Multimedia Features | The University Record

October 30, 2024

Fall research up north

From a historic, 20-year soil harvest to the start of a tracer study targeting nitrogen uptake by trees in the winter, fall research activity at the University of Michigan Biological Station is robust. In this video, researchers discuss the studies being done at the Biological Station in the fall and the goals of the projects.

Read more about seasonal studies at the Biological Station

October 29, 2024

Understanding inequality

U-M’s Stone Center for Inequality Dynamics is releasing a new series of videos that seek to share information about pressing issues of social inequality in an easily understandable way. In this video, Robert Manduca, assistant professor of sociology, addresses whether the “American Dream” is as obtainable today as it was in the past.

View other installments in the video series

October 25, 2024

Look to Michigan

This video outlines the Look to Michigan campaign, which will support U-M’s Vision 2034 and Campus 2050 plans to live out the university’s mission of serving the public good by making an impact in four areas where Michigan is uniquely positioned to impact global challenges. It also will help advance core commitments and key university priorities.

Read more about the Look to Michigan campaign

October 24, 2024

Coping with election anxiety

Endless streams of political commercials. Spirited social media sparring between friends and families over candidates and issues. With the campaign in its closing weeks, many people still feel stressed. In this video, David Dunning, the Mary Ann and Charles R. Walgreen Jr. Professor of the Study of Human Understanding and professor of psychology in LSA, discusses how people can lower their election anxiety by refocusing their attention on other aspects of their lives.

Other election-related articles

October 23, 2024

Arts, ‘awe’ and policy

A unique pairing between the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and U-M Museum of Art is helping students learn how to develop human-centered experiences to guide public policy. The public policy course We Should Talk: Using Art and Culture as a Tool for Repairing the Social Fabric combines Ford School and LSA faculty member Jenna Bednar’s research on human social flourishing with a new physical manifestation of that research curated by Philippa Pham Hughes, social practice artist and visiting artist for art and civic engagement at UMMA. In this photo, students visit the “Hey, We Need to Talk!” exhibit at UMMA that is part of the class. (Photo courtesy of U-M Museum of Art)

Read more about UMMA-Ford School collaboration

October 21, 2024

Democracy in motion

In his monthly message to the U-M community, President Santa J. Ono discusses the Year of Democracy, Civic Empowerment, and Global Engagement and the role faculty, staff and students play in a healthy, vibrant democracy. In addition, in this month’s Portrait of a Wolverine, co-chairs Jenna Bednar, faculty director of UMICH Votes and Democratic Engagement, Celeste Watkins-Hayes, dean of the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, and Rosario Ceballo, dean of LSA, speak on the importance of the initiative.

October 16, 2024

Celebrating U-M inventions

Ethan Miles, chief executive officer of Precision Trauma, demonstrates his company’s product, the Turn-I-Kit, at U-M’s annual Celebrate Invention event Oct. 15. The event included the presentation of this year’s Distinguished University Innovator of the Year Award to Kevin Ward, professor of emergency medicine and of biomedical engineering, and Precision Trauma’s chief technology officer. Celebrate Invention, sponsored by Innovation Partnerships, showcases companies whose innovations or technology were developed at U-M. (Photo by Leisa Thompson, Michigan Photography)

United Way campaign

The university has embarked on its annual United Way campaign with a fundraising target of $1 million, reinforcing a partnership that has existed for more than 50 years, supporting vital community services in Washtenaw County and beyond. In this video, President Santa J. Ono encourages the U-M community to participate in this year’s campaign.

Read more about the 2024 United Way campaign

October 14, 2024

Robotics for kids

An engineer in the U-M Robotics Department is working to introduce younger students without programming knowledge to robotics. Brody Riopelle uses Scratch, a coding language with a simple visual interface, to bring the exploration of robotics to students at the Center for Success Network in Pontiac. In this photo, a Center for Success student runs their Scratch program on a MBot to have it autonomously navigate the maze. (Photo courtesy Brody Riopelle)

Difficulty deciding

An undecided voters should not take personally the less-than-flattering labels — lazy, indecisive or frustrating — that partisan voters use, says Yanna Krupnikov, professor of communication and media and of political science in LSA. Instead, she says they simply have struggled with selecting a presidential candidate whose policies neatly align with their beliefs. In this video, Krupnikov explains that undecided voters may be more about showing up to vote than indecisiveness.

Read a Q&A with Yanna Krupnikov about undecided voters