Registration open for the virtual NCCI Conference on Oct. 6-7
Organizational Excellence, in partnership with the Shared Services Center, has paid for an institutional membership to the Network for Change & Continuous Innovation and the 2022 NCCI virtual conference registration so any U-M faculty or staff member may attend at no cost. The virtual 2022 Network for Change & Continuous Innovation Annual Conference will feature keynotes, general sessions and concurrent sessions designed to educate attendees. The conference provides opportunities for the NCCI community to share insights and solutions regarding change management, process improvement, strategic planning, project management and innovation in higher education. Registration for the Oct. 6-7 conference closes Oct. 6. For more on NCCI and the annual conference, go to ncci-cu.org.
U-M hosting Asian American Faculty and Student Accomplishments Symposium
U-M will host the inaugural Asian American Faculty and Student Accomplishments Symposium from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Sept. 9 at the Rackham Amphitheatre. Registration is required and the event is open to the public. The symposium is a celebratory event that will act as a reset after a particularly tumultuous few years for Asians and Asian Americans. The symposium is a celebration, but it also will explore ways to advocate for and strengthen Asian and Asian American representation in the United States. The keynote speaker is Steven Chu, professor of physics at Stanford University, for U.S. energy secretary, and the co-recipient of the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics for his contributions to laser cooling and atom trapping. In addition to the keynote address, there are three moderated panel sessions and a lunch reception with faculty slides and student poster displays. For more on the symposium.
UM-Flint computer science professor awarded NSF grant
Mark Allison, associate professor of computer science at UM-Flint’s College of Innovation & Technology, has secured a research grant through the National Science Foundation. The grant will aid his work in the design of AI strategies and structures to support a leadership framework for dissimilar robots cooperating in very large teams. “Leadership roles and hierarchies are not uniquely human. They emerge in nature when animals coordinate in groups toward a common goal,” Allison said. This project draws inspiration from these systems to provide resilient real-time learning and optimization within multi-robot missions. Allison says that the intention is to extend funding for this research and continue support for student research into additional robotic infrastructure. The grant awarded for Allison’s proposal was approximately $600,000 split between six partner institutions. For more about the project.
New UM-Dearborn Health Communication Certificate begins this fall
Health is a central part of life. Whether one is a caregiver, medical professional or just wants answers to a health concern, nearly everyone seeks information to keep themselves and loved ones in the best health possible. But communication surrounding health can be confusing, difficult and ineffective. So UM-Dearborn professors designed a new Health Communication Certificate to promote professional competence and personal confidence. The 16-credit program, which begins this fall, focuses on helping people become better producers and consumers of messages about health and wellness. Students in the program can choose from a wide variety of courses that include risk and crisis communication, psychology of aging, medical ethics, community organizing for health, environmental filmmaking, and more. Nick Iannarino, associate professor of language, culture and communication in UM-Dearborn’s College of Arts, Sciences and Letters, and the certificate’s faculty adviser, said the appeal goes beyond the obvious medical career — it will prepare people who want to work in marketing, public relations, journalism, public health or public policy. For more on the new program.
U-M analysis challenges USPS electric vehicle environmental study
The Inflation Reduction Act signed into law by President Biden last month contains $3 billion to help the U.S. Postal Service decarbonize its mail-delivery fleet and shift to electric vehicles. On the heels of the Aug. 16 bill-signing ceremony at the White House, a new U-M study finds that making the switch to all-electric mail-delivery vehicles would lead to far greater reductions in greenhouse gas emissions than previously estimated by the USPS. In its analysis of the potential environmental impacts of the Next Generation Delivery Vehicle program, the Postal Service underestimated the expected greenhouse gas emissions from gasoline-powered vehicles and overestimated the emissions tied to battery-electric vehicles, according to U-M researchers. The NGDV program calls for the purchase of up to 165,000 new mail delivery trucks over the next decade. The Postal Service said in February that at least 10% of the new mail trucks would be electric. But following criticism from many quarters, the agency upped that number in July. For more on the study.
— Compiled by Jeff Bleiler, The University Record
