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 the politics of evidence and expertise in policy in comparative and international perspective. Her current research focuses on equity in innovation and innovation policy. She co-hosts The Received Wisdom podcast.

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...

In the Media

Khumbah encourages business and industrial sector in Zimbabwe to embrace new opportunities

Sep 20, 2022 Pan African Visions

Nkem Khumbah, faculty associate for the Science, Technology and Public Policy program, recently delivered a keynote speech at the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) Annual Congress. In the speech, he outlined the steps he believed Zimbabwe's...

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...

News

The ethical implications of tech, and why it matters for engineers

Sep 2, 2022

Through the Ford School’s Science, Technology, and Public Policy (STPP) Program, ECE PhD student Trevor Odelberg is studying how engineers can take better responsibility for the way their research impacts society. As the character Dr. Ian Malcolm...

News

U-M policy brief raises concerns about acoustic gunshot detection systems used by police departments

Sep 1, 2022

Research at the University of Michigan finds law enforcement technology aimed at detecting gunshot sounds and notifying police in close to real time raises serious concerns about accuracy, effectiveness, cost and systemic bias. The policy brief...

News

Ford School events for fall 2022 explore racial justice, international affairs, the state of democracy and more

Aug 30, 2022

The Ford School is pleased to announce an exciting lineup for the fall 2022 Policy Talks @ the Ford School series and other special public events hosted with partners from across campus. We are hosting distinguished policymakers, scholars,...

Ambassador Susan Rice and Michael Barr lead an event at the Ford School

News

Parthasarathy and Kleinman speak out against facial recognition technology use at universities

Jul 6, 2022

Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) released a preliminary policy recommendation that would allow for the use of facial recognition technology during criminal investigations. According to Public Source, the draft policy is "intended to guide CMU’s use...

Dozens of security cameras pointed at one person

In the Media

Parthasarathy on how online activity is used to monitor our daily lives

Jul 1, 2022 WDET

Have you opened up your browser to see ads for a product you were just talking about with a friend? Does it seem like your electronic devices are tracking you? You are not alone, and they are, says Professor Shobita Parthasarathy on WDET's Culture...

State & Hill

A program like no other

May 31, 2022

Parthasarathy and the Science, Technology, and Public Policy program chart a unique course for impact By Jennifer Conlin In 2005, when Shobita Parthasarathy saw a position advertised to create a new policy program in science and technology at...

Photo of the north wall of Diego Rivera's Detroit Industry Murals at the Detroit Institute of Arts

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

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

Publication

New language-learning algorithms risk reinforcing inequalities, social fragmentation, per U-M study

Apr 27, 2022

The use of large language models could transform many facets of modern life, including how policymakers assess public sentiment about pending legislation, how patients evaluate their medical care and how scientists could translate research findings...

News

Parthasarathy appointed to NASEM advisory committee on tech governance

Apr 22, 2022

Ford School professor Shobita Parthasarathy has been appointed to an ad-hoc committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) which will help create governance guidelines for emerging technologies related to health...

News

Ford School faculty participate in campus-wide Global Vaccine Equity Ideas Lab

Mar 2, 2022

Researchers from 13 units across the University of Michigan, including the Ford School and entities from all three campuses, gathered for three days of learning and collaboration to develop innovative approaches that address vaccine equity in low-...

Photo of Shobita Parthasarathy facing John Ayanian, both standing in front of posters with writing and post-it notes

News

International Day of Women and Girls in Science: Impacting society through technology and innovation research

Feb 11, 2022

Ford School professor Shobita Parthasarathy, director of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program, shares her thoughts on International Day of Women and Girls in Science. In an episode of the Michigan Minds podcast, produced by...

Flat-style illustration of three women scientists in a laboratory

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...

Publication

Pathasarathy calls for systemic change in U.S. innovation policy to promote equity and access

Jan 29, 2022

Ford School professor Shobita Parthasarathy is calling for a change in innovation policy to center “equity as a public value” as the scientific community ponders “the next 75 years of science policy.” In her essay Innovation as a Force for Equity,...

Publication

Lack of information related to pollution exposure key issue for low-income households

Jan 20, 2022

A lack of information is an often overlooked but important cause of pollution exposure among low-income households or communities of color, according to University of Michigan researchers. The researchers say the disproportionate exposure of...

Publication

Green’s paper receives Privacy Papers for Policymakers Award

Jan 13, 2022

The Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) recently awarded Ben Green, assistant professor and postdoctoral scholar, the Privacy Papers for Policymakers Award. The award is for Green’s paper, “The Flaws of Policies Requiring Human Oversight of Government...

In the Media

El-Sayed hosts Parthasarathy on 'America Dissected'

Jan 12, 2022 America Dissected

How are issues of equity addressed in health care innovation and in particular the patent process? Shobita Parthasarathy, professor of public policy and director of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy program, addressed the question on...

Alumni spotlight

Stephanie Sandoval-Pistorius focuses on people-centered medical research

Jan 10, 2022

Stephanie Sandoval-Pistorius is pursuing her PhD in neuroscience at Michigan Medicine, studying the molecular underpinnings of Parkinson’s disease. She will go on to UCSF for her postdoctoral training, where she will investigate pathological brain...

Alumni spotlight

Beza Merid, PhD: STPP gave me insights into how policy can develop justice-based health innovations

Dec 23, 2021

Beza Merid was a faculty affiliate with STPP when he became a research fellow in cardiology at Michigan Medicine. Now at Arizona State University, he appreciates how influencing innovation policy can create better health outcomes for underserved...

News

Parthasarathy calls for people-centric health innovation

Dec 13, 2021

Government investment and encouragement of innovation needs to expand its scope to consider the social and economic effects on marginalized groups. In a paper published by The Next System Project, Ford School public policy professor Shobita...

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...

Photo of Ann Chih Lin in Weill Hall's 2nd floor hallway

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...