients to skip the line when they arrive for an appointment. The changes launched on August 26. Prior to an… Read More »

Student teams create two new video games over the summer

By | August 27, 2020
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Desolation Place, Bloom

Videogame development is a hot topic at Michigan. This summer two teams of U-M undergrads, working remotely because of the Covid-19 outbreak, conceived, designed, and developed two videogames: Desolation Place—a 3D first-person stealth horror game, and Bloom: Tome of Power—a first person shooter inspired by genre defining games such as DOOM, Hexen, and Dusk. Advised by CSE lecturer… Read More »

$1.8M DARPA project aims to protect vehicles from hackers

By | August 25, 2020
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Ironpatch logo

From cars to space shuttles to drones, keeping vehicle electronics systems updated and free of security vulnerabilities is exceedingly difficult, according to Baris Kasikci, a professor of computer science and engineering. “It’s a little bit of a mess,” said Kasikci. “Traditionally, you fix the bug in the source code, you rebuild the software and you redeploy it. But… Read More »

Electronic health records: More demands, same amount of time

By | August 24, 2020
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Man in lab coat with stethoscope holds clock in front of his face.

A team of researchers from U-M recently published a paper in the Journal of General Internal Medicine documenting electronic medical record time demands faced by general internists at Michigan Medicine. The findings build on other studies showing that primary care providers nationwide face the highest number of incoming tasks on electronic health records systems. Lead author Laurence McMahon, chief of general medicine at U-M,… Read More »

The most vital IT investments today are the boring ones: Michigan Medicine CIO on remote work, automation, and data analytics

By | August 21, 2020
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Andrew Rosenberg

Michigan Medicine CIO Andrew Rosenberg, MD, is focused on finding methods to sustain the unprecedented level of remote work and clinical care during the pandemic while keeping an eye on the data analytics and IT investments the system will need to drive efficiencies and cost-savings in the future. In a recent article with Becker’s Health IT, he discusses… Read More »

Enabling fairer data clusters for machine learning

By | August 20, 2020
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(Photo of a very large, dark room filled with glowing computers.)

Research published recently by CSE investigators can make training machine learning (ML) models fairer and faster. With a tool called AlloX, Mosharaf Chowdhury and a team from Stony Brook University developed a new way to fairly schedule high volumes of ML jobs in data centers that make use of multiple different types of computing hardware, like CPUs, GPUs,… Read More »

Ecology in the digital age: U-M students use machine learning for summer research

By | August 20, 2020
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(Image with flowers on the left, one large purple Wild Bergamont flower with thin petals reaching upward with five smaller photos of similar purple flowers listed at the bottom, and a graph on the left which shows a spike from June to August in the “Seasonality” tab. There are three other tabs: “History,” “Sex,” and “Plant Phenology.” Above those tabs is information on the observations the data reflects, including “Top Observer” (aaron carlson), “Top Identifier” (pynklynx), “Last Observation” (August 05, 2020) and “Total Observations” (13,033).)

Prior to the pandemic, enrollment for spring and summer field classes at the U-M Biological Station were at an all time high. Students eagerly planned to live away from home, at the BioStation near Douglas Lake in Pellston, Michigan. When the university announced that spring and summer courses would be virtual, faculty and staff at the BioStation had… Read More »

Organize your course in a consistent pattern

By | August 12, 2020
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(Screengrab of the full article which offers advice on organizing course material online.)

LSA Learning and Teaching Technology Consultants have shared tips for structuring course material in a way that feels grounding and reliable to students while teaching online.  Consultants write that organizing materials and activities in Canvas can help both online and hybrid classes go more smoothly for both students and instructors. It’s important that students know where to find… Read More »

Mathieu receives 2020 Henry Russel Award

By | August 12, 2020
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(Portrait of Johanna Mathieu smiling.)

Johanna Mathieu, assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, has received a U-M Henry Russel Award for her extraordinary record of accomplishment in scholarly research, as well as excellent record of contributions as a teacher. This award, established in 1925, is considered the University’s highest honor for faculty at the early to mid-career stages of… Read More »

U-M startup unveils new LEDs for high-efficiency, high-performance displays

By | August 12, 2020
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womans hand showing smartwatch

Brighter, crisper screens that draw half the power and lasts twice as long are possible with NS Nanotech’s next-gen LEDs. University of Michigan startup NS Nanotech has announced the creation of a smaller, more energy-efficient light-emitting diode that aims to offer brighter, crisper displays for massive signs, mobile phones and other devices. The company, whose technology is based on research… Read More »

Achieving career readiness through gameful learning at UM-Dearborn

By | August 11, 2020
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Throughout their time on campus, students learn through not just academics — but through all aspects of their experience. Many times, however, they do not recognize these moments for growth and for developing skillsets that will greatly aid them in the future. Leaders at U-M Dearborn recognized this issue — and filled that need. The Talent Gateway at… Read More »

Study finds facial recognition technology in schools presents problems, recommends ban

By | August 11, 2020
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Research reveals inaccuracy, racial inequity and increased surveillance are the touchstones of a flawed technology. Facial recognition technology should be banned for use in schools, according to a new study by the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy that cites the heightened risk of racism and potential for privacy erosion. The study by the Ford School’s… Read More »