STPP | Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy

Core faculty

Shobita Parthasarathy

Professor of Public Policy; Director, Science, Technology, and Public Policy program

Parthasarathy studies the governance of emerging science and technology and politics of evidence and expertise in policy in comparative and international perspective. Her current work focuses on the development and implications of COVID-19 testing, and inclusive innovation in international development. She co-hosts The Received Wisdom podcast.

News

Ford School represented in U-M student delegation at COP26

Nov 4, 2021

University of Michigan graduate students and their faculty adviser are attending the two-week COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland. The students will observe the negotiations, attend side events and interact with various experts. U-M has sent...

News

Expanding participation in science and technology policy through civil society partnerships

Nov 4, 2021

A grant from the Ford Foundation will facilitate consultation, research, and implementation solutions with community organizations to promote science and technology for the public good. Technology has the power to transform lives for the better...

Photo of Shobita Parthasarathy in the Great Hall, with Ford School students seated in the background

News

Lin discusses increased surveillance on faculty of Chinese heritage

Oct 29, 2021

The Department of Justice's China Initiative was launched in 2018 to reduce theft of U.S. intellectual property funded by the government. A recent survey by the U-M Association of Chinese Professors (UM-ACP) found an increased sense of worry over...

News

Off the field, University of Michigan and Michigan State University work together on the big issues

Oct 28, 2021

When Michigan’s Independent Citizens’ Redistricting Commission (MICRC) held a public hearing recently in Grand Rapids, two students were assisting attendees with submitting citizen comments and suggestions for the Commission’s consideration. Working...

Alumni spotlight

STPP alum Michelle Brechtelsbauer (MPP '16) works to impact zero-carbon energy

Aug 18, 2021

Michelle Brechtelsbauer (MPP '16) interrupted her government service to obtain her Ford School Master of Public Policy and the Science, Technology, & Public Policy Graduate Certificate Program. Now in the private sector, at the Energy Impact Center,...

In the Media

Parthasarathy discusses bias of facial recognition technology

Aug 5, 2021 MLive

The ethics surrounding the use of facial recognition technology are under increasing scrutiny as more law enforcement agencies utilize it. Shobita Parthasarathy, professor of public policy and director of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy...

Professor Shobita Parthasarathy leads a discussion in the Betty Ford Classroom

News

Equity considerations must be an integral part of energy research and development, Parthasarathy tells Congressional committee

Jul 16, 2021

"We are not accustomed to thinking about equity in the context of innovation. But in recent years, we have begun to recognize that marginalized communities (including those who are low-income and those who come from historically disadvantaged...

Shobita Parthasarathy delivers testimony to the U.S. House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, Subcommittee on Energy

In the Media

Parthasarathy facial recognition study in focus on Detroit Public TV

Jun 24, 2021 DPTV One Detroit

Detroit Public TV's One Detroit program looked at the racial disparities inherent in law enforcement's use of facial recognition technology, making reference to a study published in August 2020 by the Ford School's Shobita Parthasarathy. "We...

News

STPP wins grant to explore Large Language Models

Jun 11, 2021

Large Language Models (LLM) — machine learning algorithms that can recognize, predict, and generate human languages on the basis of very large text-based data sets — have captured the imagination of scientists, entrepreneurs, and tech-watchers....

Glasses rest on a desktop with various coding windows open on a screen behind

State & Hill

Breaking down public trust

Jun 10, 2021

By Rebecca Cohen (MPP '09) Americans’ trust in government institutions to “do the right thing” has steadily eroded since the late 1960s,1 correlated for many analysts with events such as the Vietnam War, Watergate, the ’70s oil embargo, and...

Illustration of a hand, extended for a handshake, crumbling.

News

‘Transportation is a form of freedom’: How to make it more equitable

Jun 9, 2021

The routes and schedules of public transit, the presence or absence of sidewalks, the availability of different transportation options, and the design of highways that have divided cities—these are examples of aspects of transportation systems that...

In the Media

Parthasarathy weighs in on connections between immunizations and leadership

Jun 7, 2021 MLive

According to MLive, 100% of Michigan Senate Democrats and 71% of Michigan House Democrats have received the COVID-19 vaccine. On the other hand, 30% of Michigan Senate Republicans and 17% of Michigan House Republicans are immunized. These numbers...

In the Media

Parthasarathy discusses patents and vaccines

May 24, 2021 The American Prospect

As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, vaccines have allowed some freedom from the virus. But, patents on the vaccines are preventing others around the world from receiving the life saving shot. In turn, the White House has received pressure to waive...

Photo of a person in PPE holding a vile of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine

News

Congratulations to Natasha Pilkauskas and Kaitlin Raimi, both now associate professors, with tenure

May 21, 2021

Professors Natasha Pilkauskas and Kaitlin Raimi have received promotions to associate professor, with tenure, at the Ford School. Their status was approved by the U-M Board of Regents at their meeting on May 20. "Natasha Pilkauskas is deepening...

