Tag Archives: People

U-M Data Science Annual Symposium covers wide range of topics

By | November 13, 2020
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MIDAS logo

The Michigan Institute for Data Science held its Data Science Annual Symposium Tuesday, November 10 and Wednesday, November 11. The keynote featured Lauren Klein, English professor at Emory University, and Catherine D’Ignazio, urban science professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The pair discussed their book, “Data Feminism,” published last February. Klein and D’Ignazio introduced what they call the… Read More »

Support extended for program to engage underrepresented students in CS research

By | October 20, 2020
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A team led by computer science professor Rada Mihalcea has been awarded a Google grant to continue a program designed to expose undergraduate students to computer science research, specifically aiming to encourage women and underrepresented minority students. The project earned $10,000 from Google’s exploreCSR: Google Grant Pilot Program for Undergraduate Computer Science Research Focused Workshops for Women. The… Read More »

UMSI researchers to present award-winning research at virtual 2020 CSCW

By | October 16, 2020
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CSCW logo 2020

U-M School of Information (UMSI) faculty and PhD students are presenting nearly two dozen papers, posters and workshops at the 2020 ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) October 17-21. Two UMSI researchers have earned an honorable mention designation for their paper, and three more received the conference’s Diversity and Inclusion Recognition for their research.  UMSI researchers were also… Read More »

Professor rolls with changes in the digital media world

By | October 15, 2020
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Since Lisa Nakamura began teaching courses about digital media in 2001, the course themes have evolved every year to match the fast-paced change within the online world. In addition to the changes within digital environments, student interests and aspirations have also changed. “I see more that students want to build an app that helps society,” she says. “There’s… Read More »

Google.org supports UMSI health equity research

By | September 14, 2020
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Google.org announced that a team of School of Information (UMSI) researchers has been selected to receive funding as part of the company’s efforts to support projects using innovative artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics to help understand COVID-19 and address its impacts.  Faculty members Tiffany Veinot, Vinod Vydiswaran, Lorraine Buis, and Anna Laurie will receive $200,000 in funds to… Read More »

Laptop loaner program brings Computing Sites to students

By | September 9, 2020
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An open laptop on a table. Text on the right reads, " Sites @ Home laptop loaner program."

The pandemic has created new and unique challenges for students. To support a culture of caring and to create safe computing options, ITS developed a new laptop loaner program called “Sites @ Home.”  The program provides the best that ITS has to offer: Campus Computing Sites with access to specialized software, a Windows PC, and computers with higher… Read More »

Profiles in IT: Brandon Werner—Costar for success

By | August 24, 2020
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Brandon Werner demonstrates assistive technology for WIAD 2019 attendees at the Deque Empathy Lab, an immersive accessibility learning experience that showcases how people with disabilities use technology

Brandon Werner is a screen reader specialist at the University of Michigan, where he ensures blind students have what they need in order to be successful in life and throughout college. Alongside his work as a screen reader specialist, Brandon reviews university websites like Canvas and Google to make sure they work with the screen readers and other… 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 »

In memoriam: Frances Allen, the first woman to receive the Turing Award and U-M alumna

By | August 7, 2020
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Frances Allen

Frances Allen (MA Math 1957), the first woman to win the Turing Award and first female IBM Fellow, died on August 4, 2020. Allen was known for her pioneering contributions to the theory and practice of optimizing compiler techniques that laid the foundation for modern optimizing compilers and automatic parallel execution. Allen intended to be a math teacher… Read More »

MiXR Studios Podcast: Anti-Black racism and the promise of virtual reality

By | July 13, 2020
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(Image of Dr. Courtney Cogburn smiling while in conversation with Jeremy Nelson.)

