Week of special events honor veterans at U-M
The University of Michigan is hosting its annual Veterans Week celebration this week through Nov. 11. The annual event features a week of programming that educates and celebrates the experiences and sacrifice of those who have served our country. All events are free and are open to the entire university community and to the general public unless otherwise noted. Those with questions about this year’s events should email Philip Larson, program director for U-M Veteran and Military Services, at pnlarson@umich.edu. For a complete listing of Veterans Week events, go to vets.umich.edu/events/veterans-week-2022.
Michigan Medicine notifies patients of health information breach
Michigan Medicine is notifying approximately 33,850 patients about employee email accounts that were compromised, which may have exposed some of their health information. From Aug. 15-23, a cyber attacker targeted Michigan Medicine employees with an email “phishing” scam, luring employees to a webpage designed to get them to enter their Michigan Medicine login information. Four Michigan Medicine employees entered their login information and then inappropriately accepted multifactor authentication prompts, which allowed the cyber attacker to access their Michigan Medicine e-mail accounts. Michigan Medicine learned the email accounts were compromised Aug. 23. The accounts were disabled as soon as possible so no further access could take place and password changes were made. No evidence was uncovered during the investigation to suggest that the aim of the attack was to obtain patient health information from the compromised email accounts, but data theft could not be ruled out.
$2.2M grant to help study link between illegal dumping and community violence
A $2.2 million, four-year grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will fund a study examining the effects of illegal dumping interventions on the prevention of violent crime in Flint. School of Public Health researchers are partnering with Genesee County Land Bank and the Center for Community Progress to conduct the research on county-owned vacant lots to develop sustainable approaches to curb illegal dumping and community violence. Roshanak Mehdipanah, associate professor of health behavior and health education, and Marc Zimmerman, the Marshall H. Becker Collegiate Professor of Public Health and co-director of the Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention, are principal investigators of the project. School of Public Health researchers Justin Heinze, David Hutton and Lu Wang are co-investigators of the project.
Hybrid 2022 Michigan IT Symposium set for Nov. 16-17
Registration is open for U-M’s 2022 Michigan IT Symposium on Nov. 16-17 in a hybrid format. The theme for this year’s symposium is “Helping Shape the Future of Learning, Research, and Care.” It is an opportunity to learn new skills, connect with other technology professionals and advocates, and hear from campus leaders and innovators. The 2022 symposium is using an interactive, online platform called Fourwaves, allowing presenters and attendees new ways to experience all aspects of the symposium. Fourwaves provides an intuitive and centralized SaaS web platform that streamlines registration and livestreams interactive presentations and poster presentations. For more information or to register.
$1.2M grant to support research on vacant lot reuse and violence prevention
A new study led by School of Public Health researchers will examine the impact of high vacancy in urban areas on the rate of violence. The $1.2 million, three-year grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will support research on the short- and long-term effects of vacant lot reuse projects on total violent crime incidents and injury and what role community engagement has on this relationship. Justin Heinze, associate professor of health behavior and health education, said there is good evidence supporting community-driven vacant lot reuse as a strategy for reducing violence. Heinze and Lu Wang, professor of biostatistics, are principal investigators of the study. Roshanak Mehdipanah, associate professor of health behavior and health education, and Marc Zimmerman, the Marshall H. Becker Collegiate Professor of Public Health and co-director of the Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention, are co-investigators of the project. Vacant lot reuse project sites in Indianapolis will serve as the area of research.
Vacant lot greening can reduce community crime, violence
Communities that are engaged in cleaning, mowing and repurposing vacant spaces are likely to experience greater reductions in violence and crime than neighborhoods that do not participate in these activities, according to new research led by U-M. Researchers studied Busy Streets Theory and the greening hypothesis, which suggest that engaging community residents in cleaning up and repurposing vacant lots can reduce crime and violence. Their findings, based on a three-year study conducted by researchers at the U-M Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention and the Michigan Youth Violence Prevention Center in Youngstown, Ohio, were published this month in the American Journal of Community Psychology. Read the study.
— Compiled by James Iseler, The University Record
