In the News

  1. February 24, 2020
    • Headshot of Kendrin Sonneville

    “Don’t talk about losing weight, don’t label foods as good or bad and do communicate to your children that their body weight is not their worth. The words you use really matter. At the very least, don’t comment on your child’s body in a disparaging way,” said Kendrin Sonneville, assistant professor of nutritional sciences, on ways that parents who struggle with food and self-image can avoid inadvertently passing along unhealthy behaviors.

    The New York Times
  2. February 21, 2020
    • Headshot of Kelly Maxwell

    “(Dialogue is) about listening and building empathy for experiences that may be very different from one’s own, and really then seeking to understand where that perspective comes from,” said Kelly Maxwell, assistant dean for undergraduate education at LSA, which offers semester-long courses called “intergroup dialogues” on subjects that tend to provoke strong feelings, including class, sexual orientation and racial identity.

    EdSurge
  3. February 21, 2020
    • Headshot of Ruth Zielinski

    When grandparents and other family members enter the delivery room, “the vast majority of the time it’s a very positive experience,” says Ruth Zielinski, clinical associate professor and lead for the Midwifery Graduate Program at the School of Nursing. She cautions grandparents invited to witness the birth of a grandchild: “If you have the privilege of being at a birth, what should you do or not do? Why are you there, and what is your role?”

    The New York Times
  4. February 21, 2020
    • Photo of Nicholas Valentino

    “Many see this administration as an existential threat to the constitutional order. They’re standing ready to participate to try to change the course of this country,” said Nicholas Valentino, professor of political science, and communication and media, on national opinion polls that show Americans’ interest in voting is growing faster in large cities dominated by Democrats than in conservative rural areas.

    Reuters
  5. February 20, 2020
    • Headshot of Sarah Mills

    Farmers who own and farm land with turbines are more likely to have a succession plan in place on their property, said Sarah Mills, senior project manager at the Ford School’s Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy: “What they told me was that the guaranteed income that comes from hosting a turbine was convincing their kids that farming wasn’t such a risky business.”

    USA Today
  6. February 20, 2020
    • Headshot of Ellen Brennan
    • Headshot of Omar Ahmed

    Ellen Brennan, doctoral student in neuroscience, and Omar Ahmed, assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience, have identified a previously unrecognized excitatory neuron in mouse brains that may aid scientists’ understanding of how the part of the brain responsible for navigation — the retrosplenial cortex — goes about navigating prolonged distances. “The retrosplenial cortex is critical for spatial orientation, but is one of the earliest brain regions to show dysfunctional activity in (people with Alzheimer’s),” Ahmed said.

    Medical News Today
  7. February 20, 2020
    • Headshot of Josh Ackerman

    “It turns out that people are much more scared of things like shark attacks than vending machines despite the fact that people are more likely to die from a vending machine falling on them than a shark attack,” said Josh Ackerman, associate professor of psychology, explaining the fear surrounding the coronavirus.

    CNBC
  8. February 19, 2020
    • Photo of Oscar Ybarra

    “In our study, socializing was just as effective as more traditional kinds of mental exercise in boosting memory and intellectual performance,” said Oscar Ybarra, professor of psychology, and management and organizations, whose research shows that even just 10 minutes per day of conversation with another person improves memory and cognition.

    Medium
  9. February 19, 2020
    • Headshot of John DeCicco

    “They are trying to make the data dance the way this administration wants it to dance, (but) the data and the models don’t lie,” said John DeCicco, research professor and associate director at the Energy Institute, on the Trump administration’s assertions that lower fuel economy standards would reduce vehicle prices and boost the economy.

    The New York Times
  10. February 19, 2020
    • Photo of Jerry Davis

    Jerry Davis, professor of management and organizations and associate dean for business impact, discussed “stakeholder capitalism,” the idea that a corporation should take responsibility for its social and environmental impact. “There’s definitely a strong public opinion that business needs to do better. … to be good citizens and not purely focused on creating shareholder value,” he said.

    Marketplace