In the Media

Parthasarathy interviewed on BBC about 50th anniversary of Asilomar conference

Mar 4, 2025 https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct5vf5

The BBC’s Science in Action program interviewed Shobita Parthasarathy recently regarding her evaluation of the Asilomar conference on biotechnology, occurring 50 years...

Parthasarathy talks algorithms place in the criminal justice system

In the Media

Scientists meet for the 50 year anniversary of genetic science conference - Parthasarathy

Feb 21, 2025 BBC

Last weekend, a scientific ethics conference was held in Asilomar, California, to recreate the meeting that occurred there 50 years prior. Half a century ago, scientists met to establish guidelines for the future and practice of genetic science. The...

Scientists meet for the 50 year anniversary of genetic science conference - Parthasarathy

In the Media

STPP Alum Odelberg interviewed by ESAL on AI guidance for local governments

Feb 5, 2025 Engineering & Scientists Acting Locally (ESAL)

Engineers & Scientists Acting Locally (ESAL) recently interviewed STPP alum and current AAAS congressional fellow Trevor Odelberg about his work on the AI Handbook for Local Government in its "Stories from the field" series, which shares the...

Photo of people sitting outside Michigan Municipal League

In the Media

Green describes practical problems with algorithm oversight

Feb 4, 2025 Financial Times

Ben Green, professor at the Ford School, explains why human oversight of algorithms, such as the one that runs Google's Gmail spam protection, does not always work. He cites how "the human overseers are on a tight schedule — they have many cases to...

Green describes practical problems with algorithm oversight

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STPP Faculty Affiliate Monica Dus to direct new Office of National Laboratories

Jan 10, 2025 University Record

The University of Michigan has created a new office to support its partnerships with U.S. Department of Energy national laboratories, with Monica Dus, associate professor of molecular, cellular and developmental biology, to be the office’s...

In the Media

STPP Alum discusses 2024's coolest science on NPR's Science Friday

Jan 9, 2025 Science Friday

Science Friday's Ira Flatow sat down with Drs. Céline Gounder, Jackie Faherty, and Kevin Reed, three researchers from different areas of science to reflect on the most exciting discoveries in their fields, important stories you might have missed,...

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Student Researcher Olivia David featured in the University Record for flood resilience efforts

Dec 16, 2024 Student Researcher Olivia David supporting flood resilience efforts in Great La…

University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS) PhD Students Olivia David (MS ‘22) and Amy Van Zanen (MS ‘23) have been interested in flood resilience and its related policy tools and implications since they were SEAS...

In the Media

Parthasarathy: AI energizes people to consider direction of science and technology

Dec 4, 2024 Nature

"Shobita Parthasarathy teaches graduate students about science policy at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. New technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) are 'really energizing people' to consider the directions of science and...

Parthasarathy: AI energizes people to consider direction of science and technology

In the Media

Trevor Odelberg and AI in Local Government Handbook featured in story by Austin, Texas NPR station

Oct 21, 2024 Read the story on AI in Austin, Texas

A reporter from the NPR station in Austin, Texas, reached out to author Trevor Odelberg (PhD Electrical and Computer Engineering '24) after seeing STPP and the Michigan Municipal League's Artificial Intelligence Handbook for Local Government...

In the Media

Michigan Daily covers STPP event with New York Times Tech Reporter

Oct 17, 2024 Read the Daily's story

The Michigan Daily recently covered STPP's event at the Ford School in a feature article: NYT reporter Kashmir Hill discusses the privacy implications of facial recognition...

Who owns your face? NYT reporter Kashmir Hill discusses privacy in the era of facial recognition

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Kleinman on the hazards of facial recognition technology in schools

Oct 4, 2023 City & State

“One thing that’s different from a lot of these earlier kinds of surveillance technologies is the way that the data travels so far beyond the school where it’s coming from,” Kleinman said in an interview. “The student data in these databases is...

