In the News
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January 23, 2020
Madhav Deshpande, professor emeritus of Sanskrit and linguistics, was quoted in a story about Americans’ use — and misuse — of the word “namaste,” which has a meaning among Hindi speakers but has been wrangled out of its context in the U.S. and tossed around to mean whatever people want it to.
National Public Radio -
January 23, 2020
A common misconception about Social Security is that Americans would be better off if they could invest their Social Security contributions on their own, says John Laitner, professor of economics and director of the U-M Retirement Research Center: “Social Security isn’t the same thing as a stock market investment. … It’s a lot more stable and a lot less risky than private investments. It’s a sure thing.”
MLive -
January 22, 2020
“The lessons of the last recession were harsh but clear. We need to adequately support public colleges during economic downturns. This will require federal action, because many states have balanced-budget provisions in their constitutions that ban them from running a deficit,” wrote Susan Dynarski, professor of public policy, economics and education.
The New York Times -
January 22, 2020
Less than 2 percent of those taking high doses of prescription opioid painkillers are prescribed naloxone, which can reverse many types of opioid overdoses, according to research by Lewei (Allison) Lin, assistant professor of psychiatry: “Although both high-dosage opioid prescriptions and having an opioid use disorder were associated with receiving naloxone, the same wasn’t true for those with a history of overdose or those with other substance use disorders.”
UPI -
January 22, 2020
“The pressures that face faculty members in grading all tend to be in the direction of being just a little softer this year than we were last year. The students like it, and there’s some evidence that they give higher teaching evaluations for courses that grade a little bit easier,” said Paul Courant, professor of economics, public policy and information.
The Chronicle of Higher Education -
January 21, 2020
A new Bankrate study that found blacks and Latinos pay higher bank fees confirms findings by Terri Friedline, associate professor of social work, whose research shows the average cost of maintaining a checking account is higher for Latinos and blacks than it is for whites: “Not only are black and Latinx areas served by more expensive banks, but they are home to poorer residents.”
CBS News -
January 21, 2020
As temperatures and precipitation increase annually, “the oscillations between water levels and extremes are likely to change in ways that we haven’t seen before,” said Drew Gronewold, associate professor of environment and sustainability, and civil and environmental engineering, commenting on the fluctuating levels of Lake Michigan, which are expected to remain high over the next several months.
Chicago Tribune -
January 21, 2020
“The autonomous-vehicle community understands this is a real problem it has to deal with. That motivates me to be very systematic,” said Monica Jones, assistant research scientist at the U-M Transportation Research Institute, who is leading a series of studies with the goal of helping people avoid motion sickness in self-driving cars.
The New York Times -
January 20, 2020
Gabriel Ehrlich, director of the Research Seminar in Quantitative Economics, says Michigan’s economy will keep growing but at a slower pace because young people are not joining the workforce as fast as older workers are dying, retiring or moving: “Expansions don’t die of old age, so it’s not just a function of how long it’s been going on, but we do think we’re going to run into speed limits as we face a shortage of workers as we get out into 2022 and beyond.”
Michigan Radio -
January 20, 2020
Aaron Kall, director of the U-M debate program, said last week’s Democratic presidential debate lacked fireworks despite the hype and added urgency of the upcoming caucus: “I don’t know it changed all that much heading into Iowa. The problem is I don’t know that anybody knows exactly how Iowans will act. … If you’re Sanders and Biden, I think you probably feel pretty good after the debate. Things are pretty bunched up at the top.”
MLive
