In the News

  1. January 12, 2021
    • Leah Richmond-Rakerd

    Research by Leah Richmond-Rakerd, assistant professor of psychology, suggests that kids who are goal-oriented and better able to restrain their thoughts, behavior and emotions are healthier by the time they hit middle age: “We found that as adults, at age 45, children with better self-control aged more slowly. … We also found that they had developed more health, financial and social reserves for old age.”

    U.S. News & World Report
  2. January 11, 2021
    • Photo of Alexandra Minna Stern
    “The ‘Stop the Steal’ message is not only about the election. It’s about how this group feels aggrieved about what they think has been taken away from them, kind of their God-given right to possess and to have dominion over certain aspects of American society. … I think that’s a motif we’re going to see playing out after Biden becomes president,” said Alexandra Minna Stern, professor of American culture, history and women’s studies.
    Michigan Radio
  3. January 11, 2021
    • Photo of Michael Traugott

    “The action of the mob in Washington, incited by President Trump, is an unprecedented affront to the peaceful transfer of power on which our democracy is based. It is a seditious act unlike anything since the Civil War,” said Michael Traugott, professor emeritus of communication and political science, and research professor emeritus at the Institute for Social Research’s Center for Political Studies.

    USA Today
  4. January 11, 2021
    • Charles H. Davis III

    “If this was a group of people of color who had taken to the Capitol and had damaged property and done any of the things that these white folks had done, we would talk about it in very different terms,” said Charles H. Davis III, assistant professor of education. “When we see people that are peacefully protesting based on the injustice of police violence against people of color and Black people specifically and anything happens — usually escalated by police — we don’t get the same language and the same treatment.”

    Diverse Issues in Higher Education
  5. December 14, 2020
    • Headshot of Adam Lauring

    Prisons are an obvious setting to look at in trying to understand COVID-19 reinfection because of the potential for re-exposure, says Adam Lauring, associate professor of microbiology and immunology: “If there really are a bunch of reinfections in prisons, it highlights just how high-risk prisons are for COVID spread. I think it’s just another reemphasis on what a big problem this is.”

    Detroit Free Press
  6. December 14, 2020
    • Elizabeth Langen

    “If we are going to achieve these goals, the health care system will need to be intentional about reducing racial disparities. That will require listening to women of color and community organizations that can provide direction on how to improve the care that is provided,” said Elizabeth Langen, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology, on a government plan to combat maternal mortality among Black mothers.

    ABC News
  7. December 14, 2020
    • Headshot of Sandro Cinti

    Sandro Cinti, professor of internal medicine and infectious diseases, says it remains unclear whether people vaccinated against the coronavirus can still infect someone else: “You have to wear your mask. What they didn’t look at was if you get the vaccine and you’re protected, can you still get some virus that then goes in your nose and then infect somebody else.”

    CNN
  8. December 11, 2020
    • Headshot of Nyeema Harris

    “From Black Birders Week to Black in Microbiology, a number of events are meant to … showcase that Black people are … contributing and enjoying the natural world. … (When people) don’t see us in these spaces, it perpetuates a narrative that either we don’t belong or we don’t care,” said Nyeema Harris, assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology.

    Resources Magazine
  9. December 11, 2020
    • Headshot of Reshma Jagsi

    Side effects of radiation therapy in breast cancer patients are often missed by doctors, according to research by Reshma Jagsi, professor of radiation oncology, and colleagues: “We found that physicians are more likely to miscalculate symptom severity when patients have certain characteristics, including patients who are younger and patients who are Black.”

    UPI
  10. December 11, 2020
    • Photo of Sheria Robinson-Lane

    Sheria Robinson-Lane, assistant professor of nursing, says most nursing homes have more personal protective gear available now than they did in the spring and early summer, and nursing homes have gotten better at coordination, working together to share information and strategize procuring needed supplies. “I think we’re better prepared,” she said. “Is it still challenging? Absolutely.”

    USA Today