STPP | Science, Technology and Public Policy (STPP)

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

News

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

Oct 10, 2024

How much control should we have over our likeness? Our anonymity?Nearly 200 attendees confronted these questions at a Ford School event with New York Times technology reporter Kashmir Hill, in conversation with Science, Technology, and Public...

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

News

STPP brings interdisciplinary, historical perspectives to public interest technology issues

Sep 12, 2024

Many of the research projects housed at the Science, Technology and Public Policy program (STPP) in the Ford School focus on climate issues for a simple reason, explains Managing Director Molly Kleinman. "None of this technology operates without...

STPP brings interdisciplinary, historical perspectives to public interest technology issues

News

Hassan named Anti-Racism Research & Community Impact Faculty Fellow

Aug 29, 2024

Ford School assistant professor Yousif Hassan is among six faculty members chosen for Anti-Racism Research & Community Impact Faculty Fellowships. The National Center for Institutional Diversity selected faculty from the University of Michigan’s Ann...

Hassan named Anti-Racism Research & Community Impact Faculty Fellow

News

STPP weighs the costs of new policing technologies

Aug 20, 2024

Policing technologies are increasingly being used to surveil the public with the stated goal of making communities safer and decreasing crime.New policy briefs from the Ford School of Public Policy’s Science, Technology, and Public Policy program...

STPP weighs the costs of new policing technologies

News

STPP awarded MIDAS grant to advance equitable AI research

Jul 23, 2024

A research project from the Ford School’s Science, Technology, and Public Policy (STPP) program was selected by the Michigan Institute for Data and AI in Society (MIDAS) as part of its 2024 Propelling Original Data Science grants to accelerate...

STPP awarded MIDAS grant to advance equitable AI research

Publication

Prioritizing equity among the great challenges of AI, says Parthasarathy

May 29, 2024

As generative artificial intelligence becomes ubiquitous, University of Michigan expert Shobita Parthasarathy says technical revisions to the mechanics may address some harms built into the technology so far.Yet, she argues, “it will always be...

Prioritizing equity among the great challenges of AI, says Parthasarathy

State & Hill

Meet new assistant professor Yousif Hassan

Apr 24, 2024

Expert in AI, equity, and science and technology studies joins the facultyMy story has been shaped by many lived experiences at different events and places,” says Yousif Hassan, who, after seeing members of his family safely conveyed from war-torn...

Meet new assistant professor Yousif Hassan

News

Stacey Abrams, other policymakers and leading scholars to join Ford School symposium

Mar 12, 2024

The Ford School of Public Policy is happy to announce the Dean’s Symposium, which will take place April 11 and 12 at Weill Hall, with the theme, “Policy Innovation for Our Times.” The two days will feature keynote appearances by voting rights...

Stacey Abrams, other policymakers and leading scholars to join Ford School symposium

Publication

A tale of two perspectives on innovation and global equity

Feb 13, 2024

Inclusive innovation—the idea of introducing technologies designed for and by the poor to boost economic growth in impoverished communities—often misses the real problems facing these communities and champions solutions that benefit entrepreneurs at...

A tale of two perspectives on innovation and global equity

Publication

When good intentions aren’t enough: Creating more equitable partnerships between technical and community experts

Feb 6, 2024

Register for the Community Partnerships Playbook webinarAs the popularity of community engagement grows among technologists and academics, it is vital to ensure that they engage communities in ways that benefit the people they claim to serve and do...

When good intentions aren’t enough: Creating more Equitable Partnerships between Technical and Community Experts

State & Hill

The Last Word: Molly Kleinman

Dec 12, 2023

Molly Kleinman (MSI ’07, PhD CSHPE ’18) joined the Ford School’s Science, Technology, and Public Policy (STPP) program in 2018 and became managing director in 2021. She received her STPP certificate in 2014 and served as Paul Courant’s special...

News

Parthasarathy named to prestigious French council

Dec 8, 2023

Ford School professor Shobita Parthasarathy has been named to the scientific council for ANSES, the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety. ANSES is a public administrative body reporting to the Ministries of Health,...

