Afro-Brazilians are currently in apivotal sociocultural stage of critical awareness and development around racial and class identity,but there is potential for tangible change and action,says Saige Porter,winner of the 2024 Raoul Wallenberg Fellowship at the University of Michigan.“But many communities who face inequality in major cities remain on the fringes of this movement,”Porter said.“I intend to continue my work with preta and parda Brazilian women and university researchers who focus on these issues to form acommunity-centered participatory approach grounded in their culture and praxis models.” 查看详细>>

To bring nature’s efficiency and flexibility to advanced materials and additive manufacturing,the University of Michigan will lead an international team of scientists,engineers and educators in afive-year,$30 million center funded by the National Science Foundation.One of the major technological goals of the Center for Complex Particle Systems(COMPASS)is to design materials that are more than the sum of their parts and can be rapidly translated to manufacturing using 3D printing.The center takes inspiration from the way nature puts together avariety of materials to build cells,which then go on to make tissues,organs and organisms.To do this with synthetic particles,the team will approach particle assemblies as systems that ladder up from the nanoscale through the microscale to the macroscale.“In living creatures,very few structures have just one job.If we want to do more with less—less energy,less material and less waste—we need to learn how to do the same,”said Nicholas Kotov,the Irving Langmuir Distinguished University Professor of Chemical Sciences and Engineering,who leads the center.Modeling and predicting self-assembling structures Over the last decade,graph theory and network science have emerged as powerful tools for understanding complex interactions in large systems,including ecosystems and social networks.By bringing together network science and nanoscience,the team will be able to describe and then predict how billions and trillions of imperfect particles interact with one another to form complex structures with new functions.The approach could expedite long-awaited advances in nanotechnology.In adeparture from earlier studies,which tended to mix at most two kinds of particles at atime,the team intends to integrate multiple particle types with different sizes and shapes,material compositions,surface modifications and more.This massive increase in complexity is why acenter is needed.“Understanding and designing complex systems requires adiversity of knowledge,expertise,and ideas.COMPASS brings researchers from physics,chemistry,mechanical engineering,materials science and engineering,and applied math together with seven Michigan chemical engineering faculty to develop this new class of materials,”said Sharon Glotzer,the Anthony C.Lembke Department Chair of Chemical Engineering and the center’s science lead.Research efforts will start with using graph theory to model the structures of particles of different shapes and then link up their functions with those structures.This includes useful properties like elasticity,toughness,density and conductivity.With this new predictive capability in hand,the team will target avariety of applications,working with industrial partners to produce materials that are strong yet lightweight for vehicles and aviation;that conduct heat for electronics and energy applications;that conduct electrons or ions for batteries,electronics and green chemistry;or are porous for chemical storage and filtration. 查看详细>>

A new University of Michigan-led study finds that farmers in India have adapted to warming temperatures by intensifying the withdrawal of groundwater used for irrigation.If the trend continues,the rate of groundwater loss could triple by 2080,further threatening India’s food and water security.Reduced water availability in India due to groundwater depletion and climate change could threaten the livelihoods of more than one-third of the country’s 1.4 billion residents and has global implications.India recently overtook China to become the world’s most populous nation and is the second-largest global producer of common cereal grains including rice and wheat.“We find that farmers are already increasing irrigation use in response to warming temperatures,an adaptation strategy that has not been accounted for in previous projections of groundwater depletion in India,”said study senior author Meha Jain,assistant professor at U-M’s School for Environment and Sustainability.“This is of concern,given that India is the world’s largest consumer of groundwater and is acritical resource for the regional and global food supply.”The lead author is Nishan Bhattarai of the Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability at the University of Oklahoma,formerly apostdoctoral researcher in Jain’s U-M lab.The study,scheduled for online publication Sept.1 in the journal Science Advances,analyzed historical data on groundwater levels,climate and crop water stress to look for recent changes in withdrawal rates due to warming.The researchers also used temperature and precipitation projections from 10 climate models to estimate future rates of groundwater loss across India.Previous studies have focused on the individual effects of climate change and groundwater depletion on crop production in India.Those studies did not account for farmer decision-making,including how farmers may adapt to changing climate through changes in irrigation decisions.The new study takes into account the fact that warmer temperatures may increase water demand from stressed crops,which in turn may lead to increased irrigation by farmers.“Using our model estimates,we project that under abusiness-as-usual scenario,warming temperatures may triple groundwater depletion rates in the future and expand groundwater depletion hotspots to include south and central India,”Bhattarai said.“Without policies and interventions to conserve groundwater,we find that warming temperatures will likely amplify India’s already existing groundwater depletion problem,further challenging India’s food and water security in the face of climate change.”Previous studies found that climate change could decrease the yield of staple Indian crops by up to 20%by mid-century.At the same time,the country’s groundwater is being depleted at an alarming rate,primarily because of water withdrawal for irrigation.For the newly published study,the researchers developed adataset that contains groundwater depths from thousands of wells across India,high-resolution satellite observations that measured crop water stress,and temperature and precipitation records.Most climate models call for increased temperature,increased monsoon(June through September)precipitation and decreased winter precipitation in India over the coming decades.The U-M-led research team found that warming temperatures coupled with declining winter precipitation more than offset added groundwater recharge from increased monsoon precipitation,resulting in accelerated groundwater declines.Across various climate-change scenarios,their estimates of groundwater-level declines between 2041 and 2080 were more than three times current depletion rates,on average.In addition to Jain and Bhattarai,authors of the Science Advances study are David Lobell of Stanford University,Balwinder Singh of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in India and the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development in Western Australia,Ram Fishman of Tel Aviv University,William Kustas of the U.S.Department of Agriculture and Yadu Pokhrel of Michigan State University.The research was funded by aNASA Land-Cover Land-Use Change Grant and aNASA new investigator program award to Jain.It was supported in part by the U.S.Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service. 查看详细>>

