Multimedia Features | The University Record

March 19, 2024

Artificial intelligence at U-M

In his monthly video message to the U-M community, President Santa J. Ono addresses the promise and challenges associated with generative artificial intelligence. The university has committed to being a leader in the development and appropriate use of GenAI. He also profiled Ravi Pendse, vice president for information technology and chief information officer, as this month’s Portrait of a Wolverine. Pendse co-sponsored U-M’s GenAI advisory committee and led development of the custom AI tools available to the university community.

March 18, 2024

Bridging academic worlds

When instructors step into the new extended reality stage at U-M’s Center for Academic Innovation, they can transport learners anywhere or to any time in the world. The center is building online learning opportunities so students can engage and dive into an immersive virtual journey. This video explores the capabilities of the new facility.

Unlocking creativity

The 28th Annual Exhibition of Artists in Michigan Prisons runs March 19-April 2 at the Duderstadt Gallery on North Campus. These are some of the 750 works of art by 490 artists that will be on display. The exhibition is put on by U-M’s Prison Creative Arts Project and features artwork by people incarcerated in Michigan prisons. (Courtesy of Prison Creative Arts Project)

Read more about the prison art exhibition

March 13, 2024

Hitting the evolutionary jackpot

More than 100 million years ago, the ancestors of the first snakes were small lizards that lived alongside other small, nondescript lizards in the shadow of the dinosaurs. Then, in a burst of innovation in form and function, the ancestors of snakes evolved legless bodies that could slither across the ground, highly sophisticated chemical detection systems to find and track prey, and flexible skulls that enabled them to swallow large animals. In this video, Daniel Rabosky, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology in LSA, explains this evolutionary explosion of snake diversity.

Giving Blueday 2024

U-M will celebrate 10 years of Giving Blueday on March 13. The annual day of giving is an opportunity for thousands of university supporters around the world to contribute to the U-M causes that matter to them. This video looks at what started 10 years ago and how the project is helping now.

Cold-case partnership

UM-Dearborn students in a criminology and criminal justice course are working with a local sheriff’s office on decades-old cold cases. This video explores the effort, within the College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters, that is one of various practice-based learning projects taking place in colleges across the Dearborn campus.

March 5, 2024

Treating chronic pain

Millions of Americans suffer from chronic pain, limiting their productivity and reducing their quality of life. Alexandre DaSilva, professor of dentistry in the School of Dentistry, professor of learning health sciences in the Medical School and adjunct professor of psychology in LSA, and his U-M colleagues have designed PainTrek, a mobile app that integrates neuroimaging and brain stimulation research to better track, communicate and understand pain. This video explores how PainTrek offers patients a nuanced way to report pain and for physicians to track treatment efficacy.

March 4, 2024

Improving traffic signal timing

With GPS data from as little as 6% of vehicles on the road, U-M researchers can recalibrate traffic signals to significantly reduce congestion and delays at intersections. This video describes how a pilot study conducted in Birmingham, Michigan, used connected vehicle data insights provided by General Motors to test its system, resulting in a 20% to 30% decrease in the number of stops at signalized intersections.

Inclusive History Project

The Inclusive History Project is studying and documenting a comprehensive history of the University of Michigan that is attentive to diversity, equity, and inclusion and stretches across the university’s three campuses and Michigan Medicine. In his latest video address to the U-M community, President Santa J. Ono gives an overview and updates on the project and honors IHP co-chairs Elizabeth R. Cole and Earl Lewis as “Portraits of a Wolverine.”

Learn more about the Inclusive History Project

February 20, 2024

Long lost ‘La, La, Lucille’

Last summer, U-M researcher Jacob Kerzner uncovered the complete musical orchestration of “La, La, Lucille,” making the musical possible to perform for the first time in nearly a century. Students at the School of Music, Theatre & Dance performed some of these recovered songs in a February concert, marking the first recordings with full orchestration of these previously lost songs. In this video, Aquila Sol provides vocals and Jayce Ogren leads the Contemporary Directions Ensemble in a performance of “Somehow It Seldom Comes True.”