STPP brings interdisciplinary, historical perspectives to public interest technology issues

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"Appropriative" patents a long-term problem - Parthasarathy

Sep 1, 2023 NPR Planet Money

The way that a lot of pharmaceutical companies got their knowledge was often from going to other countries and finding out about Indigenous knowledge and then coming back and testing that. So there's a famous case of Eli Lilly patenting a treatment...

The politics of inclusive innovation in international development: Menstrual hygiene management and sanitary pads in India

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Kleinman casts doubt on Detroit Police Department's use of ShotSpotter

Aug 1, 2023 Bridge Detroit

Molly Kleinman, managing director of the Science Technology and Public Policy Program at the University of Michigan, said the data Bridge Detroit obtained through FOIA doesn’t put accuracy concerns to rest. Kleinman said relying on DPD to flag...

In the Media

Parthasarathy: ChatGPT reinforces human biases

Jun 18, 2023 WDET

Shobita Parthasarathy says ChatGPT simply reiterates language that humans have already created, and that often the ideas and biases that humans exhibit are reinforced by the tool. “[ChatGPT] is not magic. It’s also not an asteroid. It is us. It is...

Parthasarathy: ChatGPT reinforces human biases

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AI will 'turbocharge' inequalities in health care - Parthasarathy

Mar 16, 2023 Bridge Michigan

Shobita Parthasarathy, Bridge Michigan: "Health care systems don't even know what data they're missing. That (AI) gets integrated into medical care as a mechanism for achieving efficiency. But they do that without realizing that it's going to...

In the Media

Parthasarathy on AI technology perils

Feb 28, 2023 Business Insider

Business Insider: Run-ins with users show some of the potentially troubling outcomes to expect when companies experiment with the public on new AI technologies, said Shobita Parthasarathy, a public policy professor at the University of Michigan, who...

In the Media

Parthasarathy weighs in on implications of ChatGPT

Feb 6, 2023 Nature

Shobita Parthasarathy, Nature: "Besides directly producing toxic content, there are concerns that AI chatbots will embed historical biases or ideas about the world from their training data, such as the superiority of particular cultures, says...

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...

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

In the Media

Parthasarathy warns gun safety policy could have chilling impact on privacy

Sep 20, 2022 NPR

Major credit card companies announced this week that they will adopt a new code to flag gun sales. While gun control advocates are celebrating, Shobita Parthasarathy, director of the Science, Technology and Public Policy program, warns the policy...

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...

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 with...

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...

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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...

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...

In the Media

Parthasarathy discusses her career on 'Science, Technology, and Society Shorts'

Jan 26, 2022 Science, Technology, and Society Shorts

Shobita Parthasarathy, professor of public policy and director of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy program, recently discussed how she became interested in science and technology policy on Science, Technology, and Society Shorts. “I ended...

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...

In the Media

Green explains relationship between pandemic and government surveillance

Dec 9, 2021 Los Angeles Times

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic allowed governments to roll out higher surveillance systems without pushback from citizens. Such emergencies “can be moments where governments roll out new invasive forms of data collection and it just becomes the...

In the Media

More emphasis needed on vaccine accessibility, overcoming institutional mistrust—Parthasarathy

Nov 5, 2021 MLive

Speaking with MLive, Shobita Parthasarathy observed the complexities behind vaccine hesitancy. “We’re letting social institutions, government institutions off the hook the more that we focus on the individual as the source of the hesitancy,” she...

In the Media

Parthasarathy on the racial reckoning in science and medicine

Oct 4, 2021 AP News

The family of Henrietta Lacks, a Black woman whose cells have been used to develop numerous scientific and medical innovations, is suing a biotechnology company for selling her cells. Shobita Parthasarathy provided insight into the lawsuit. “We are...

In the Media

Human oversight of automated decision-making doesn't work, says Green

Sep 28, 2021 Protocol

Commenting on his recent research, Ben Green told Protocol, “The point is not to say: Let's just allow these algorithms to be used without the human oversight. But if we're only comfortable with these algorithms because we have human oversight, we...