Category Archives: Top Stories

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Understanding the strongest electromagnetic fields in the universe

Alec Thomas is part of the team from the U-M College of Engineering Gérard Mourou Center for Ultrafast Optical Science that is building the most powerful laser in the U.S. Dubbed “ZEUS,” the laser will be 3-petawatts of power. That’s a ‘3’ with 15 zeros. All the power generated in the entire world is 10-terawatts, or 1000 times less than the ZEUS laser.

Message from the VPIT-CIO

By | February 4, 2022

New opportunities for us to grow individually and as a community are arising all of the time, and I am excited to see what 2022 has in store for us. What new insights can we gain — in technology topics and other areas of personal interest —by making a point to hear and learn from others with a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and roles? I love hearing your ideas.

Profiles in IT: Candice Wilson—Constructive creator

Candice Wilson is a solutions architect and Jira project manager for HITS. She has been passionate about tech since childhood and her love of creating has led to an exciting career at Michigan Medicine. Candice’s interest in making things extends beyond her work at the university and can be found in her hobbies — from 3D printing to cooking and more. She particularly enjoys creating things to gift to others.

Michigan IT Symposium breakout session videos — Watch what you may have missed

The eighth annual Michigan IT Symposium, “Moving Forward Together,” took place December 14–16, 2021. The three half-day virtual event offered something for everyone, hosting 16 breakout sessions, two spotlight sessions, and 36 poster presentations. Dr. Ravi Pendse, vice president and chief information officer for the university, kicked things off and closed out the symposium, hosting a leadership panel… Read More »

Coming February 23: A new look for time reporting

Information and Technology Services (ITS) is working with partners in schools, colleges, and across the university’s three campuses and Michigan Medicine to roll out a new design and additional functionality for time reporting. The upgrade will impact all employees who report, approve, or modify time. The upgrade will support a more mobile-friendly time reporting experience and ensure that… Read More »

U-M leading the way in assistive technology testing, design

U-M will be a beta site for Morphic, a new system that makes technology significantly more usable for individuals with disabilities and others who have difficulty using standard digital setups. Morphic is now available on all Campus Computing Sites computers on the UM-Ann Arbor campus. Learn about how Morphic came to U-M, the benefits of Morphic, and how you can provide your feedback on new features as they are developed.

Message from the VPIT-CIO

By | December 14, 2021

The energy and innovation at the Michigan IT Symposium is outstanding. I appreciate the ways in which our Michigan IT community can come together with the shared purpose of supporting one another and the university. Recordings of the keynote and technology & DEI panel are now available.

Profiles in IT: Christopher Visel—AV innovator

Christoper Visel, senior technical engineer at the U-M Ross School of Business, is dedicated to providing high-quality technology services to all classrooms and spaces in Ross. In the next 5-years, he would love to learn AV programming and be able to do that work in house in the future. Outside of work he enjoys playing games with his son and is currently learning about 3D printing.

Technology helps preserve Michigan’s musical history and culture

From Kentucky bluegrass “noodlin’ and doodlin’” to Louisiana Zydeco to German hurdy-gurdy to East European Klezmer to Indian Manipuri dancing to Native American pow wows, and much more, the Michigan Musical Heritage Project has been documenting Michigan’s folk history and culture since 2014.  The project is led by ethnomusicologist Lester P. Monts, Arthur F. Thurnau professor emeritus of… Read More »

Leveraging technology to improve education outcomes

Researchers from U-M campuses and all across the country are using education data provided by the State of Michigan to study a wide variety of topics ranging from the effects of COVID-19 on public school enrollment to the role of neighborhood instability on student educational outcomes to exploring the ways that financial assets can change youth’s lives. An… Read More »

Michigan Medicine wins ‘Most Wired’ award…again!

By | November 9, 2021

Michigan Medicine was once again recognized as one of the nation’s “Most Wired” healthcare organizations by the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME). The Most Wired program conducts an annual survey to assess how effectively healthcare organizations use advanced technologies in clinical and business programs to improve the health of their communities. Health systems are recognized for… Read More »

Custom software development advances LSA research

The LSA Technology Services Research Software Programming team has developed numerous custom desktop, web, and mobile applications for researchers in LSA. Programs developed by this group have helped with projects as varied as building robots, tracking monkey behavior, training mice to recognize patterns, and analyzing circadian rhythms.

Message from the VPIT-CIO

By | November 4, 2021

Thank you to everyone who joined Antonio Neri and me for the Leadership in Technology Distinguished Lecture Series event last month. Antonio’s messages of how technology can bring people together was especially meaningful when reflecting on the pandemic, when so much of our professional and personal worlds shifted online for connection. I am looking forward to continuing that theme at the upcoming 2021 Michigan IT Symposium.

Social, networking events added to the 2021 Michigan Symposium line up

In the words of the noted philosopher John “Hannible” Smith (the A-Team) “I love it when a plan comes together!” The 2021 Michigan IT Symposium is six weeks away, and the pieces are falling into place. After an impressive response to the call for proposals, the planning committee selected a total of 16 breakout sessions, 2 spotlight sessions,… Read More »

Profiles in IT Interview: Amy Peters—Connection-focused communicator

Amy Peters, director of Research Computing and Infrastructure at the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, is passionate about the supportive and connection-driven cultures shared by the four different teams she works with. Outside of work, she is an avid reader with a love of writing, having earned her Masters of Business Administration and Bachelors in English, both from the University of Iowa.