This week’s MiXR Studios podcast continues a conversation with Dr. Courtney Cogburn from Columbia University and discusses her groundbreaking work in virtual reality with 1000 Cut Journey and how it is as important as ever in the midst of the current Black Lives Matters movement. In the “1000 Cut Journey” virtual reality experience, the user becomes Mike Sterling,… Read More »

Zoom Automatic Live Transcription now available

By | July 13, 2020
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Zoom logo

A Zoom beta feature is now available, providing automatic live transcription for meetings and webinars.  “Now more than ever, creating opportunities for the entire academic community to participate in discussions, presentations and lectures about today’s issues is vitally important,” said Ravi Pendse, vice president for information technology and chief information officer.  “We want to improve the ability for… Read More »

Police brutality in America: Teach-Out encourages learners to get informed, involved

By | July 9, 2020
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As Black Lives Matter protests continue throughout the nation and deadly run-ins with police repeatedly make headlines, the University of Michigan explores the topic with a “Police Brutality in America Teach-Out.” Online now, the self-guided learning event on Coursera explores the history of policing in the United States and the legacy of mistrust between police and minority communities.… Read More »

Inclusive technology: How a single step could pave the way

By | June 30, 2020
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(Chad Jenkins standing with his arms around two robots that almost reach his shoulders standing upright.)

In the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd and other recent incidents of police brutality, a coalition of Black computer scientists drafted an open letter calling for action in the computing community to address systemic and structural inequities Chad Jenkins, a roboticist and associate professor of computer science and engineering at the University of Michigan, is among… Read More »

Tandem wins teaching innovation prize

By | June 30, 2020
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(Portrait of Robin Fowler smiling.)

Tandem, a tool that helps track and facilitate group projects, has received the University of Michigan Provost’s Teaching Innovation Prize. Tandem was developed by the Center for Academic Innovation and Michigan Engineering. Robin Fowler, a lecturer in the Department of Engineering, and one of the faculty leads who helped develop Tandem. She is talking about Tandem at the… Read More »

Why accessible material helps everyone

By | June 22, 2020
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Accessible materials are a good basic practice precisely because they are often easier for all students to understand and process. Creating accessible materials helps all learners in your course and provides them with equal access to course materials and learning opportunities. Digital accessibility like consistent semantic markup and clean links makes it easier for everyone to navigate and… Read More »

How simple video editing can improve recorded lectures

By | June 19, 2020
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Transitioning to online lecturing may seem daunting at first, but LSA Learning and Teaching Technology Consultants have shared some tricks and tips for making it easier.  According to the consultants, recording an hour-long lecture with slides to mimic a typical, in-person meeting reduces information retention and effectiveness of the instruction. Instead, lecturers should consider making shorter video lectures… Read More »

optiMize funds COVID-19 Community Aid Efforts

By | June 19, 2020
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Food pantry

optiMize, a student-led incubator at the University of Michigan, launched a $25,000 Community Aid Relief Fund in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The relief fund aims to provide mutual aid and community-based projects in Washtenaw county. Students at U-M, Eastern Michigan University, and Washtenaw Community College were eligible to apply for up to $5,000 in funding. optiMize received… Read More »

Black computer scientists, including U-M professors, call to dismantle racism in the field

By | June 15, 2020
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Black in Computing and Our Allies for Equity and Fairness

Signers of an open letter raise the alarm on interpersonal and institutional racism as well as racial bias occurring from improper development and use of computing technology. A coalition of black computer scientists has drafted an open letter to the computing community, calling for action to address systemic and structural inequities. They ask for equal partnership in the leadership… Read More »

Open-source software helps youth with disabilities develop scheduling independence

By | June 12, 2020
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The system can add more flexibility to task management apps to help learning users make informed decisions about their time. Keeping a handle on life’s many demands is hard on its own. Part of growing up is learning how to handle planning and scheduling – and with a world of apps to help, it’s gotten easier for teens and… Read More »

Dillahunt receives Skip Ellis Early Career award

By | June 11, 2020
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Tawanna Dillahunt

Tawanna Dillahunt, University of Michigan School of Information (UMSI) associate professor, was announced as an inaugural recipient of The Computing Research Association’s Committee on Widening Participation in Computing Research (CRA-WP) Skip Ellis Early Career Award.  The award is given to a person who identifies as a member of an underrepresented group in computing who has made significant contributions… Read More »