Analytic methods

State & Hill

Holly Donnelly: Public servants advancing the public good

Apr 24, 2024

Holly Donnelly on harnessing the power of big data: I often joke about my work being taxing but that it keeps my interest (haha!). Specifically, I think about how we can harness the power of big data to collect taxes more efficiently....

News

Transformative upgrades to Michigan's longitudinal data system

Apr 11, 2024

A new $4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education will improve Michigan’s statewide longitudinal data system, the go-to source for critical education data going to researchers and other stakeholders in Michigan and nationwide. The grant...

Illustration of a bubble test sheet with bubbles filled in and lines connecting them like a circuitboard

News

Weiser Diplomacy Center continues its practical approach to international affairs

Sep 27, 2023

Four current and former army officers stood before a set of maps on a screen in the Betty Ford auditorium, giving background on the on-going diplomatic standoff in Cyprus. The audience consisted of 24 undergraduate and graduate students from the...

Publication

New study ties exposure to armed conflict violence in childhood with subsequent alcohol use disorder

Sep 27, 2023

Exposure to nearby violence has been shown to increase the onset of alcohol use disorders (AUD), especially in young people. In new research, William Axinn, Ford School professor and research professor at the Survey Research Center and Population...

News

Simulation software ViewPoint ready for next chapter after licensing agreement with ed tech firm Summit Venture Studio

Sep 13, 2023

In partnership with CAI, Ford School professor Liz Gerber was able to take an idea scribbled on a napkin and turn it into a powerful simulation tool for teachers and students. Following more than 100 simulations involving more than 4,000 users...

News

Swonk’s gift supports underrepresented PhD students in economics

Sep 5, 2023

With a generous commitment from U-M alumna and influential macro-economist Diane Swonk (BA ‘84, MAE ‘85), the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy has established the Diane Swonk Research Fellowship Fund to support doctoral students in the...

Selfie of Justin Wolfers (left) and Diane Swonk (right)

Publication

Mapping poverty in America: Shaefer’s new book explores “The Injustice of Place”

Aug 3, 2023

America is rife with "internal colonies," where systemic violence, resource extraction, and corruption among decision makers have contributed to generations of poverty and disadvantage. These communities suffer from environmental degradation, lack...

News

PPIA students reflect on their summer of study and social life

Aug 2, 2023

What are the dynamics of inequity in labor markets? How do we determine appropriate categories for people in a multicultural society? How is the U.S. approach to ethnicity and nationality different from what they are doing in Europe? These were...

Group of PPIA students posing in front of Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy courtyard

News

Report outlines direct economic impact of sponsored research

Jul 19, 2023

Grants awarded to University of Michigan faculty members were used, in part, to purchase $400 million worth of research-related goods and services last year from companies nationwide, accelerating innovative projects and supporting employment across...

News

Next steps for U-M’s Inclusive History Project

Jul 12, 2023

Six foundational values and commitments — independence, collaboration, broad engagement, community relationships, inclusion of all three University of Michigan campuses and Michigan Medicine and material change — will guide the future work of the...

News

Engaged Learning Student Projects Catalog: Preparing Ford School students for leadership

Jun 29, 2023

During the Winter Term 2023, Ford School students were involved in projects with federal, state, county, city, and township governments, school districts, non-profit organizations, and commissions. They worked with the school’s numerous research...

Weill Hall entrance with "Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy" etched into the glass

News

Ford School welcomes PPIA 2023 cohort

Jun 19, 2023

The 2023 Public Policy and International Affairs (PPIA) Junior Summer Institute (JSI) has welcomed 23 students from 11 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. This year’s cohort will spend seven weeks taking classes, participating in...

Publication

Yang conceives new framework for examining migration policies

May 23, 2023

How can individual researchers, NGOs and governments accurately assess how to improve migration policies, given the fraught international and sometimes nationalist political environment? While migration from a poorer to a richer country can have the...

News

Racial justice practitioners help policy students apply new skills

May 5, 2023

How do policy professionals apply racial justice in practice? This semester, the Ford School’s Center of Racial Justice hosted a series of workshops to explore different dimensions of justice, from antiracism and global development to community...

News

Ford School named #4 public affairs program in the U.S. and #2 in key specialty areas

Apr 25, 2023

The Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan is recognized again as one of America’s top graduate programs in public affairs, ranked 4th in the U.S. according to the latest U.S. News & World Report rankings. The Ford...

