Science, Technology, and Public Policy program | Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
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Science, Technology, and Public Policy program

The Science, Technology, and Public Policy (STPP) program is a unique research, education, and policy engagement center concerned with cutting-edge questions that arise at the intersection of science, technology, policy, and society.

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Showing 61 - 90 of 372 results
State & Hill

Diversity, equity, and inclusion highlights

Dec 19, 2022
The University of Michigan is currently in an interim period between its strategic plans for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), with the next plan set to launch in early fall 2023. The Ford School community did not pause, however, and is hard...
Photo of DeAndré Calvert addressing a room of attendees at the Ford School reunion in 2019
News

Ford School faculty launch open online courses

Dec 19, 2022
Three Ford School faculty have developed exciting new online courses to equip learners and professionals around the globe with interdisciplinary skills that help them engage in and inform complex public policy decision-making processes. Elisabeth...
Headshots of Liz Gerber, Paula Lantz, and Shobita Parthasarathy
News

Parthasarathy discusses implications of Large Language Models

Nov 7, 2022
Large Language Models (LLMs) are artificial intelligence tools that can read, summarize and translate texts and predict future words in a sentence letting them generate sentences similar to how humans talk and write. Shobita Parthasarathy, professor...
Shobita Parthasarathy
News

Ford School faculty contribute to Anti-Racism Hiring Initiative

Oct 31, 2022
Three Ford School faculty members have played an integral role in U-M's Anti-Racism Hiring Initiative, providing expertise and guidance to the initiative. The Anti-Racism Hiring Initiative is led by the Office of the Provost and aims to bring 21...
Weill Hall
Publication

Green discusses "substantive algorithmic fairness"

Oct 19, 2022
Ford School assistant professor Ben Green, and an affiliate of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, says that if algorithms are to improve society, focusing only on whether they’re mathematically “fair” won’t get us...
Ben Green
Publication

Are sanitary pads a panacea for impoverished women?

Sep 21, 2022
In an era when the Indian government has prioritized women's menstrual health and movies like Netflix's "Period. End of Sentence" are garnering worldwide attention, the distribution of disposable sanitary pads to women in India's rural areas has...
Shobita Parthasarathy
In the Media

Parthasarathy comments on new ARPA-H director

Sep 13, 2022 Nature
President Joe Biden recently named Renee Wegrzyn as the inaugural director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), a new agency tasked with finding innovative solutions to biomedical problems. Nature asked Shobita...
Professor Shobita Parthasarathy leads a discussion in the Betty Ford Classroom
In the Media

Kleinman weighs in on Detroit ShotSpotter debate

Sep 8, 2022 Axios
As the Detroit City Council debates expanding ShotSpotter, a tool that identifies the sound of gunshots, Molly Kleinman, managing director of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy program, weighed in. "There are things they could be doing...
Headshot of Molly Kleinman
State & Hill

Science and technology research in brief

May 31, 2022
Raimi, Rohde, and Hausman are among our dynamic STPP core faculty                                                                                                  Behaviors and climate change Kaitlin Raimi is a Ford School associate...
Headshots of Kaitlin Raimi, Joy Rohde, and Catherine Hausman
State & Hill

A program like no other

May 31, 2022
Parthasarathy and the Science, Technology, and Public Policy program chart a unique course for impactIn 2005, when Shobita Parthasarathy saw a position advertised to create a new policy program in science and technology at U-M’s Gerald R. Ford...
Photo of the north wall of Diego Rivera's Detroit Industry Murals at the Detroit Institute of Arts
In the Media

Parthasarathy raises ethical questions in Henrietta Lacks lawsuit

May 18, 2022 GBH News
Shobita Parthasarathy, professor of public policy and director of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program, discussed the ethical concerns surrounding the lawsuit filed against Thermo Fisher Scientific by the family of Henrietta Lacks...
Professor Shobita Parthasarathy leads a discussion in the Betty Ford Classroom
State & Hill

Observing climate change policymaking up close in Glasgow

May 18, 2022
By Daniel Rivkin Does it make sense for 40,000 people to travel from all over the world to attend a conference intended to reduce greenhouse gasses? Among the attendees, including 100 heads of state, at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow,...
Photo of AJ Convertino and Kristina Curtiss in front of the main stage at COP 21 in Glasgow, UK
News

STPP research on AI highlighted in Nature Q&A

May 3, 2022
Ford School professor Shobita Parthasarathy was highlighted in a Q&A with Nature magazine, acknowledging recent research on Large Language Models (LLMs) by the Science, Technology, and Public Policy program's Technology Assessment Project....
Glasses rest on a desktop with various coding windows open on a screen behind
In the Media

Parthasarathy considers dangers of Beverly Hills's surveillance system

Apr 25, 2022 Los Angeles Times
There is one camera for every 17 people in Beverly Hills, one of the most surveilled cities in the world. Shobita Parthasarathy, professor of public policy and director of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program, discussed the dangers of...
Professor Shobita Parthasarathy leads a discussion in the Betty Ford Classroom
News

Prestigious National Academies committee selects Parthasarathy

Feb 7, 2022
Ford School professor Shobita Parthasarathy has been selected to serve on a committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) that will help guide federal judges on questions of science, technology, and medicine in...
Shobita Parthasarathy
Publication

Green explores tech ethics and its boundaries in new paper

Feb 4, 2022
Who gets to define the ethics behind the use of technology in society? The discussion has become more pressing amid controversies related to misinformation, privacy, and algorithmic bias.  Ben Green explores this question as editor of a special...
Ben Green