Policy Topics

Science and technology

Showing 31 - 60 of 707 results

News

Under Trump, "Laws Are Just Vibes", says Moynihan

Feb 10, 2025

"On Friday, the administration announced that it would cap the overhead, or “indirect” rates, that the National Institutes of Health allows on its grants to universities," writes Ford School professor Don Moynihan in an essay published by The...

In the Media

Moynihan raises alarms over Musk's seize of government IT systems

Feb 5, 2025 Vox

As DOGE leader Elon Musk taps into government IT systems, it is unclear what the exact intent is for gaining access to information from agencies such as the Treasury, Office of Personal Management, and Small Business Administration. "Just from an...

In the Media

Green describes practical problems with algorithm oversight

Feb 4, 2025 Financial Times

Ben Green, professor at the Ford School, explains why human oversight of algorithms, such as the one that runs Google's Gmail spam protection, does not always work. He cites how "the human overseers are on a tight schedule — they have many cases to...

News

Viewing Asilomar from the Global South

Jan 31, 2025

Fifty years ago, the Asilomar Conference on Recombinant DNA convened 140 life scientists from the U.S. and the UK to anticipate potential risks in the emerging biotechnology field to help inform rules and regulations. The conference was celebrated...

Professor Shobita Parthasarathy leads a discussion in the Betty Ford Classroom

In the Media

Hausman predicts struggles for Trump's power grid transformation request

Jan 24, 2025 Reuters

President Trump has recently called for a system update on the unreliable U.S. power grids. Specifically, he's looking to tackle one of the most complex areas, long-distance transmission lines.Catie Hausman, a Ford School economics professor, has...

In the Media

Jacob questions efficiency in the use of tech in classrooms

Jan 22, 2025 The Wall Street Journal

The Ford School's Brian Jacob recently spoke with The Wall Street Journal regarding his 2023 research survey on the use of technology in classrooms. Jacob's survey was conducted among 1,000 educators and showed technology is used for completing...

News

Exciting events at the Ford School this January

Jan 10, 2025

The Ford School is pleased to announce an exciting lineup for our January 2025 Policy Talks @ the Ford School series and other special public events hosted with partners from across campus.Events are free and open to the public unless otherwise...

News

Owen-Smith: Here’s how the US can prepare for AI impacts on labor markets

Dec 30, 2024

In an article co-authored with Brent Orrell and Suzette Kent, Ford School professor Jason Owen-Smith writes for FedScoop about the possible impacts AI and other technologies will have on US labor markets. Owen-Smith compared new technologies like AI...

State & Hill

Spotlights, fall 2024

Dec 17, 2024

Welcome, changemakersThe Ford School’s Center for Racial Justice proudly welcomes its third cohort of Visiting Fellows: writer, filmmaker, and community organizer Charlene Carruthers; racial justice lawyer, historian, and organizer Amanda Alexander;...

Celeste Watkins-Hayes, Charlene Carruthers, Amanda Alexander, Bianca D.M. Wilson, Dom Adams-Santos

State & Hill

Faculty news, fall 2024

Dec 17, 2024

William G. Axinn is the interim director of the Ford School’s International Policy Center. He recently published “Early-life risk factors for depression among young adults in the United States general population: Attributable risks and gender...

Top row (from left to right): Sarah Cohodes, Yusuf Neggers, Morela Hernandez, Paula Lantz. Bottom row (from left to right): Katherine Michelmore, Yousif Hassan, Barry Rabe, Kevin Stange.

State & Hill

Discourse: Fordies in the news, fall 2024

Dec 17, 2024

“Most likely the perception within the Israel Defence Forces and at the political level within Netanyahu’s war cabinet is that they have the momentum. . . . when one side believes it has the momentum against its adversary, you don’t want to give it...

Javed Ali, Catherine Hausman, Molly Kleinman, Kristin Seefeldt, Betsey Stevenson, Natasha Pilkauskas, Luke Shaefer

In the Media

Parthasarathy: AI energizes people to consider direction of science and technology

Dec 4, 2024 Nature

"Shobita Parthasarathy teaches graduate students about science policy at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. New technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) are 'really energizing people' to consider the directions of science and...

News

Internet Scholar Reneé DiResta: How the Digital Rumor Mill Shapes Reality and Politics

Nov 24, 2024

How did one unsubstantiated Facebook group post accusing Haitian immigrants of eating pets in Springfield, Ohio travel all the way to the Presidential debate stage and ultimately provoke bomb and death threats against innocent Ohio residents?...

News

STPP to establish Michigan science and technology fellowship

Nov 14, 2024

The Ford School of Public Policy’s Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program (STPP) is poised to create a new pathway for early career scientists and engineers to learn about, develop, and aid state-level policy making. A $100,00 planning and...