Publication

Learning from lottery-based evaluations of early education programs

Apr 19, 2023

The value of Pre-K education has been widely acknowledged through decades of research. However, much of that research has come from studying older and often smaller programs than those currently being implemented across the country. To determine how...

Kindergarten teacher with students at a table

Publication

Ethical implications of defense funding in social science

Mar 22, 2023

Since World War I, defense funding has been a driver of social science’s growth. The dense ties between social science and defense agencies benefitted social research but also attracted decades of heavy criticism. This long and entangled history has...

News

Poverty Solutions marks impact of action-based research in 2022

Mar 15, 2023

From informing how the U.S. Census estimates populations to reimagining land contracts as a path to homeownership and inspiring state legislation that would aid homeless youths, Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan continued to tackle the...

Publication

Yang’s remittances study has implications for survey design and empirical analyses

Feb 1, 2023

Researchers working with measuring remittance data often run into one big problem — misreporting. To provide better guidance for their own and their colleagues’ work, Dean Yang, professor of public policy and economics, and co-authors Giuseppe De...

Publication

Overcoming data collection challenges in ECE research

Jan 24, 2023

Rigorous research in early care and education requires high-quality data, often gathered through intensive in-person fieldwork. The COVID-19 pandemic upended the ECE sector, making it much more challenging to safely and successfully collect data in...

Photo of young students, each reading a book, seated around a small classroom table

News

Puerto Rican Opinion Lab: Understanding how U.S. policies affect islanders

Jan 5, 2023

Mara Ostfeld, PhD, associate faculty director at Poverty Solutions, assistant research scientist at the Ford School of Public Policy, research director at the Center for Racial Justice, and faculty lead for the Detroit Metro Area Community Study,...

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

Ostfeld partners with University of Puerto Rico to create stronger survey data

Dec 7, 2022

Collaborating with the University of Puerto Rico and acting as primary investigator, Ford School professor Mara Ostfeld, helped launch the Puerto Rican Public Opinion Laboratory (LabPOP). LabPOP aims to be the first to obtain data about the...

News

Ostfeld appointed research director of the Center for Racial Justice

Dec 5, 2022

Political scientist Dr. Mara Celicia Ostfeld has been named the inaugural research director of the Center for Racial Justice (CRJ) at the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy. In this role, Ostfeld will lead the development of the...

Mara Ostfeld speaking at a Poverty Solutions event.

News

Detroit eviction filings on track to return to pre-pandemic level as COVID-19 protections expire

Nov 14, 2022

With pandemic-era protections expiring, eviction filings in Detroit rose from historic lows to 75% of the pre-pandemic rate as of June. At the current filing rate, 21% of Detroit renters—61,000 tenants—will face the threat of eviction this...

News

University of Michigan partners with Google to offer job-ready tech skills program in public policy and data science

Oct 13, 2022

A new flexible online training program on data science will prepare job-seekers in Michigan and beyond to quickly enter one of the fastest-growing labor markets and advance their careers. Christopher Brooks, assistant professor of information,...

Illustration of workers in a data center

News

Ostfeld awarded U-M Anti-Racism Grant

Sep 14, 2022

Mara Ostfeld, associate faculty director and director of communications at Poverty Solutions, has been awarded one of eight Anti-Racism Grants from the U-M Office of the Vice President for Research for her collaboration with the University of Puerto...

Publication

Stange examines data bias caused by college graduates' out-of-state migration

Sep 7, 2022

When examining the effect on the labor market of post-secondary education in a particular state, researchers often use administrative outcome data – statewide statistics that look at university graduates and the effect on their employment. Yet when...

News

IES grant supports EPI in evaluation of Michigan’s Tuition Incentive Program impacts

Jul 13, 2022

The state of Michigan’s Tuition Incentive Program (TIP) has a unique structure that distinguishes it from other state need-based financial aid programs. Currently funding some 25,000 students annually, the program is a “first-dollar" scholarship...

Photo of the sun rising over the U-M campus

News

EPI faculty and affiliates receive nearly $10 million through four national education research (NCER) grants

Jul 13, 2022

Four research projects conducted by affiliates of the Education Policy Initiative (EPI) at the University of Michigan received a total of nearly $10 million in new grants from the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), U.S. Department of...

Headshots of Kevin Stange, Christina Weiland, Robin Jacob, and Daniel Kreisman