Global Michigan

New grant program to tackle global challenges

William Foreman — Tue, 21 May 2013 20:32:40 +0000

Nadine Naber was in Egypt last year researching the country's revolution when she observed that women's groups spent most of their time dealing with emergencies—sexual violence, protests, blackouts, food shortages. They rarely had a chance to interview women about their role in the revolution and document their personal stories so that activists, researchers and policymakers could use the information to find solutions to the poverty and violence. But now, Naber will be able to play a key role in helping women's groups share their stories in a public digital archive. The associate professor in women's studies and the program in American culture at the University of Michigan is receiving a $31,000 grant to set up the archive. [caption id="attachment_5758" align="alignleft" width="150"] Nadine Naber in Egypt, where she is researching the role of women in the Arab Spring.[/caption] The funding comes from the Third Century Initiative, a $50 million fund established by U-M's president and provost to develop innovative, multidisciplinary approaches to teaching and scholarship over five years. Naber's project is one of 15 that received funding earlier this month from a component of the initiative called Global Challenges for a Third Century, which seeks to inspire ideas about how to tackle some of the world's greatest challenges. The projects—involving dozens of schools, colleges and units across campus—were selected through a competitive process that considered more than 115 proposals. "One of the crucial ways to learn about the role of women in the revolution is through their own stories," Naber said. "What personal stories bring to light are the many crisscrossing issues that impact women's lives—poverty, multiple forms of violence, dictatorship, corruption, political participation and representation." Other projects funded by GCTC include using mobile phones to improve science labs in Africa, creating diagnostic tests for infectious diseases, using art as an economic engine, developing sustainable transportation, improving educational outcomes for low-income students enrolled in career-technical programs, and enhancing legal systems with technology. The recipients were chosen by the Office of the Provost based on recommendations of the Global Challenges Advisory Committee, comprised of eight faculty members across campus. Related Links:

Descriptions of the funded projects: http://provost.umich.edu/thirdcentury/global.html
Proposals are now being accepted for the program's second round:http://provost.umich.edu/thirdcentury/global-rfp.html
In March, grants were awarded by another component of the initiative, Transforming Learning for a Third Century, which creates innovative student learning experiences:http://ur.umich.edu/1213/Mar11_13/4405-transforming-learning-for
TLTC is also currently accepting proposals: http://provost.umich.edu/thirdcentury/student-rfp.html

Train the trainers: Developing a nursing program in Ghana

Jaime Meyers — Tue, 21 May 2013 19:43:09 +0000

Sue Anne Bell has worked as an emergency room nurse practitioner and has experience in Africa and Asia. So when the University of Michigan was looking for people with a global background who could help train nurses for emergency rooms in Ghana, Bell was an obvious choice. [caption id="attachment_5746" align="alignright" width="200"] Sue Anne Bell with Ghanaian colleagues.[/caption] "There aren’t too many people who fit that bill, so it all fell into place,” said the doctoral student in U-M's School of Nursing. Bell and her colleagues have developed a 12-month nursing education program designed to train specialists in emergency nursing. The team, part of U-M's Ghana Emergency Medicine Collaborative, sends someone to Ghana to teach for two weeks every month. Bell goes to the West African nation about four times a year. The group includes professionals and students from the School of Nursing and U-M Health System. The team is using a “train-the-trainers” approach designed for the current students to eventually become the educators. The first cohort of 25 students is expected to graduate in August. Bell estimates it will take three or four graduating classes before Ghanaian emergency nurses gain the skills to assume leadership of the program. “In 10 years, when the current students are the leaders in emergency nursing for Sub-Saharan Africa," she said, "I can say I had a small piece in making that happen, and I’m really proud of that.” A longer version of this story is available at the School of Nursing's website.