In aprogram designed to help grow the U.S.semiconductor workforce,a cohort of college students from across the country are spending summer at the University of Michigan learning how to make,study and improve advanced semiconductors.They’re working in the Lurie Nanofabrication Facility’s world-class cleanroom,using industry-standard equipment,and immersing themselves in cutting-edge research.But no prior knowledge of nanofabrication was required for the 10-week Michigan Semiconductor Hands-On Research Experience,which is funded for three years by the National Science Foundation,with support from the Semiconductor Research Corporation.M-SHORE is designed to broaden participation in semiconductor-related engineering and encourage participants to pursue further academic studies in the field.“The goal is to reach students who don’t have access to afacility like the Lurie Nanofabrication Facility or who have never had this type of hands-on training,”said Becky Peterson,an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and director of the Lurie Nanofabrication Facility.“We want them to gain real experience making and testing devices in alab—to go beyond putting together circuits in aclass to building the physical layers that make the devices inside acleanroom.”Semiconductors are at the core of modern society,from our phones,tablets and computers,and the data center servers that form the internet,to cars,airplanes,robotic systems and even the industrial equipment used to manufacture these items.The recent chip shortage highlighted the need for the U.S.to expand the domestic semiconductor manufacturing industry and workforce.“We need to focus on providing better training and expanding the number and types of students we train,so we can grow the workforce in this field in the United States,”Peterson said.The students will work with U-M faculty and graduate students on projects in three areas:Understanding and improving the performance of advanced semiconductor gallium nitride,or GaN,which belongs to a“wide bandgap”class that is critical to power electronics and clean energy.(A material’s bandgap is ameasure of the amount of energy needed for electrons to be excited into states where they can contribute to an electric current.)Students are part of teams working to improve artificial photosynthesis systems that split water to produce hydrogen fuel,and to develop high-frequency and high-power transistors capable of supporting 6G networks and beyond.Developing new nanofabrication methods to make materials and devices that address energy conversion and sustainability.Students are part of research teams making transparent aerogels that convert solar energy into heat,making mixed aerogel-nanoparticle paints that are pigment-and dye-free,and making ultrasensitive probes that can measure temperature and heat flow at the nanometer spatial scale.Aerogels are solid,porous foams made of interconnected nanostructures.Investigating the behavior of complex oxide materials and devices—contenders to replace or augment silicon in computing,data storage,energy and sensing applications.Students will be part of teams using nanomanufacturing tools to synthesize and study advanced oxide materials,including entropy-stabilized complex oxides that can be used for multimodal devices;ultrawide bandgap oxide semiconductors that can be used for high voltage,high power future applications;and memristor memory chips that can store and process data at the same time.Eyo Achamyeleh,who studies electrical engineering at Union College in New York,is working on one of the gallium nitride projects.“We have learned about these devices,but now we’re learning how to actually make them,”Achamyeleh said.“I had never thought about how they’re made or what type of elements are in them.It was awhole different subject and language for me.” 查看详细>>

