Category Archives: Campus News

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SI professors win outstanding educator awards from Coursera

By | March 19, 2018
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“Applied Data Science with Python,” an online course specialization developed by four professors at the School of Information, has won a major award from Coursera, a leading online learning platform. Christopher Brooks, Kevyn Collins-Thompson, Daniel Romero, and VG Vinod Vydiswaran won Coursera’s Outstanding Educator Award for Innovation for the highly successful specialization. Romero accepted the award at the Coursera Partners Conference at Arizona State University… Read More »

Computer Showcase relocates during renovation

By | March 16, 2018
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illustration of campus map shoiwng new location for Computer Showcase

During the upcoming Michigan Union Renovation Project, the Computer Showcase flagship store will temporarily relocate to Shapiro Undergraduate Library this spring. The final day at the Michigan Union will be Commencement Saturday, April 28, 2018. In early May, Showcase will reopen on the first floor of Shapiro. Customers can enter through the lobby past the Information Desk. This… Read More »

Reflecting on the original “Big Idea” for MOOCs

By | March 14, 2018
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In an guest post for Inside Higher Ed, James DeVaney, associate vice provost for academic innovation, writes that the real innovation of the MOOC (massive online open courses) era is not the unbundling of academic degrees that first captured massive attention, but rather the re-bundling that results from serious academic R&D—the creation of new communities and credentials for all levels.… Read More »

University announces first online degrees through Coursera

By | March 9, 2018
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coursera logo

Online learners may soon have three new U-M master’s degree options through a partnership with Coursera. In a joint announcement with the online platform, the School of Information said its Master of Applied Data Science under development will build upon the school’s leadership in offering programing courses online, including several on Coursera.  The Master of Public Health offering from the School… Read More »

New center to promote social media responsibility, tackle fake news

By | March 7, 2018
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photo of Gilchrist

School of Information experts are sounding the alarm on a potential information apocalypse, a state when fake news and altered videos on social media and elsewhere effectively end social reality as we know it. To address this growing concern and bring some of the brightest minds together to brainstorm creative solutions, U-M has formed the School of Information… Read More »

How AI will affect the financial industry in 2018

By | March 5, 2018
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woman looking at cell phone screen with financial info

Over the last few years, artificial intelligence has helped push the envelope in terms of technological advancements in the financial industry. For example, consumers can use facial recognition to log in to financial apps and use voice commands to check their balances. In an article on Forbes.com, Jason Mars, a computer science professor at U-M and the CEO of Clinc,… Read More »

U-M launches Data Science Master’s Program

By | March 2, 2018
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Word Cloud with Data Integration wording

U-M’s new, interdisciplinary Data Science Master’s Program is taking applications for its first group of students. The program is aimed at teaching participants how to extract useful knowledge from massive datasets using computational and statistical techniques. The program is a collaboration between the College of Engineering (EECS), the College of Literature Science and the Arts (Statistics), the School of Public… Read More »

Data vs. gerrymandering

By | March 1, 2018
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cluster graph showing existing district map as extreme outlier

Pennsylvania’s congressional map was among the most gerrymandered in history. Experts like LSA political science professor Jowei Chen used data analyis and computer modeling to help change that situation. Chen’s computer programs create alternative maps based on a series of geographic constraints: maps that are compact in shape, preserve county and municipal boundaries, and have equal populations. They’re drawn,… Read More »

Prototyping with Play-Doh

By | February 27, 2018
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Play-Doh models arranged on a table.

A new tool employing augmented reality (AR) developed at the School of Information (UMSI) simplifies and shortens the physical-to-digital process for mobile app interaction designers. ProtoAR, developed by Michael Nebeling, UMSI assistant professor, allows designers to work with physical prototypes using paper and clay such as Play-Doh, then easily transition to digital prototyping using their mobile phones’ cameras.… Read More »

Trade in your tech…for the kids!

By | February 23, 2018
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What happens when you trade up your old tech at Computer Showcase through March 31? You get instant store credit toward a new technology purchase. We donate an extra 10% of your trade-in value to Dance Marathon at the University of Michigan! Your tech. Your computer store. For the kids. Computer Showcase is making a donation to Dance Marathon for every hardware… Read More »

CSE faculty named 2018 Sloan Research Fellow

By | February 22, 2018
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Jia Deng headshot

Jia Deng, assistant professor of computer science and engineering, is one of four U-M researchers who have been named 2018 Sloan Research Fellows. Deng directs the College of Engineering’s Vision & Learning Lab. His research focus is on computer vision and machine learning, in particular, achieving human-level visual understanding by integrating perception, cognition, and learning. The researchers are part… Read More »

Robots with personality seem more trustworthy

By | February 16, 2018
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Human-like robot waves to a couple of shoppers

As more robots are showing up in all kinds of jobs, organizations must figure out how to successfully integrate human and robot co-workers. But how? According to a recent study co-authored by School of Information associate professor Lionel Robert, it’s by making robots more like people. The study, “Human-Robot Similarity and Willingness to Work with a Robotic Co-worker,” found that… Read More »

The coming death of facts?

By | February 16, 2018
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dozens of masks on sticks

Aviv Ovadya, chief technologist at the School of Information’s Center for Social Media Responsibility, cautions that technology and social media that can be used to enhance and distort what is real is evolving faster than our ability to understand and control or mitigate it. “I’m from the free and open source culture,” he says. “The goal isn’t to… Read More »

To fight fatal infections, hospitals may turn to algorithms

By | February 14, 2018
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composite image of medical and information technology icons and devices

Jenna Wiens, a computer scientist and assistant professor of engineering at U-M, helped create an algorithm to predict a patient’s risk of developing a C-diff infection (CDI), one of the deadliest killers in American hospitals. The algorithm uses a form of artificial intelligence called machine learning to extract warning signs of disease from patients’ vital signs and other health records—constellations of symptoms, circumstances,… Read More »

UM-Dearborn software lab announces industry partnership

By | February 9, 2018
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UM-Dearborn professor Marouane Kessentini founded Search-Based Software Engineering (SBSE) research lab five years ago with the goal of innovative software development. Now, through a partnership with software company Sema, Kessentini is seeing the impact the SBSE lab is making for the university, in students’ lives, and in the software industry. Through the partnership, the U-M Office of Technology Transfer licensed four… Read More »

The ‘huh?’ button

By | February 9, 2018
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Perry Samson, a professor of climate and space sciences and engineering, has been teaching at U-M for 38 years. In his early teaching years, Samson thought that getting through a lecture without students asking many questions was a sign of a job well done. Samson says he has since come to realize that silence in class often indicates student… Read More »

Tech takes a seat in Ann Arbor

By | February 8, 2018
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people working on laptops sitting around a table

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
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Gupta family hackathon March 23-25

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 »

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

By | February 6, 2018
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RITMO vans

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 »