News

Who owns your face? NYT reporter Kashmir Hill discusses privacy in the era of facial recognition

Oct 10, 2024

How much control should we have over our likeness? Our anonymity?Nearly 200 attendees confronted these questions at a Ford School event with New York Times technology reporter Kashmir Hill, in conversation with Science, Technology, and Public...

News

Hausman encourages updating electrical grids with modern technologies, including AI

Sep 27, 2024

Increases in extreme weather conditions have been burdensome for utility companies. The New York Times reported, "Utility companies [have]’ increasing vulnerability to extreme weather events that are becoming more common and more intense under...

In the Media

Moynihan pushes for human centered design in digital benefit distribution systems

Sep 18, 2024 State Scoop

Recent efforts to alleviate consumer burden have been made within states by enhancing their digital systems used to distribute government benefits. With these efforts, Donald Moynihan argues for a system that focuses on reducing "administrative...

News

STPP brings interdisciplinary, historical perspectives to public interest technology issues

Sep 12, 2024

Many of the research projects housed at the Science, Technology and Public Policy program (STPP) in the Ford School focus on climate issues for a simple reason, explains Managing Director Molly Kleinman. "None of this technology operates without...

News

Hassan awarded U-M anti-racism grant

Sep 10, 2024

Ford School assistant professor Yousif Hassan has been chosen for a University of Michigan research grant for his work that explores how AI innovations and data can center social justice and address racial and economic inequalities in African...

Publication

Jacob’s new research reveals lasting changes in K-12 education due to COVID-19 pandemic

Sep 5, 2024

By the fall of 2022, children across the country returned to what seemed like “normal” school: students and educators returned to classrooms and masks began to disappear. While schools seemed to be going back to what they were before the pandemic,...

Photo of Brian Jacob standing at the Annenberg Auditorium podium, delivering remarks at a public event

In the Media

Jacob on changes in the post-pandemic American classroom

Sep 3, 2024 Education Next

Ford School professor Brian Jacob talked on Education Next about the way the COVID pandemic has changed American classrooms. He said "we did find that schools look quite a bit different in some important ways one way is obviously a use of a variety...

News

Hassan named Anti-Racism Research & Community Impact Faculty Fellow

Aug 29, 2024

Ford School assistant professor Yousif Hassan is among six faculty members chosen for Anti-Racism Research & Community Impact Faculty Fellowships. The National Center for Institutional Diversity selected faculty from the University of Michigan’s Ann...

News

Ford School events highlight policy, civic engagement, and Conversations Across Differences

Aug 28, 2024

The Ford School has an exciting and diverse series of events this fall, designed to encourage policy debate, civic engagement, and Conversations Across Differences in a number of ways for students, faculty, staff, and the wider U-M and general...

Publication

Bednar and others highlight fragility of continental transboundary water compacts

Aug 17, 2024

Ford School professor Jenna Bednar, along with Michigan professors Andrew Gronewold, Marjorie Cort, Vianey Rueda, Michael Moore, and Jon Allan, published a report in the journal Nature Communications investigating threats to continental-scale...

News

AI Will Cause Jobs to Evolve. Will You Be Able to Evolve With It? - Stevenson

Jul 24, 2024

Ford School professor and economist Betsey Stevenson gave a seminar at the UCSD Economics Roundtable about how AI will affect the labor market and if its effects will be positive or negative. She explained that AI is "still a tool just like a steam...

News

STPP awarded MIDAS grant to advance equitable AI research

Jul 23, 2024

A research project from the Ford School’s Science, Technology, and Public Policy (STPP) program was selected by the Michigan Institute for Data and AI in Society (MIDAS) as part of its 2024 Propelling Original Data Science grants to accelerate...

In the Media

Tensions around talking climate change - Rabe

Jul 12, 2024 Inside Climate News

Barry Rabe, Ford School professor emeritus, described how rhetoric around climate change has changed. He said, “About 20 years ago, you did not see the kind of cultural tensions over climate" like we do today. He used Pennsylvania’s gubernatorial...

News

CLOSUP categorizes ‘a tsunami’ of public input to help redraw Michigan districts

Jul 10, 2024

Students working with the University of Michigan’s Center for Local, State and Urban Policy (CLOSUP) have created a system to help a Michigan commission collect and analyze public comments about drawing Michigan’s congressional and state legislative...

A blue map of Michigan layered over a blue neighborhood map

Publication

STPP releases analysis of Biden’s Executive Order on Safe AI and the EU AI Act

Jul 8, 2024

As artificial intelligence technologies proliferate in industries across the globe, governments around the world are working to regulate how and when these technologies are used.In October 2023, President Joe Biden signed the Executive Order on Safe...

Illustration of US and EU flags combined

In the Media

Companies should take responsibility on deepfake pornography - Parthasarathy

Jul 2, 2024 Michigan Advance

Shobita Parthasarathy, Ford School professor director of Science, Technology and Public Policy Program, discussed the Michigan bill lawmakers are working on to address the rise of non-consensual deepfake pornography. She said, “I worry about placing...