In the News
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November 26, 2019
“We don’t want to stand in the way of progress in bringing low-cost internet to the entire world, particularly places that don’t have it. There are real social benefits to building these constellations. But the tradeoff is they will change the appearance of the night sky,” said Patrick Seitzer, research professor emeritus of astronomy, on the impact that thousands of highly reflective communications satellites will have on the work of astronomical observatories.
The Guardian (U.K.) -
November 26, 2019
“In a politically polarized world that is saturated in social media, you’re not going to escape politics. This is a sea change — in the past, companies kept their heads down and did their best to never be seen,” said Jerry Davis, professor of management and organizations, and sociology, commenting on businesses increasingly taking a stand on social justice, cultural, environmental and political issues.
TIME -
November 26, 2019
Laura Blake Jones, dean of students, was interviewed about ways to manage the stress of living in close quarters with a college roommate who has acute or chronic psychological challenges. Students, she said, should seek out the appropriate university resources — which will safeguard their anonymity — for help.
The New York Times -
November 25, 2019
One factor that may help explain the increase in MBA applications from women is that many schools now accept the GRE exam in place of the GMAT, the standardized test specific to graduate management programs, says Soojin Kwon, MBA admissions director at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business: “That’s widened the funnel for business schools and made it more accessible to students interested in a diverse range of things and not just straight business.”
Quartz -
November 25, 2019
Kelly Wright, doctoral student in linguistics, says the language used to describe NFL player Myles Garrett in the aftermath of his fight with an opposing player is a marker of racialization: “The choices of phrasing here are no coincidence. … It is no secret that a criminal stereotype follows black people like a specter, and one look at who gets called a thug is a good illustration of that.”
ESPN -
November 25, 2019
“We all have tension, but it’s how we cope with it that is most important,” said Kira Birditt, research associate professor at the Institute for Social Research, who was quoted in a story about holiday stress and family drama — and ways to maintain one’s composure and defuse tension at the dinner table.
The New York Times -
November 22, 2019
“When you compare us to other hospital systems in Canada or the United Kingdom, we produce almost twice as much CO2 per person as those health care systems,” said Emily Johnson, a student at the Medical School, who is working to address the problem of waste at health care facilities — the second-largest contributor to landfills after the food industry in the U.S.
WDET (Detroit) -
November 22, 2019
Testing a possible method for reducing rabies transmission in wild vampire bats, Kevin Bakker, a research fellow in statistics, and colleagues used a glowing gel to see how well a similarly spreadable vaccine might work at vaccinating bats. “Vaccinating bats would be more efficient at reducing the number of cases, length of outbreaks and probability of outbreaks in vampire bat colonies than the current policy of culling,” he said.
Digital Trends -
November 22, 2019
Carrie Rheingans, a project manager at the Center for Health and Research Transformation, says the failure to link emergency room overdose patients with outside treatment remains an issue at many hospitals: “The biggest challenge that ER docs have is that if somebody is ready for treatment, there’s not a place for them to go. Treatment can be different things for different people.”
Bridge Magazine -
November 21, 2019
“It’s not simple to do a meaningful algorithm audit. But it is important to do,” said Paul Resnick, professor of information, who co-authored a report recommending consumer companies examine data fed to an algorithm as well as its output to check whether bias — even unintentional — exists in the treatment of customers. Businesses are prohibited by law from using gender or race in algorithmic decisions, which may deter them from collecting the information in the first place, he said.
WIRED
