Category Archives: Campus News

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Does social media really make a difference in vaccination rates?

By | March 8, 2019
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gloved hands inserting hypodermic needle into upper arm

Social media companies face increasing scrutiny for amplifying fringe anti-vaccine sentiment amid measles outbreaks in several states like Washington. In response, Facebook, YouTube and Pinterest recently made headlines by announcing initiatives to reduce vaccine misinformation on their platforms. Brendan Nyhan, a professor of public policy at the Ford School, recently wrote in “The New York Times” that while… Read More »

Two solutions for GPU efficiency can boost AI performance

By | March 8, 2019
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cluster of GPUs

Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) have been getting a big workout from new advancements in AI because they offer significant performance boosts thanks to their parallel computing capabilities. GPUs are employed by large computing clusters to handle huge datasets for deep learning applications. Achieving cost-effectiveness in these clusters relies on efficiently sharing resources between multiple users. However, these systems… Read More »

Your hard drive may be listening

By | March 7, 2019
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close up of read head in hard drive

If you are already nervous about computer attacks, here’s some unwelcome news: there are many ways in which our technology is vulnerable based on physics, rather than on software. At the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference in mid-February, U-M computer scientist Kevin Fu and his colleagues reported a scary find: your computer hard drive could—without… Read More »

Election security: Halderman recommends actions to ensure integrity of U.S. systems

By | March 6, 2019
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J. Alex Halderman, a U-M professor of computer science and engineering, testified on February 27 in front of the US House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Service and General Government, urging lawmakers to approve additional funding for election cybersecurity prior to the upcoming 2020 elections. Halderman described the need as critical, citing two years of investigation by Congress and… Read More »

“Baking in” digital accessibility at the U-M Library

By | March 5, 2019
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layer cake with cream and berries

Web accessibility is a key ingredient to successful product development that can make or break many peoples’ experience. The U-M Library Digital Accessibility Team (DAT) helps library teams “bake in” web accessibility from the beginning of their projects and helps coordinate accessibility work across the Library. The Library’s Digital Accessibility Team collaborates primarily with U-M Library partners to… Read More »

U-M Precision Health use case to focus on mobile technology and mental health

By | February 27, 2019
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Precision Health at U-M is is funding a new use case focused on the effects of wearable and mobile technology on mental health outcomes. The project, “Enhancing Mental Health Care through Mobile Technology,” is led investigators Amy Bohnert and Srijan Sen from Michigan Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry. Researchers will use machine learning to identify key predictors of treatment… Read More »

Unexpected connections: SI student uses technology to help underserved areas

By | February 22, 2019
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School of Information graduate student John Traylor knew the work he was doing in Puerto Rico to shore up communications infrastructure some nine months after Hurricane Maria was important, but it wasn’t until the project was finished that he fully understood the impact. That’s when one of the residents came by and uttered one very recognizable word—”Wi-Fi”—and delightedly… Read More »

Michigan Medicine to replace Omnicell medication management system

By | February 21, 2019
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automated med dispense

Michigan Medicine will replace Omnicell with a new automated medication dispensing system. Pharmacy and Nursing will begin using new dose dispensing cabinets before January 2020. Anesthesiology will also begin using new automated storage cabinets next year. “Our current system works pretty well, but it is not Windows 10 compliant,” said Stan Kent, Michigan Medicine chief pharmacy officer, referring… Read More »

Michigan Research Cores database aids U-M science researchers

By | February 19, 2019
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file storage in cloud 3d computer icon isolated on white

U-M is full of rich core resources, but they are often challenging to find. The new Michigan Research Cores web portal enables researchers to easily find and identify the location and capabilities of 70 research cores across campus. Cores are centralized facilities or labs that offer services, equipment, resources and expertise on a recharge basis to scientific researchers.… Read More »

Running an LED in reverse could cool future computers

By | February 18, 2019
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In a finding that runs counter to a common assumption in physics, researchers at U-M ran a light emitting diode (LED) with electrodes reversed in order to cool another device mere nanometers away. The approach could lead to new solid-state cooling technology for future microprocessors. “We have demonstrated a second method for using photons to cool devices,” said… Read More »

Beyond the hype, what are the risks and rewards of Artificial Intelligence in health care?