Headshots of Kaitlin Raimi and Natasha Pilkauskas

In the Media

Parthasarathy provides insight on vaccine patterns

May 18, 2021 The Hill

As vaccine rates increase across the country, interesting patterns are being noticed. Shobita Parthasarathy, professor of public policy, explained the pattern Michigan is experiencing. “Michigan is sort of a purple, leaning blue, state and you...

Publication

Vaccine hesitancy, rooted in institutional mistrust, could stand in way of COVID-19 herd immunity, STPP study finds

May 12, 2021

The global effort to develop and distribute COVID-19 vaccines has progressed despite myriad challenges. Yet the final step—shots in arms—meets resistance among some that can't easily be overcome by science and supply chains. Vaccine hesitancy—a...

A nurse administers the COVID-19 vaccine to a teacher in Iowa (Credit: Phil Roeder / CC BY)

In the Media

Parthasarathy puts results of vaccine hesitancy study in context

May 12, 2021 WXYZ Detroit

A recent study from researchers at U-M concluded that vaccine hesitancy could impede a goal of herd immunity when it comes to COVID-19. Shobita Parthasarathy, a co-author of the study and director of the Ford School's Science, Technology, and Public...

News

International webinar series examines science, technology and the ‘carceral state’

Apr 29, 2021

The explosion of the prison population in the U.S. and around the world is seen by many as a crisis, as the growth is mainly attributable to high incarceration rates among low-income and minority communities. Science and technology lie at the heart...

Creative art for the carceral state conference, featuring a surveillance camera and stylized broken shapes in front of an old prison cellblock

News

Addressing structural inequity during Black History Month at the Ford School

Mar 1, 2021

The Ford School marked Black History Month by lifting up Black voices with a series of discussions about identifying inequities in society and seeking policy solutions to address them. Research centers, student groups, faculty, staff, and alumni all...

In the Media

Parthasarathy comments on using facial recognition technology in schools

Nov 3, 2020 WIRED

"These technologies are least accurate among students who are already marginalized in schools,” Parthasarathy says. She notes that school officials are often ill-equipped to handle the security and privacy of children’s biometric data and ensure the...

In the Media

Michigan Proposal 2 may not go far enough to protect personal digital data - Parthasarathy

Oct 30, 2020 Detroit Public Radio WDET

“I’m not sure that Proposal 2 goes far enough at this moment when we have more and more electronic data we’re generating and more and more interest from not only law enforcement but the private sector to collect our data,” said Shobita...

In the Media

Surveillance in virtual classrooms exacerbates technological racism, increases student anxiety

Sep 25, 2020 WUOT

“These kinds of technologies tend to disproportionately burden students of color who are already often assumed to be somehow deviant... and so these technologies tend to exacerbate that kind of racism by rendering it quantitative and technological...

News

Facial recognition technology in schools presents multiple problems, shows limited efficacy

Aug 10, 2020

Facial recognition (FR) technology should be banned for use in schools, according to a new study by the Science, Technology and Public Policy program (STPP) at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. The study...

Dozens of security cameras pointed at one person

Ethical and logistical problems raise questions about COVID-19 antibody test efficacy

May 29, 2020

As stay-at-home orders expire across the United States, a reliance on antibody testing seems to be a key element of keeping people safe and avoiding a resurgence of COVID-19. Antibody testing is being touted as a way to know whether locked-down...

Growing civic-minded technologists

May 19, 2020

“This was a game-changer for us,” said Kwaku Osei, the CEO of Farmacy, a food app startup focused on user’s dietary needs. Osei was one of five social entrepreneurs of color in the Detroit metro area matched with Masters students from the Ford...

News

Ann Arbor may repurpose streets to accommodate pedestrian and cyclist social distancing

Apr 28, 2020

Since the implementation of the governor’s stay at home order, Ann Arbor’s vehicle traffic has declined markedly. Ann Arbor city council members may consider vehicle street closures in an effort to expand space available for pedestrians and cyclists...

Parthasarathy’s NSF grant will investigate how politics and public trust drive coronavirus response

Apr 20, 2020

It’s becoming clear that more diagnostic testing is key for the U.S. to stop the spread of COVID-19, re-open the economy, and better manage the next epidemic. Shobita Parthasarathy, director of the Ford School of Public Policy's Science,...

Leaders and Best: U-M joins new collegiate technologist network; Ford School's Joy Rohde to lead the way

Mar 15, 2019

Announced earlier this week, the University of Michigan will join the Public Interest Technology University Network (PIT), which is “a new partnership of 21 colleges and universities dedicated to building the nascent field of public interest...

Ford School's Molly Kleinman joins Ann Arbor Transportation Commission

Oct 19, 2018

Molly Kleinman, the Ford School’s Program Manager of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy program, is the most recent addition to the 11-member Ann Arbor Transportation Commission (AATC). The diverse group of commision members advise the city...