In the News
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September 3, 2024
“It’s important for Michigan to have jobs in these new industries. The question is, should we be giving subsidies to a Chinese company so we can have these jobs or could there be another alternative?” said Erik Gordon, clinical assistant professor of business, about a Chinese electric vehicle battery company’s plans to build a $2.4 billion factory in Michigan.
The New York Times -
August 30, 2024
“Chameleons change color by altering the spacing between nanocrystals in their skin. The dream is to design a dynamic and multifunctional system that can be as good as some of the examples that we see in biology,” said chemical engineering doctoral student Tobias Dwyer, who along with professor Sharon Glotzer and researcher Tim Moore, designed computer simulations to identify forces that cause nanoparticles to interact and assemble — an imaging technique that may eventually enable smart materials and coatings that can switch between different optical, mechanical and electronic properties.
DBusiness Magazine -
August 30, 2024
Sinkholes in Lake Michigan and Lake Huron can help scientists learn more about Earth’s early history before there was oxygen, says Gregory Dick, director of the Cooperative Institute of Great Lakes Research and professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, and of environment and sustainability: “We typically have to go to Antarctica or Yellowstone National Park or some exotic location to get these extreme ecosystems, but this is in our backyard in the Great Lakes.”
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel -
August 30, 2024
“Cellphones clearly can be distracting in school … but cellphones also have been ways to help schools become more equitable in terms of technology access,” said Elizabeth Keren-Kolb, clinical professor of education, who believes banning phones in schools will exacerbate existing inequities in student achievement, since low-income students are more likely to own a smartphone than a tablet or laptop.
Detroit Free Press -
August 29, 2024
“This is not good news because it suggests that, as the world warms, soils are going to give back some of their carbon to the atmosphere,” said Peter Reich, professor of environment and sustainability, whose team discovered that as temperatures rise, soils lose more carbon than plants can replace — contributing to an ominous cycle of increasing temperatures and mounting carbon emissions.
Earth.com -
August 29, 2024
“We’re really investing in children who … haven’t had the opportunity to learn literacy at the levels that you’re going to need for happiness and success in society. It’s recognizing that young people have other things to do in their lives, and some of them may actually need the income,” said Elizabeth Birr Moje, dean of the Marsal Family School of Education, about a new program that provides Detroit high school students with gift cards to attend after-school tutoring sessions.
Bridge Detroit -
August 29, 2024
Investing in smaller, locally owned grocery stores in rural communities could offer a long-term way to fill food deserts, says Kate Bauer, associate professor of nutritional sciences: “They are people who are really invested in the community, and they’re trying really hard to stock what they can get at reasonable prices, but they just don’t have the buying power of the big stores.”
The Detroit News -
August 28, 2024
“Once you put these subsidies in place, they’re really hard to remove, and they would in all likelihood require an act of Congress to repeal. So this is not something a Biden administration or a Harris administration could do unilaterally,” said Barry Rabe, professor of public policy and environment, about Democrats’ desire to eliminate tax breaks for fossil fuels.
The Wall Street Journal -
August 28, 2024
Unlike most people who are content to talk to friends and family, or maybe volunteer with a political campaign, a certain subset of the population is internally driven to protest, says Yanna Krupnikov, professor of communication and media: “For people who are deeply involved, political expression feels really immediate. … Politics is so abstract and disconnected, so huge, that sometimes it feels like the only thing we can do is express ourselves and hope others hear it.”
USA Today -
August 28, 2024
“A lot of enterprises, I would say, understand the need to be accountable, but accountable and transparent may not be thought of as synonymous,” said historian Earl Lewis, professor and director of the Center for Social Solutions, whose team designed a database to make information about the commitments and actions taken by major U.S. corporations around racial equity more accessible.
The Associated Press