Parthasarathy named to prestigious French council

News

Parthasarathy comments on one year of ChatGPT

Dec 6, 2023

One year ago, OpenAI launched ChatGPT, a chatbot built on the large language model GPT-3. Since then, knowledge workers in all sectors have been grappling with the potential uses of it and similar artificial intelligence models—as well as the...

Parthasarathy comments on one year of ChatGPT

News

STPP influence in New York report about facial recognition technology in schools

Oct 30, 2023

The New York State Office of Information Technology Services (ITS) has outlined the ethical issues with the state’s use of facial recognition technology (FRT) in schools. The report titled “Use of Biometric Identifying Technology in Schools” found...

STPP influence in New York report about facial recognition technology in schools

In the Media

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...

Kleinman on the hazards of facial recognition technology in schools

In the Media

"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...

"Appropriative" patents a long-term problem - Parthasarathy

In the Media

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...

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

News

STPP to explore best practice in community engagement

Aug 1, 2023

As technologists and scientists increasingly engage with communities in order to enhance the societal benefits of their work, and demonstrate its public value, it is important to ensure that such engagements benefit the people they claim to serve....

STPP to explore best practice in community engagement

Publication

Parthasarathy calls for reimagining the innovation process

Jul 19, 2023

The basic model of technological innovation in the U.S. has relied upon academic research and private sector commercialization. While the standard approach has stimulated macroeconomic growth, produced many valuable products, and created jobs,...

News

Engaged Learning Student Projects Catalog: Preparing Ford School students for leadership

Jun 29, 2023

During the Winter Term 2023, Ford School students were involved in projects with federal, state, county, city, and township governments, school districts, non-profit organizations, and commissions. They worked with the school’s numerous research...

Engaged Learning Student Projects Catalog: Preparing Ford School students for leadership

News

Ford School welcomes PPIA 2023 cohort

Jun 19, 2023

The 2023 Public Policy and International Affairs (PPIA) Junior Summer Institute (JSI) has welcomed 23 students from 11 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. This year’s cohort will spend seven weeks taking classes, participating in...

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

News

U-M experts: We need to emphasize AI’s societal impacts over technological advancements

May 12, 2023

Artificial intelligence—AI for short—is all over the news lately. And for good or ill, it has implications for us all. Two University of Michigan professors—Nigel Melville from the Ross School of Business and Shobita Parthasarathy from the Ford...

U-M experts: We need to emphasize AI’s societal impacts over technological advancements

News

Pretrial risk assessment tools found to be subjective and biased

May 4, 2023 Read the full brief

In their attempts to reform the cash bail system, jurisdictions across the country are turning to automated pretrial risk assessment tools that ‘predict’ if a defendant will be arrested for a new crime while waiting for trial or will fail to appear...

Pretrial risk assessment tools found to be subjective and biased

News

STPP receives grant to study STEM-in-Society training

Apr 21, 2023

As science becomes more central to our daily lives—whether for predicting the impacts of climate change, transforming our physical and cognitive capabilities, or developing life-saving pharmaceuticals—socially responsible research and innovation are...

STPP receives grant to study STEM-in-Society training

News

Surveillance technology can have unintended consequences, Kleinman tells The New York Times

Apr 2, 2023

Nationwide, police departments are integrating facial recognition technology into their investigative processes. The technology has been criticized as "exacerbating racist policies," because of false identification, especially among African American...

News

STPP gift to expand educational opportunities for undergraduates

Mar 22, 2023

The Science, Technology, and Public Policy (STPP) program has received a $250,000 gift to expand educational opportunities for undergraduates across campus. The gift comes from Phil (LSA ’87) and Julie (LSA ’88) Hollyer, parents of Keegan (Ford BA...

STPP gift to expand educational opportunities for undergraduates

In the Media

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...

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

News

ChatGPT: Ford School expert can discuss AI chatbots, their reach, impact, concerns, potential

Mar 3, 2023

As ChatGPT hits three months in operation, its reach and uses continue to widen along with a range of efforts and research to grasp and anticipate the upside and downside of using artificial intelligence to do what humans would normally do. Ford...