Faculty Spotlight
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December 15, 2014
Engineering professor makes small-scale tech that does big things
Prabal Dutta picks up a tiny sensor, no wider than a fingernail and about an inch long, then holds it next to a light until its embedded LED starts blinking blue. His sensor, a small circuit board overlaid with a tiny solar panel, harvests the light and stores that energy in a tiny capacitor.
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November 24, 2014
History professor studies political activism, stays involved
As a freshman reporter at U-M, Howard Brick was in the press section at a 1971 rally to free leftist poet John Sinclair. Now the Louis Evans Professor of History, Brick says he remains “interested in helping to document the history and heritage of political movements, and the idea that the radical left might yet have a future in the United States.”
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November 10, 2014
Policy professor stresses teamwork to improve decision-making
Elisabeth Gerber has learned that applying teamwork is good for everything from fixing potholes to determining international, federal, health, environmental or economic policy.
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October 27, 2014
Pediatrician promotes patient-centered healthcare design
For pediatrician Dr. Joyce Lee, “doctor” also means “designer.” This idea became reality for Lee in 2012, as she worked on managing her two children’s life-threatening food allergies.
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October 13, 2014
Music professor explores history of national anthem
Normally, when Mark Clague writes an article, he’s happy to have a few hundred readers. On a recent Saturday, his words were heard by more than 100,000 people. Clague, associate professor of musicology at the School of Music, Theatre & Dance, wrote and narrated the “Proudly, We Hail!” halftime show for the football game against Miami University that celebrated the 200th anniversary of the national anthem.
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September 22, 2014
Public policy professor pursues social justice at Supreme Court
In 1991, a young graduate student named Ann Chih Lin had a rare opportunity to become involved in the landmark Supreme Court desegregation case Freeman vs. Pitts, as a consultant for the American Civil Liberties Union. She’s now an associate professor of public policy at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and associate professor of political science at LSA.
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September 8, 2014
Business professor puts leadership skills to use on Everest
Next to Scott DeRue’s desk hangs a whiteboard covered in multicolor outlines, parabolas and lists. Written with green marker in neat, unassuming handwriting near the middle of the board is one question: “How do we change people’s lives?”
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August 11, 2014
Art & Design professor promotes community engagement
In seventh grade, Anne Mondro asked her teacher if she should pursue art or science in college. Although years later Mondro ended up choosing art school, the teacher told her, “Here you are doing both!”
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July 14, 2014
Teach for America-Detroit coordinator brings passion for education home
While other children played ballerina or dreamed of floating in outer space, Kendra Hearn spent her playtime imagining that she had her own classroom.
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June 9, 2014
Business professor encourages collaboration in design class
Every summer, Bill Lovejoy dreams up a challenge for his Integrated Product Design students. The product he’ll ask student teams to design must be a consumer project, has to be doable in 12 weeks, and it can’t require a lot of expenditure.