Early human foragers may have relied on eating the partially digested vegetable matter,called digesta,found in the stomachs and digestive tracts of bison and other large game herbivores.But foraging hypotheses and models do not include this important source of calories and carbohydrates,according to aUniversity of Michigan study.Folding digesta into these models will allow researchers to better address major questions in evolutionary anthropology.It even calls into question the idea that“hunting and gathering,”which all prehistoric people relied on until about 10,000 years ago,was divided by sex,according to author Raven Garvey,associate professor of anthropology and affiliate of the Research Center for Group Dynamics at the U-M Institute for Social Research.Early foragers may,in some contexts,have consumed their required portion of“vegetables”in the form of digesta,according to Garvey.Eating not only the herbivores’meat and organs but also digesta would net aperson asignificantly higher number of calories,and also would expand the kinds of macronutrients such as protein,fat and carbohydrates available to the forager.“Failure to account for this underappreciated resource could have important consequences in studies that address major questions in evolutionary anthropology,”she said.“Accounting for digesta as asource of both kilocalories and carbohydrates leads to predictions that differ from foraging models that do not include this resource.”Garvey’s study,published in the journal Evolutionary Anthropology,explores the significance of digesta in two of these questions:sex-divided subsistence labor and archaeologically observed increases in plant use and sedentism,or the transition to more permanent settlements.Subsistence hunting Using estimates of available protein and carbohydrates in the native tissues and digesta,respectively,of alarge ruminant herbivore(Bison bison),Garvey shows that,with digesta included,a group of 25 adult foragers could meet the USDA’s average recommendations for proteins and carbs for three days without additional supplementation.Such aresource could have been crucial in certain contexts,like in areas where plants were scarce or indigestible to humans.It could also have eliminated the need to hunt and gather separately since total nutrition could be obtained from asingle resource.In this way,Garvey’s“bison model”raises questions about the assumption that human subsistence labor was always strongly sex-divided and the traditional picture of exclusively male-provisioning of large-bodied prey.Women’s participation in hunting becomes likelier when high-energy resources can be acquired with low risk.In times and places where large-bodied herbivores were abundant,a group’s overall hunting success could have been improved,and plant-animal scheduling conflicts reduced through women’s hunting.There is some archaeological evidence to suggest female hunting(and the child care provisioning that would have entailed)was more common during prehistory than in the later ethnographic period,Garvey says.A study of“grave goods”in burials across North and South America,for example,found that perhaps 30%-50%of all large-game hunters in the Americas during the late glacial(late Pleistocene and early Holocene)era,between 8,000 and 13,000 years ago,may have been female.This strategy might have been influenced both by the relative abundance during that period of large-bodied herbivores and by people’s high mobility.Following migratory game,groups increased the reliability of hunting,but created conditions that reduced the accessibility of edible plants.Digesta consumption would have bridged this resource gap. 查看详细>>

Researchers from the University of Michigan have found that an extra copy of agene in Down syndrome patients causes improper development of neurons in mice.The gene in question,called Down syndrome cell adhesion molecule,or DSCAM,is also implicated in other human neurological conditions,including autism spectrum disorders,bipolar disorder and intractable epilepsy.The cause of Down syndrome is known to be an extra copy of chromosome 21,or trisomy 21.But because this chromosome contains more than 200 genes—including DSCAM—a major challenge in Down syndrome research and treatments is determining which gene or genes on the chromosome contribute to which specific symptoms of the syndrome.“The ideal path for treatment would be to identify the gene that causes amedical condition,and then target this gene or other genes that it works with to treat that aspect of Down syndrome,”said Bing Ye,a neuroscientist at the U-M Life Sciences Institute and lead author of the study.“But for Down syndrome,we can’t just sequence patient genomes to find such genes,because we’d find at least 200 different genes that are changed.We have to dig deeper to figure out which of those genes causes which problem.”For this work,researchers turn to animal models of Down syndrome.By studying mice that have athird copy of the mouse equivalent of chromosome 21,Ye and his team have now demonstrated how an extra copy of DSCAM contributes to neuronal dysfunction.Their findings are described in an April 20 study in PLOS Biology.Each neuron has two sets of branches that extend out from the cell center:dendrites,which receive signals from other nerve cells,and axons,which send signals to other neurons.Ye and colleagues previously determined that overabundance of the protein encoded by DSCAM can cause overgrowth of axons in fruit fly neurons.Guided by their research in flies,the team has now found that athird copy of DSCAM in mice leads to increased axon growth and neuronal connections(called synapses)in the types of neurons that put the brakes on other neurons’activities.These changes lead to greater inhibition of other neurons in the cerebral cortex—a part of the brain that is involved in sensation,cognition and behavior.“It’s known that these inhibitory synapses are changed in Down syndrome mouse models,but the gene that underlies this change is unknown,”said Ye,who is also aprofessor of cell and developmental biology at the U-M Medical School.“We show here that the extra copy of DSCAM is the primary cause of the excessive inhibitory synapses in the cerebral cortex.”The team demonstrated that in mice that had only two copies of DSCAM,but three copies of the other genes that are similar to human chromosome 21 genes,axon growth appeared normal.“These results are striking because,although these mice have an extra copy of about ahundred genes,normalization of this single gene,DSCAM,rescues normal inhibitory synaptic function,”said Paul Jenkins,assistant professor of pharmacology and psychiatry at the Medical School and co-corresponding author of the study.“This suggests that modulation of DSCAM expression levels could be aviable therapeutic strategy for repairing synaptic deficits seen in Down syndrome.In addition,given that alterations of DSCAM levels are associated with other brain disorders like autism spectrum disorder and bipolar disorder,these results shed insight into potential mechanisms underlying other human diseases.”The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health,the Brain Research Foundation and the University of Michigan.All procedures performed in mice were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee at the University of Michigan and performed in accordance with institutional guidelines.Study authors are Hao Liu,RenéCaballero-Florán,Ty Hergenreder,Tao Yang,Jacob Hull,Geng Pan,Ruonan Li,Macy W.Veling,Lori Isom,Kenneth Kwan,Paul Jenkins,and Bing Ye of U-M;Z.Josh Huang of Duke University;and Peter Fuerst of the University of Idaho. 查看详细>>

