The tenth anniversary of Researchpalooza brought together more than 4,000 faculty, staff, and students. The HITS Research Engagement team was on hand to showcase IT services geared especially for Michigan Medicine researchers.
Formerly incarcerated individuals—or returning citizens—struggle to find work and reintegrate due to a lack of digital literacy, according to a recently published article by U-M researchers. “For some returning citizens, there’s a ‘Rip Van Winkle effect’ when they are offered digital technology upon reentry,” said Kentaro Toyama, senior author of the study. Many returning citizens rely heavily on… Read More »
When we think about the technological divide between urban and rural communities, our minds likely go to infrastructure—a lack of a physical grid, wiring, or towers to connect those in remote communities. While this is a large part of the issue, School of Information doctoral student Jean Hardy says a bigger concern is the lack of innovation in the way… Read More »
First-year medical student Jacob Lowy has moderate-to-severe hearing loss in his right ear. Working together, HITS, ITS, and other units on campus leveraged IT that has transformed his experience—including adding captions to lecture videos and setting up realtime captioning (CART) during lectures. Lowy realizes that when something isn’t visible, it’s not always easy to understand. This often happens… Read More »
The City of Westland and UM-Dearborn’s College of Engineering and Computer Science (CECS) have joined forces to create an innovative way to target STEM’s gender gap. “Studies have shown that the middle to high school transition is when some young women start shifting away from things like engineering and computer science,” says Jeanne Girard, director of Extended Learning… Read More »
Watch this video that showcases a new set of Guiding Principles for Accessibility that ITS published to ensure that people with disabilities enjoy the services it offers to campus.
SEISMIC, a coalition of American research institutions striving to create a more accessible STEM curriculum to underrepresented minorities, held its first annual summer meeting in June on the U-M campus. Over four days, nearly 40 representatives from the 10 participating universities, which collectively enroll about 350,000 students, gathered to discuss how to foster a mindset in which STEM… Read More »
U-M professors were a key part of the DIA Plaza/Midtown Cultural Connections international design competition’s winning submission, called Detroit Square. The project provides the opportunity “to leapfrog the current generation of technology and do something that is very progressive and future proof,” said team member John Marshall, an associate professor at the Stamps School of Art & Design.… Read More »
A new ITS webpage outlines progress to make its workplace more diverse, inclusive, and equitable: Over 450 DEI course completions by 276 staff, a new set of Guiding Principles for Accessibility, and more.
Michigan IT News recently interviewed Health Information Technology and Services staffer Mahathy Kuchibhatla, M.S., about her work building and managing the Patient Portal (MyUofMHealth.org). An undergraduate project that used Artificial Intelligence got her interested in computers that has led to a 10-year career in IT that improves patient engagement. Tell us about your background. I have a master’s… Read More »
Members of the U-M Accessibility team recently took part in events for Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), May 16. The purpose of GAAD is to get everyone talking, thinking, and learning about digital (web, software, mobile, etc.) access/inclusion and how it affects not only people with disabilities, but also tech usability for everyone. In recognition of the fact… Read More »
Sitting through job interviews can be nerve-wracking. The Women in IT Community of Practice hosted a free workshop and provided five key takeaways for the U-M IT community.
U-M will lead a group of nine other universities in SEISMIC, a multiyear effort to address equity and inclusion in introductory level STEM courses.
On Tuesday, April 16 from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Hatcher Graduate Library Gallery will host the launch of the all new Academic Innovation at Michigan for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (AIM for DE&I) Speaker Series. This talk will be the first of four throughout April and May aimed at exploring issues at the intersections of teaching and learning; technology;… Read More »
Faculty and staff (regular employees) on the UM-Ann Arbor campus, including Michigan Medicine, are eligible to submit proposals. The deadline is May 1, and decisions will be delivered on May 24.
Women in High Performance Computing (WHPC) has launched a year-round mentoring program, providing a framework for women to provide or receive mentorship in high performance computing. Read more about the program at https://womeninhpc.org/2019/03/mentoring-programme-2019/ WHPC was created with the vision to encourage women to participate in the HPC community by providing fellowship, education, and support to women and the organizations… Read More »
Michigan IT News recently interviewed Marissa Taylor about her work for the Center for Education Outreach (CEO) within the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). Taylor, now a program manager of communication and technology at the CEO, began her career in IT three years ago when she was a graduate student at the U-M School of Information… Read More »
Stereotypes of seniors confused by and struggling with technology might be amusing, but not necessarily accurate, says School of Information researcher Robin Brewer, an SI presidential postdoctoral fellow. Technology isn’t necessarily befuddling for older adults in and of itself, says Brewer. Most of the challenges are because of changes in abilities that make traditional devices and systems tougher for… Read More »
The Clare Boothe Luce Program of the Henry Luce Foundation awarded a $270,000 grant to U-M. The funding will support women PhD students through the Michigan Institute for Computational Discovery and Engineering (MICDE). The program encourages women “to enter, study, graduate and teach” in science, and the funding will support women PhD students who make use of computational… Read More »
The U-M Council for Disability Concerns has named David Chesney, a lecturer in computer science and engineering, as the 2018 recipient of the James T. Neubacher Award. Reimagining the way in which U-M campus learning and living can be designed for those affected by a disability poses a number of challenges, but Chesney encourages his students to do… Read More »