Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) are being used by a growing number of public and private entities to track drivers’ movements and location. The use of the technology is almost entirely unregulated and can be subject to abuse, so some...
The Graham Sustainability Institute’s Carbon Neutrality Acceleration Program (CNAP) announced $1,160,000 in funding for six new faculty research projects. CNAP is a multi-year, multimillion-dollar program created in 2020 with a $5 million gift from...
Elected officials from local, county, and state government came to the Ford School to hear about the potential for collaborations with their offices and the School’s faculty, research centers, and students.
Fifteen members of the Michigan State...
ChatGPT, Microsoft’s artificial-intelligence (AI) algorithm, has been subject to intense scrutiny since its launch in November, becoming instantly popular because it was made free and easily accessible. Proponents are amazed at its ability to...
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...
With the guidance and support of the Ford School’s research centers, graduate and undergraduate students are creating a real-life impact in a range of areas by working with external partners. The Ford School is deeply integrated with a wide range of...
The Ford School is pleased to announce an exciting lineup for the winter 2023 Policy Talks @ the Ford School series and other special public events hosted with partners from across campus.
Events are free and open to the public unless otherwise...
Postdoctoral scholar Ben Green recently joined Harvard University's Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society for a webinar focused on what fairness means in the context of algorithms and how fairness can be measured.
Joined by other scholars...
A new massive open online course available on Michigan Online will help STEM and policy professionals, community organizers, and students understand how injustices can become embedded in technology and associated policies. “Justice and Equity in...
Large Language Models (LLMs) are artificial intelligence tools that can read, summarize and translate texts and predict future words in a sentence letting them generate sentences similar to how humans talk and write. Shobita Parthasarathy, professor...
A group of Science, Technology, and Public Policy program students recently won second place in the National Science Policy Network's 2022 Science Policy Writing Competition. This year's competition challenged authors to create a policy brief based...
Journal of Science Policy & Governance (JSPG) founder Max Bronstein (MPP/STPP ’10) celebrates 10 years of JSPG! In a podcast, Bronstein talks about his initial vision for the journal, how JSPG has impacted the science policy landscape, and how JSPG...
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...
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...
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...
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...
"I Hope This Helps!" is a humorous, genre-bending hybrid documentary that invites viewers to ponder the evolving relationship between humanity and technology.
Join us for an event that’s more than just a celebration—it’s a call to action. In alignment with the University of Michigan’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Symposium's 2025 theme of "Restless Dissatisfaction: An Urgent Call for the Pursuit of Justice and Equality," we invite students, staff, faculty and the greater community to a powerful and inspiring gathering.
Joan and Sanford Weill Hall Annenberg Auditorium (1120)
A wide-ranging discussion with technologist Alondra Nelson, reflecting on her time in the White House, her role as a social scientist involved in shaping science and technology (and particularly AI), her insights into the policy process, and specifically her work on the open access and AI Bill of Rights initiatives.
Brad Weltman (BA '97, MPP '99), Policy Director at Facebook, will engage with current STPP students in an informal conversation about his career trajectory and current work in the field.
Dr. Krystal Tsosie will describe community-engaged research and describe paths forward that center Indigenous people as the agents of access for their own genomic and health data. The future of Indigenous genomics is not mere inclusion but through recognition of Indigenous genomic and data sovereignty.
