News | Science, Technology and Public Policy (STPP)

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Seminar students enjoy Lansing Day 2026

May 26, 2026

Ranging from first-year undergraduates to advanced doctoral candidates, students met with elected officials and their staff to advocate for bills addressing data center regulation, data privacy, and maternal health.

Students posing with State Senator Stephanie Chang

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Kleinman shares expertise and concerns regarding facial recognition in schools

Apr 29, 2026 Michigan Public

STPP Managing Director Molly Kleinman was recently interviewed by Michigan Public regarding the use of facial recognition in schools to identify and verify visitors. Kleinman argued that facial recognition brings an element of surveillance into schoo...

Kleinman shares expertise and concerns regarding facial recognition in schools

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U-M experts explore benefits, harms of AI for people with developmental disabilities

Apr 20, 2026

WHAT'S THE STUDY: The Science, Technology, and Public Policy program at the University of Michigan's Ford School of Public Policy is embarking on a project to explore the potential benefits and harms of artificial intelligence to support people with ...

U-M experts explore benefits, harms of AI for people with developmental disabilities

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Innovation as a force for equity

Mar 27, 2026

Issues in Science and Technology is a quarterly journal published by the National Academy of Sciences and Arizona State University. Today's health innovation system doesn't benefit everyone equally. To change it we need to think differently about ex...

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Kleinman serves as panelist for Ann Arbor Art + Feminism 2026 event

Mar 25, 2026

STPP Managing Director Molly Kleinman participated as a panelist along with other University of Michigan faculty members on creating a feminist, inclusive, and more equitable internet in the era of AI in a recent Ann Arbor and University of Michigan...

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Kleinman participates in technology and policy training for international fellows

Mar 13, 2026

Last week, the Fastest Path to Zero Initiative at the University of Michigan helped to train the next generation by welcoming more than 40 international public-sector professionals through the U.S. Department of State's Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship ...

Group picture of Fastest Path International Fellows

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Green shares data center concerns with Michigan lawmakers

Feb 15, 2026

Members of Michigan's House Subcommittee on Oversight heard testimony on data centers, during which the Ford School's Ben Green was invited to offer his expertise. CBS Detroit, Bridge Michigan, and WWMT covered the meeting and Green's contributions.

Green shares data center concerns with Michigan lawmakers

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Shobita Parthasarathy on how to repair trust in science

Jan 26, 2026

In her second column for Science, Ford School Professor Shobita Parthasarathy argues that rather than treating the growing crisis of public trust as an information and communication problem, we should treat it as an innovation and expertise problem. ...

Shobita Parthasarathy on how to repaire trust in science

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Reflection on Emerging Technologies Winter School

Jan 22, 2026

Thanks to an STPP Career Development Grant, during the first week of 2026, Gabrielle Grey was able to attend the 13th annual Arizona State University Winter School on Emerging Technologies and wrote about her experience.

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Legislative science and tech policy fellowship program announces inaugural advisory council members

Jan 20, 2026

The Michigan Science, Technology, and Public Policy (MiST) fellowship program announced its inaugural advisory council members today. Administered by the University of Michigan's Science, Technology, and Public Policy (STPP) Program in collaboration ...

Legislative science and tech policy fellowship program announces inaugural advisory council members

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Green discusses local impacts of data centers

Nov 30, 2025

Ford School professor Ben Green's research on the impacts of data centers recently caught the eye of Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection, which asked him to deliver a presentation on the topic to its Citizens Advisory Council on Nov...

Using algorithms in government: Opportunities, challenges, and paths forward

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STPP co-sponsors Michigan Futures Initiative symposium on AI

Nov 17, 2025

A day-long Symposium on AI, Data Centers and the Climate Change Challenge took place on October 30, 2025. The event, co-sponsored by STPP, was launched by Shalanda Baker, U-M’s inaugural vice provost for sustainability and climate action and professo...

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Q&A with agricultural policy and sustainability expert and STPP Alum Tyler Baird

Nov 17, 2025

STPP alum Tyler Baird is the analyst in Michigan Department of Rural Development's (MDARD's) Office of Agricultural Science and Research (OASR), where he supports departmental policies and programs with research analysis focusing on climate change re...

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Discussing "Competing energy futures" at the Ford School

Oct 26, 2025

Decarbonization initiatives and renewable energy investments are compatible with the massive new energy requirements of the data center age, according to a panel of experts who spoke at the Ford School. What is needed is government policy that can gu...

Discussing "Competing energy futures" at the Ford School

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Lessons from my Summer of Systems Thinking

Oct 22, 2025

By Shuhaib Nawawi, PhD Candidate at SEAS This summer, I participated in the Young Scientists Summer Program (YSSP) at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Laxenburg, Austria, an institute founded in 1972 to foster colla...

