TODAY'S HEADLINES

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Wallenberg Medal goes to journalist, documentarian Safa Al Ahmad

Safa Al Ahmad, a Saudi Arabian journalist and documentary filmmaker, will receive U-M’s 2019 Wallenberg Medal. She has produced documentaries for the BBC and PBS about uprisings in the Middle East. Al Ahmad will receive the medal and deliver the Wallenberg Lecture on Nov. 19 at Rackham Auditorium.

Biosciences Initiative announces funding through new Ideas Lab

U-M’s Biosciences Initiative is launching Ideas Lab, its latest funding opportunity based on critical pillars for advancing discovery — high-risk, high-reward research, and freedom to pursue big ideas and multidisciplinary collaborations. All U-M Ann Arbor faculty are encouraged to apply.

Jenna Wiens named new Precision Health co-director

Precision Health at U-M has announced that Jenna Wiens, assistant professor of computer science and engineering in the College of Engineering, will become a co-director effective Sept. 1. She succeeds Eric Michielssen, who is stepping down as co-director to take sabbatical leave.

Welcome home, Wolverines

From left, U-M baseball players Jack Weisenburger, Jack Blomgren and Jordon Rogers greet fans who turned out June 27 to cheer their return home from the College World Series, where the Wolverines finished the 2019 season as the national runner-up. Michigan lost 8-2 to Vanderbilt in the final game of the best-of-three championship series, finishing the season with a 50-22 record, the most wins by a Michigan baseball team since 1987. Read more about the team that has put Michigan back in the national collegiate baseball conversation. (Photo by Daryl Marshke, Michigan Photography)

Slow down this summer with these drinking tips and resources

Warmer days are here, which means spending more time enjoying picnics, boating, barbeques and other celebrations. If alcohol could play a part in this summer’s plans, the MHealthy Alcohol Management Program offers resources to help keep intake in a safer range or offer alternatives to alcohol.

UM-Dearborn lecturer Amira Shourbaji receives Fulbright grant

Amira Shourbaji, a lecturer in the UM-Dearborn English Language Proficiency Program, has received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award to teach in Bahrain, where she’ll lead English-language classrooms at the country’s main teacher’s college. She will begin her 10-month fellowship in the fall.

Teach-out moves to Instagram to consider arts and technology

Creators of a new teach-out will encourage participants to think about the combination of arts and technology — as something with historical significance that holds future promise for an increasingly digital society — during learning sessions that will be conducted on Instagram July 1-31.

U-M in History — June 24-July 14

Madame Chiang Kai-shek, the first lady of the Republic of China, visited campus for several days in early July of 1958. Read about some of the things that happened in U-M history during the weeks of June 24-July 14.

COMING EVENTS

July 7

Egypt and the Egyptians

Sunday Drop-In Tour of the Kelsey Museum’s Predynastic, Dynastic, and Graeco-Roman Egyptian artifacts, 2-3 p.m., Kelsey Museum of Archaeology

+ More Events at Happening@Michigan

IN THE NEWS

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“Signaling Spanish fluency isn’t enough. The one thing Latino voters will probably remember the most is whether or not these nods in Spanish are followed by something much more substantive,” said Angela Ocampo, assistant professor of political science, on the candidates who spoke some Spanish during last week’s Democratic debates.

Detroit Free Press

Comments by Carol Persad, professor of psychiatry and director of the University Center for Language and Literacy, were featured in a story about ways that speech therapy can help people with aphasia — a disorder that can inhibit stroke patients’ ability to speak — regain their communication skills.

Everyday Health

Research by doctoral student Koji Takahashi and Allison Earl, assistant professor of psychology, found that meditation before seeing the doctor helps patients listen and understand health messages better. Meditation may not be able to stop fear or anxiousness completely, but being in a calmer mood is a positive step forward, the authors said. “You’ll be able to handle the information better by being in a calmer mood,” Earl said.

MarketWatch

Kenneth Warner, dean emeritus of the School of Public Health, says that banning e-cigarettes alienates an entire population of adult cigarette smokers who are trying to quit and need an alternative: “We’re taking the risk of addiction among kids and comparing that with the immediate danger of smoking-related illness and death in smokers who have not been able to quit otherwise, and who might be able to quit with vaping.”

NBC News

“We shouldn’t settle for second-class elections in this country. We have the resources, we have the know-how, we have the technology to solve election security and declare this no longer a problem that voters have to worry about. But it’s going to take coordination and strong leadership from the federal government to make that happen,” said J. Alex Halderman, professor of electrical engineering and computer science.

Mother Jones

+ MORE IN THE NEWS

LOOK TO MICHIGAN

Political engagement in Southeast Asia

As the grandson of Holocaust survivors, Eitan Paul, a joint Ph.D. student in public policy and political science, has a long history of political engagement. He has found his specialty focusing on social accountability in Southeast Asia, with research projects in Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Timor-Leste.

ACADEMIC INNOVATION

Michigan Online broadens U-M’s impact by making its learning experiences accessible at scale, including free certificates for U-M staff, faculty, students and alumni.

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