Multimedia Features

October 15, 2019

A robotic docent

Faculty, staff and students from the U-M Museum of Art and the College of Engineering’s Robotics Institute are joining forces to develop a robot that could serve as a docent. The project is still in the design stages, but members are working to ensure the robot can navigate autonomously throughout the museum and abide by social norms, such as weaving around a group of people instead of cutting through them, and working to figure out how a robot might communicate with a museum guest, incorporating language and communication tactics that a docent might use. (Photo by Mark Gjukich)

2020 presidential debate

The University of Michigan has been selected to host a presidential debate on Oct. 15, 2020. The debate, which will take place at Crisler Center, will be the second in a series of three presidential debates next year prior to the Nov. 3 general election. In this video, President Mark Schlissel talks about how the event places U-M squarely at the center of the 2020 election.

Read more about U-M’s selection as a debate site

October 11, 2019

Nail gun drone

U-M engineers attached a nail gun to an octocopter and demonstrated that it can successfully tack a shingle onto a roof. As this video shows, the octocopter is autonomous, meaning it positions the nail gun on a nailing point, places the nail and moves to the next point without needing a human at the controls.

The Michigan Promise

To best serve a diverse patient population, surgeons should look more like the people they treat. That’s part of the thinking behind the Michigan Promise, a transformative long-term effort at the Michigan Medicine Department of Surgery. In this video, U-M medical faculty members discuss the plan to reshape the culture of hiring, mentoring and advancement of early-career surgeons at Michigan Medicine.

Cameras in West Africa

U-M wildlife ecologist Nyeema Harris and her team conducted a multi-year camera survey of West African wildlife. Deploying more than a hundred motion-triggered cameras, she discovered that poaching wasn’t the biggest human impact on wildlife, as she had assumed. In this video, Harris discusses the importance of the team’s work to help preserve and manage the wildlife in West Africa.

Read more about how cameras in West Africa show human impact

October 7, 2019

DEI Summit kickoff

“In this new century, the absolute prerequisite superpower for success is how do you perform in a radically diverse environment,” political commentator and human rights advocate Van Jones said Monday during his keynote address at a community assembly kicking off the 2019 DEI Summit. The event also included remarks from President Mark Schlissel, a panel discussion and a student performance. (Photo by Austin Thomason, Michigan Photography)

Read more about the DEI Summit community assembly

October 7, 2019

Connect the Dots

Over the course of the last year, more than a hundred community members in southeast Michigan worked to co-create 10 large-scale paintings — all drawing inspiration from collection materials at the U-M Library. Led by Detroit-based artist and U-M alumnus Doug Jones, the project will culminate in “Connect the Dots: Collective Interpretations of the U-M Library Collections,” an exhibition that opens Oct. 7 at the Hatcher Graduate Library. An opening reception, free to the public, is scheduled for 4-6 p.m. in the Hatcher Gallery. In this video, Jones and others discuss the techniques and resources used to create the paintings.

Read more about the “Connect the Dots” project

October 3, 2019

2019 Leadership Breakfast

Speaking at his annual Leadership Breakfast, President Mark Schlissel outlined new initiatives and projects that U-M will undertake in the coming years. He also updated the audience about a variety of ongoing developments. This is the full video of his adddress.

Read the full text of Schlissel’s remarks

October 2, 2019

Sexual misconduct resources

The university is continuing the ongoing process of making the campus community aware of issues and resources surrounding sexual and gender-based harassment and misconduct. Employees who have not yet completed a mandatory online training module have until Dec. 31 to do so. In this video, U-M staff who deal with harassment and misconduct discuss the resources available to help faculty and staff understand their rights and options.

Read more about sexual misconduct resources

October 1, 2019

Time for flu shots

Flu shot clinics are underway for U-M faculty, staff, students, retirees, spouses and other qualified adults. President Mark Schlissel and Provost Martin Philbert recently received their annual vaccination from Meredith McGill of Michigan Visiting Nurses. Here’s a list of clinics for Michigan Medicine employees as well as non-Michigan Medicine faculty and staff at the Ann Arbor, Dearborn and Flint campuses. (Photo by Roger Hart, Michigan Photography)

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