By | February 15, 2019
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doctor with hightech computer screen viewing patient data

Artificial Intelligence has received tremendous attention for its ability to transform how health care uses Electronic Health Records. EHR are already an invaluable tool for organizing a patient’s demographic information and their past and current medical data. EHR can support physician decision-making, help increase the efficiency of administrative processes, and make clinical data available to researchers for advancing… Read More »

Teaching self-driving cars to predict pedestrian movement

By | February 14, 2019
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3D image of two people in intersection

By zeroing in on humans’ gait, body symmetry and foot placement, U-M researchers are teaching self-driving cars to recognize and predict pedestrian movements with greater precision than current technologies. Data collected by vehicles allow the researchers to capture video snippets of humans in motion and then recreate them in 3D computer simulation. With that, they’ve created a system… Read More »

Why fears of fake news are overhyped

By | February 13, 2019
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Fake news on a laptop screen.

A study conducted by U-M professor of public policy Brendan Nyhan suggests that the effect of fake news on the 2016 election has been overestimated. Using laptop/desktop web traffic data from a nationally representative online panel allowed Nyhan and his colleagues to measure who visited fake news sites before the 2016 election with unprecedented precision. “Relatively few people consumed this form… Read More »

Cryptocurrency innovation: U-M to establish FinTech Collaboratory

By | February 8, 2019
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computer with money flying around it

Financial technology research and education at U-M will get a boost with $1 million from Ripple’s University Blockchain Research Initiative. The funding will support academic research, technical development, and innovation in blockchain, cryptocurrency, and digital payments. Ripple enables global money transfers using blockchain. With the funds, U-M will establish the FinTech Collaboratory to build curricula in the booming… Read More »

Online censorship detector aims to make the internet a freer place

By | February 7, 2019
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computer screen with list of Top Disrupted Domains

In an advance that could one day provide a comprehensive, publicly available window into worldwide internet censorship, a team of researchers at U-M has turned public internet servers across the globe into automated sentries that can monitor and report when access to websites is being blocked. Censored Planet, a first-of-its-kind system, has begun collecting data on three different… Read More »

Built by humans. Ruled by computers.

By | February 7, 2019
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MiDAS, an algorithm-based administration and fraud collection system implemented by the state of Michigan, ran without human intervention between 2013 and 2015. During that time, it accused about 50,000 Michiganders of unemployment fraud. A 2017 review by the state found that more than 90 percent of those accusations were false. A growing number of people have been harmed… Read More »

LSA research museums go digital

By | February 7, 2019
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small rodent on a log

In September, 2018, the university completed the move of more than 20 million museum specimens from its zoology, paleontology, and anthropology collections to a state-of-the-art collections and research facility on Varsity Drive. Not as well known, however, is that a second large move was occurring at the same time—this one digital. LSA Technology Services team members John Torgersen… Read More »

The social justice case for computing: a language for all

By | February 6, 2019
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Mark Guzidal standing in front of classroom.

As a researcher of computing education at the College of Engineering, Mark Guzdial sees the growing role computing plays in every layer of people’s lives. “I suggest that programming is a literacy,” he writes in a recent essay on the goals of his field. “It’s a way of expressing thought, communicating with others, and testing and exploring new ideas.” Computing… Read More »

Gallery Tool unlocks peer feedback possibilities for MOOC learners

By | February 5, 2019
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As part of its work supporting faculty member Anita Gonzalez with an  online course, Academic Innovation has developed a tool that allows learners to share their text- or image-based work with other learners in an easy and open manner, and to also receive robust feedback from other learners. “Because of the nature of our learners’ work in the course,… Read More »