Shuhaib Nawawi showing a graph at summer institute

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Hassan’s summer fieldwork explores politics and practice of AI development in Africa

Oct 17, 2025

The politics of AI and technology are tied to competing visions of a modern, postcolonial Africa, explained Yousif Hassan, assistant professor at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. Building on his long-term research on technology and decolon...

Hassan’s summer fieldwork explores politics and practice of AI development in Africa

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MiST fellowship brings science research to the Statehouse

Oct 10, 2025

As a state, Michigan regularly creates rules, procedures, and laws about issues such as healthcare delivery, advanced manufacturing, autonomous vehicle rollout, energy transitions, PFAS and Pb contamination, Great Lakes restoration, and other complex...

MiST fellowship brings science research to the Statehouse

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Featured Faculty Affiliate Paul Fleming talks about his upcoming book, career path, STPP, and more

Sep 22, 2025

STPP faculty affiliate Paul J. Fleming is an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Behavior & Health Equity at the School of Public Health. His work focuses on the root causes of racial health inequities and policy and programmatic strategi...

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Q&A with featured Faculty Affiliate Denia Djokić

Aug 25, 2025

STPP faculty affiliate Denia Djokić is an Assistant Research Scientist at the Fastest Path to Zero Initiative. Concurrently, Djokić is also a 2021 Levenick Resident Scholar in Sustainability Leadership at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaig...

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Kleinman gives keynote on AI regulation at Michigan civil rights forum

Aug 6, 2025

Molly Kleinman, managing director of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy program at the Ford School, delivered the keynote address at “Local and State Government in the Age of AI: Innovation, Civil Rights, and Policy,” a forum hosted by the Mi...

Kleinman gives keynote on AI regulation at Michigan civil rights forum

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Hassan co-organizes workshop at University of Nairobi to chart Africa’s data future

Aug 6, 2025

Workshop brings together stakeholders to shape equitable AI and data governance across the continentBringing together experts in Kenya, Yousif Hassan, assistant professor at the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, co-orga...

Hassan co-organizes workshop at University of Nairobi to chart Africa’s data future

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Prestigious National Academies committee appoints Parthasarathy

Jul 25, 2025

Ford School professor Shobita Parthasarathy has been appointed to the Standing Committee on Advancing Science Communication, a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) committee that was established in 2016 to advance ethical...

Shobita Parthasarathy’s “Expert Voices” column in Science: Beware the drive to scale technology

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Kleinman shares AI expertise with local policymakers

Jul 7, 2025

Along with public safety, budget, health, environmental, and other policy challenges, local governments now face the question of how to address the new and constantly evolving effects of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the adjacent explosive growth ...

Kleinman shares AI expertise with local policymakers

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Podcast: U-M experts explore AI and the responsibility of its creators in building, guiding it toward best uses

May 30, 2025

Artificial intelligence is often debated in terms of being a cure-all or chaos agent, as if independent of its human creators. Neither is the case, nor should we forget who makes it and why, and how it should serve humanity. That's the backbone of th...

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State-level AI legislation can guide fair housing practices

May 20, 2025

As the number of artificial intelligence (AI)-related measures introduced in U.S. state and territorial legislatures continues to grow, policymakers, advocates and consumers can seize the moment to assure that the technology is promoting fair housing...

State-level AI legislation can guide fair housing practices

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Partnership opportunities available with new Michigan Science and Technology Fellowship

May 14, 2025

STPP is moving forward with planning for the new Michigan Science, Technology, and Public Policy Fellowship (MiST). MiST Fellows will bring science and technology expertise to state government that will deliver evidence-based policy outcomes for Mich...

STPP to establish Michigan science and technology fellowship

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Q&A with health policy expert and STPP Alum Max Bronstein

May 14, 2025

STPP Alum and health policy expert Max Bronstein is currently the president of MGB Consulting, which is a boutique consultancy serving clientele in the biopharmaceutical and non-profit sectors with a focus in rare disease, public policy, and patient ...

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Parthasarathy on the intersection of technology, feminism, colonialism, and social justice

May 13, 2025

Kirti Jayakumar, from the India-based Gender Security Project, interviewed Shobita Parthasarathy about her journey into science policy, her research in India, using a social justice perspective to advance technology, and the role of law and policy. B...

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STPP Alum Will Ellerbe reflects on his public policy training and whistleblower trial victory

May 8, 2025

Michigan Law School and STPP alum William H. Ellerbe is Whistleblower Lawyer and Qui Tam Shareholder at Berger Montague. He practices in the Firm’s Whistleblower, Qui Tam & False Claims Act group, which has collectively recovered more than $3 billion...

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Kleinman quoted on police drone use and privacy concerns

Apr 23, 2025

STPP Managing Director Molly Kleinman was recently quoted in the Detroit News and by the Michigan Capital News Service regarding the use of police drones and privacy concerns. From the Detroit News article: "More police departments are using drones, ...