With more than half of the world’s population active on social media networks,user-generated data has proved to be fertile ground for social scientists who study attitudes about the environment and sustainability.But several challenges threaten the success of what’s known as social media data science.The primary concern,according to anew study from an international research team,is limited access to data resulting from restrictive terms of service,shutdown of platforms,data manipulation,censorship and regulations.The study,published online March 17 in the journal One Earth,is the first known to evaluate the scope of environmental social media research and its potential to transform sustainability science.The 17-member research team analyzed 415 studies,published between 2011 and 2021,that examined social media content related to the environment.“Ideas about climate change and our environment are increasingly coming from social media,”said Derek Van Berkel,assistant professor at the University of Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability and one of the study’three lead authors.“Online communities like Reddit,or simply news stories shared by your friends on Facebook,have become digital landscapes where many ideas are shaped and formed.”Understanding how those ideas are shaped aids science communicators in honing environmental messaging and prompts them to fill gaps where information is lacking or misrepresented.Despite the potential public benefits of social media data science,the authors argue,current business models of social media platforms have generated avicious cycle in which user data is treated as aprivate asset that can be purchased or sold for profit.This has raised public concern and mistrust of social media companies,leading to agreater demand for more regulation.The study supports the idea of replacing this vicious cycle with a“virtuous cycle.”“A virtuous cycle requires the collaboration of SM companies,researchers,and the public,”said co-lead study author Johannes Langemeyer from the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona.“For their part,sustainability researchers can foster more trust and cooperation by embracing high ethical standards.Inclusivity,transparency,privacy protection,and responsible use of the data are key requirements—and will lead to an improved standardization of research practices moving forward,”Langemeyer said.A promising example of cooperation from asocial media platform was initiated in January 2021 when Twitter set anew standard for broader access to researchers by introducing anew academic research product track,which for the first time allowed free full-archive searches for approved researchers.Such an approach could have served as amodel for wider open access across social media platforms.But confirming the fears of researchers,Twitter recently announced that as of Feb.9,2023,the company will no longer support free access.“SM data has the potential to usher in arevolution in the current practices of sustainability research,especially in the social sciences,with an impact on par with that of Earth observation in the environmental sciences,”said co-lead study author Andrea Ghermandi from the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management at the University of Haifa in Israel.The study concludes that social media data assessments can support the 2015 U.N.Sustainable Development Goals that serve as auniversal call to action to end poverty,protect the planet,and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity.“Achieving the U.N.Sustainable Development Goals will require large-scale,multi-country efforts as well as granular data for tailoring sustainability efforts,”the study authors wrote.“The shared values and goals of working for asustainable future may provide common ground for the cooperation needed to fully realize the contribution that SM data offers.”Funding support for the study came from multiple international and domestic sources,including the U.S.National Science Foundation,the Alfred P.Sloan Foundation,the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation,and the German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research&Development. 查看详细>>

