The film Hidden Figures has taken not only the box office by storm, but the education world as well. Studies show that female and male students actually perform equally well in mathematics and science on standardized tests, but larger gaps exist between students of different racial and ethnic backgrounds or family income. Research by U-M professor emerita Jacquelynne S. Eccles points… Read More »
Most of the advances in artificial intelligence have been focused on solving specific data-intensive tasks like playing chess or diagnosing tumors. However, the kind of general artificial intelligence that would create systems with human capabilities like understanding language and adapting to changing conditions are still a long way off. John Laird, professor of electrical engineering and computer science, says the strategies that… Read More »
A study by researchers from the U-M Medical School and Harvard University indicates the use of advanced machine learning for diagnosing brain tumors cuts the time needed for diagnosing tissue by 90 percent while maintaining considerable accuracy. Normally, diagnosing a brain tumor takes about 30 to 40 minutes, during which doctors would need to leave the operating room to put the… Read More »
J. Alex Halderman, professor of computer science and engineering, received a lot of media attention in the days after the 2016 presidential election for voicing concerns about the integrity of electronic voting systems in the U.S. In this extensive interview with The Chronicle of Higher Education, Halderman, director of U-M’s Center for Computer Security and Society, contends that the initial reports… Read More »
Consumers increasingly turn to commercial physician-rating websites, similar to those for restaurants and hotels, when searching for a new doctor, but the sites rarely have information that actually helps patients. “Consumers should still be careful about what they view on these sites,” says David Hanauer, an associate professor at the Medical School and the School of Information. A new study finds that most doctors… Read More »
Ann Arbor-based Clinc Inc., an artificial-intelligence startup co-founded by U-M research professors Jason Mars and Lingjia Tang announced earlier this week that it has raised a funding round of $6.3 million. That follows a seed-stage round six months ago of $1.2 million for the company, which was founded in 2015. The investment followed a well-received appearance by Clinc at the Consumers Electronic… Read More »
Typically, elected officials delegate social media posts to staffers, but that is changing. (President Donald Trump being the most famous example.) Michigan also has a few political social media stars, like Lt. Gov. Brian Calley and retired Rep. John Dingell, who manage their own accounts. Josh Pasek, assistant professor of communications studies, is not sure the trend bodes well for… Read More »
Eytan Adar, a professor of information and computer science at U-M, explains why some apps and software packages will build in artificial wait times as a way to improve the user experience. He calls it “benevolent deception,” a term he coined in a paper he published in 2013 with a pair of Microsoft researchers. For example, TurboTax employs… Read More »
Predicting color perception is easy: specific wavelengths produce specific colors that most people see in a consistent way. But predicting how a particular molecule will smell is much tougher. So a group of researchers set up a contest and invited teams of computer scientists to come up with a set of algorithms able to predict the odor of different molecules based on their… Read More »
The Great Firewall of China, the vast hardware and software system the Chinese government uses to prevent access to certain Internet content, is often depicted as monolithic and Orwellian. However, recent research by U-M’s Mary Gallagher (director of the Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies) and Blake Miller (a PhD candidate in political science) found that information control in China is more… Read More »
Biographies often explore the lives of great men and women, but how should we publish the memoir of a great building? And how might archaeologists write a narrative of that building for the public to more easily interact with? A new digital publication from the University of Michigan Press and its accompanying online archaeological object database answers these questions… Read More »
U-M Dearborn recently announced that it will launch new doctoral degree programs in computer and information science, and electrical and computer engineering. “The new programs were designed in response to industry’s strong demand both for highly qualified engineers in research and development, and for the products of research undertaken by PhD students,” said Tony England, dean, of UM-Dearborn’s… Read More »
The U-M Library, which has a long record of improving the way students go about finding, evaluating, and using information in their academic work, is fighting back against fake news. A marked increase in the online dissemination of intentionally false information has led librarians to join with campus partners at LSA to create a class aimed at helping students develop… Read More »
The Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research is establishing an open-access archive, DataLumos, where the public can archive valuable government data resources, ensuring their long-term availability. ICPSR, a center within U-M’s Institute for Social Research, has joined widespread efforts to preserve valuable U.S. government data that may be hard to find or inaccessible in the future. “We… Read More »
Thirty years ago, the digital technology we rely on today wasn’t just unavailable; it was inconceivable. And yet at Michigan Engineering, a young PhD student named Thomas Knoll was quietly creating a piece of software that endures today as one of the world’s most popular applications. It would turn countless industries on their heads: marketing, advertising, publishing and… Read More »
Computer Showcase will make a donation to Dance Marathon at the University of Michigan for every trade-in through April 1. Here’s what happens when you trade up your old tech at Computer Showcase through April 1: You get instant store credit toward a new technology purchase. We donate an extra 10% of your trade-in value to Dance Marathon… Read More »
Elizabeth Bruch, a professor in the Center for the Study of Complex Systems and the Department of Sociology, has been working with colleagues in LSA to figure out exactly how people find romance online. They’ve seen some telling patterns in how people choose partners. Bruch and her colleagues examined romantic encounters in an online dating service—more than one… Read More »
Only a decade ago, Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPhone. The mobile app boom came afterward, helping to make services like Uber, Twitter, Instagram, and Tinder household names. We’re still feeling the effects that technological change is having on our culture and relationships, says Nicole Ellison, a professor at the School of Information. We may reach a point where… Read More »
Snapchat’s ability to court a young demographic has been one of its defining characteristics and the pillar of its success. But as the company prepares for its stock market debut, the photo and video messaging app’s reliance on users under the age of 25 could also be one of its biggest liabilities. “It’s the rocks many ships have… Read More »
On Tuesday, February 7, forged emails carrying messages of hate were sent to several College of Engineering email groups from an anonymous email server. The messages were “spoofed” so they appeared to come from an engineering faculty member and a doctoral student. They did not send the messages. The U-M Police Department and the FBI are conducting a joint… Read More »