Multimedia Features | The University Record

March 31, 2023

Autonomous vehicle safety

The push toward truly autonomous vehicles has been hindered by the cost and time associated with safety testing, but a new system developed at U-M shows that artificial intelligence can reduce the testing miles required by 99.99%. This video shows how researchers are using artificial intelligence to train virtual vehicles to perform adversarial behaviors that can challenge autonomous vehicles.

Read more about this work to simulate bad driving

March 28, 2023

Gershwin times two

Logan Skelton, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor and professor of music (piano) had long dreamed of creating a fully realized two-piano arrangement of George Gershwin’s 1928 orchestral work “An American in Paris.” Now, Skelton’s ambitious project is nearing completion, supported by the U-M Gershwin Initiative, School of Music, Theatre & Dance faculty, and two SMTD students who assisted him throughout the project. In this video, Skelton explains how this project became a reality.

Read more about this new arrangement of Gerswhin’s classic

March 27, 2023

An historic undertaking

In the first step of an ambitious effort to inventory global holdings, a group of natural history museums has mapped the total collections from 73 of the world’s largest natural history museums in 28 countries, including the collections from four U-M museums. The Herbarium, the Museum of Zoology, the Museum of Anthropological Archaeology and the Museum of Paleontology (pictured) have about 17 million specimens and artifacts combined. (Photo courtesy of U-M Museum of Paleontology)

Read more about this global effort of museums

March 23, 2023

In honor of Hutch

Athletic director Warde Manuel gives a congratulatory hug to retired softball coach Carol Hutchins after the Board of Regents voted March 23 to rename the university’s softball stadium in Hutchins’ honor. The home of U-M’s softball program will now be known as Alumni Field at Carol Hutchins Stadium. (Photo by Roger Hart, Michigan Photography)

Women in the marching band

The 2022-23 school year marks 50 years since the passing of Title IX, which allowed women to join the Michigan Marching Band. Today, 42% of the MMB identify as women, and the band is led by Rachel Zhang, the fourth female drum major in its 125-year history. In this video, Lynn Hansen, a graduate of the School of Music, Theatre & Dance and marching band member from 1972-75, tells her story of being in the band when Title IX was passed, prohibiting discrimination based on sex in education programs and activities.

Read more about women in the Michigan Marching Band

March 21, 2023

‘Making Art in Prison’

The Prison Creative Arts Project unveils its 27th annual Exhibition of Artists in Michigan Prisons, which runs through April 4 at the Duderstadt Gallery on North Campus. An opening celebration reception begins at 6 p.m. March 21, with the ceremony starting at 6:30 p.m. In this video, Janie Paul, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor Emerita, professor emerita of art and professor emerita of social work, discusses her book, “Making Art in Prison: Survival and Resistance,” and three artists explain what the creative experience was like.

Read more about this year’s exhibition

March 20, 2023

Preventing mental health crises

More than 3,200 doctors and other primary care providers across Michigan have been turning to a service called MC3 to help patients in need of mental health care. Based at U-m’s Department of Psychiatry, MC3 acts like the “Phone-a-Friend” option on a popular game show. In this video, local doctors from around Michigan and program organizers at U-M describe how the service is helping promote mental health throughout the state.

Giving thanks for Giving Blueday

Donors from across the U-M community — and around the world — gave more than $5.3 million to support initiatives, programs, organizations and more on Giving Blueday, U-M’s annual day of giving. The university’s ninth Giving Blueday was March 15, and 11,200 students, alumni, faculty, staff and friends made gifts of all sizes to support all three campuses and Michigan Medicine. This video offers thanks to the donors who generously supported U-M.

Sustainability lecture

Former Irish president Mary Robinson (left) talks with Provost Laurie McCauley during the 21st Annual Peter M. Wege Lecture on Sustainability, which took place March 13 in Rackham Auditorium. “We are on the cusp of a clean-energy world, which we should all be immensely excited about and look forward to,” Robinson said. “Yet, we have this strange paradox where our world continues to warm 2.4 degrees above pre-industrial levels, and we don’t talk about it. (Photo by Dave Brenner, School for Environment and Sustainability)

Global health medalist

Regent Katherine White and President Santa J. Ono present Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus with the Thomas Francis Jr. Medal in Global Public Health. In his acceptance speech, Tedros, the World Health Organization director-general, said nations across the globe must better prepare for future pandemics by learning from the mistakes made throughout COVID-19. (Photo by Austin Thomason, Michigan Photography)

Read more about the Francis Medal ceremony