The University of Michigan has unveiled aseries of new commitments to the city of Detroit including details of the university’s role in leading the design and construction of the renamed University of Michigan Center for Innovation.The UMCI will be built by the university to accommodate the academic and community programs that it will house.Those programs are now expanded to include three distinct types of activity—graduate education,talent-based community development and community engagement—all in the service of economic development and job growth for Detroit,said U-M President Santa J.Ono.The UMCI is expected to break ground this year and take three years to build.It’s funded with a$100 million donation from Stephen Ross and$100 million from the state of Michigan.An additional$50 million will be raised from donors and Olympia Development is donating the four-acre property to U-M.“Our founding as auniversity traces back to Detroit,so it’s fitting that we reinvigorate and build on our commitment to the city through this center,”Ono said.“UMCI is essential for our future.We are searching for anew director who will be acritical voice within the community,as well as an essential liaison with our many stakeholders in Detroit.”“The potential for the UMCI to be acatalyst for the future of Detroit is exponential and we are excited that President Ono and his team at U-M are leading the charge on this project,”said Ross,founder and chairman of Related Companies.“We’re particularly excited for the impact the UMCI and its programs will have on the next generation of Detroit students who will have this world-class academic institution at their doorstep.”The university will handle construction of the$250 million,200,000-square-foot building planned for the site bounded by Cass and Grand River avenues and West Columbia and Elizabeth streets,pending approval by the U-M Board of Regents.By taking on the construction of the UMCI,the university will be able to build out the new facility to fit its specifications,needs,and academic and community programming,said Geoffrey Chatas,U-M executive vice president and chief financial officer.The Downtown Detroit Partnership will continue to act as afiduciary for the state funding and administer those funds through anonprofit subsidiary.UMCI will benefit from being near the proposed$1.5 billion,10-building mixed-use development Related Companies and Olympia Development have joined forces to develop in The District Detroit near the Fox Theatre and professional sports stadiums.Ono has made the UMCI one of his top priorities.The center,along with the P-20 Partnership at the School at Marygrove,the$40 million Rackham building renovation,the U-M Detroit Center,which opened in 2005 in Midtown,and hundreds of other projects U-M works on with community partners around the city,are examples of how the university has stepped up its community engagement in the city in recent years. 查看详细>>

Ankle exoskeletons that can help people extend their endurance are astep closer to reality with anew control algorithm,developed at the University of Michigan,that could enable future exoskeletons to automatically adapt to individual users and tasks.This would reduce or eliminate the need for manual recalibration.Current exoskeletons are limited because they must be tailored to asingle user performing asingle task,like walking in astraight line.Any changes require alengthy set of manual readjustments.The new control algorithm demonstrates the ability to handle different speeds,as well as changes in gait between running and walking.It could pave the way for exoskeletons that are better able to handle the uncertainties of the real world.“This particular type of ankle exoskeleton can be used to augment people who have limited mobility,”said Leia Stirling,U-M associate professor of industrial and operations engineering and robotics and senior author of the study published in the journal PLOS ONE.“That could be an older adult who wouldn’t normally be able to walk to the park with their grandkids.But wearing the system,they now have extra assistance that enables them to do more than they could before.” 查看详细>>

The National Academy of Engineering will induct Shorya Awtar and Panos Papalambros,Michigan Engineering professors Apair of University of Michigan professors,one adeveloper of surgical technology,the other aleader in design optimization,were elected as members of the National Academy of Engineering—one of the highest distinctions in the profession.Both are professors of mechanical engineering and they join this year’s NAE class of 106 new members and 18 international members.Shorya Awtar is aprofessor of mechanical engineering and the CEO of Parallel Robotics.He was recognized this week for“inventing and commercializing game-changing surgical products that have made minimally invasive surgery affordable and accessible around the world,”according to the NAE.Panos Papalambros is the James B.Angell Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Engineering,the Donald C.Graham Professor Emeritus of Engineering and aprofessor emeritus of integrative systems and design at the College of Engineering.The NAE’s recognition is based on his“contributions to complex systems optimization and leadership in advancing transformative engineering design research and education.”He retired from U-M in 2022.Their election brings U-M’s total NAE membership to 34.“Election to the NAE is among the highest honors accorded in our profession,”said Alec D.Gallimore,the Robert J.Vlasic Dean of Engineering,the Richard F.and Eleanor A.Towner Professor,an Arthur F.Thurnau Professor and aprofessor of aerospace engineering.“This is awell-deserved recognition of Professor Awtar and Professor Papalambros’positive impact on society through their respective research,their contributions to engineering education and their commitments to shape the world for the better.” 查看详细>>