Anthropologist named 2013 National Geographic Emerging Explorer

Vivianne Schnitzer — Tue, 21 May 2013 14:39:31 +0000

[caption id="attachment_5734" align="aligncenter" width="566"] Anthropologist Jason De Leon is a 2013 National Geographic Emerging Explorer (Photo credit: Michael Wells).[/caption] Jason De León, assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Michigan, is one of 17 visionary, young trailblazers from around the world who have been selected as this year's National Geographic Emerging Explorers. The program recognizes and supports gifted and inspiring adventurers, scientists and innovators who are at the forefront of discovery, adventure and global problem-solving while still early in their careers. Each Emerging Explorer receives a $10,000 award to assist with research and to aid further exploration. De León's Undocumented Migration Project uncovers the stories behind the thousands of artifacts—shoes, backpacks, photographs and other materials—discarded by illegal immigrants in the Sonoran Desert along the U.S-Mexican border and recovered by his team since 2008. "This is not garbage" De León said. "The goal of the project is to rigorously and systematically collect data on the social phenomenon of border crossing using the lens of anthropology to provide insight into the realities of this process." Objects left behind by migrants tell "stories of hope, desperation, suffering and sometimes death," according to De León, who said that immigration and the realities of border crossing are poorly understood. Along with De León, 2013 Emerging Explorers include conservation biologists Steve Boyes, Erika Cuéllar and Andrea Marshall, planetary geologist Bethany Ehlmann, archaeologist Sayed Gul Kalash, computer scientist and roboticist Chad Jenkins, wildlife filmmaker and photographer Sandesh Kadur, artist Raghava KK, humanitarian Lale Labuko, innovator and entrepreneur Tan Le, science educator and astrobiologist Brendan Mullan, geophysicist and glaciologist Erin Pettit, computational geneticist Pardis Sabeti, engineer and conservation technologist Shah Selbe, data artist Jer Thorp and adventurer and conservationist Gregg Treinish. "As National Geographic celebrates its 125th anniversary year and looks forward to embracing a new age of exploration, we look to our Emerging Explorers to be leaders in pushing the boundaries of discovery and innovation," said Terry Garcia, National Geographic's executive vice president for Mission Programs. "They represent tomorrow's Robert Ballards, Jacques Cousteaus and Jane Goodalls." The new Emerging Explorers are introduced in the June 2013 issue of National Geographic magazine:http://www.nationalgeographic.com/emerging Jason De León: http://www.lsa.umich.edu/anthro/people/faculty/ci.delenjason_ci.detail Undocumented Migration Project: http://www.undocumentedmigrationproject.com

Tackling health care challenges in India with simple innovations

Mandira Banerjee — Fri, 17 May 2013 20:32:22 +0000

[caption id="attachment_5723" align="aligncenter" width="566"] Carolyn Yarina with the manual centrifuge that she plans to market in India.[/caption] As a child, Carolyn Yarina took care of about 100 sheep on her parents’ farm in Houghton on Michigan's Upper Peninsula. She credits that for laying a foundation for her life. “It taught me about hard work and about taking care of people,” she said. Now, Yarina, 22, is ready to do just that. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Michigan, she plans to move to Bangalore, India, this fall to launch Centricyle, a startup that will produce simple medical technology for rural India. The company’s first product is a manual centrifuge that operates without electricity. Yarina’s journey with Centricyle started when she signed up for a “Design for Real World” class as a freshman and joined the M-Heal team. The team members worked on making a manual centrifuge and tested the prototype at the U-M Health System with their own blood. After the course ended, Yarina continued developing and testing the prototype. She understood that the idea had to be streamlined if it were to be viable. “The social venture practicum that we took in my sophomore year made all the difference. We decided to focus on India at the end of the session,” she said. As a junior, Yarina went to India with Embrace Innovations, a startup that manufactured low-cost infant warmers, and traveled around rural India. “I wanted to get an understanding of how organizations operated and designed for the bottom of the pyramid,” she said. Being immersed in that setting and seeing the impact the group made in the community inspired Yarina. She also received good feedback for her prototype. “People were asking me, ‘Where can we buy this product?’” she said. That’s when she decided, “This is where I want to be and the moment to take Centricycle forward is now.” Yarina credits the university for all the support and learning she obtained here. “I have a great team backing me over the last couple of years, and we have great resources available at University of Michigan,” she said. The 2013 RPM Ventures Student Entrepreneur of the Year award winner is looking forward to the next step. “I’m nervous. It’s a little scary. But I am also excited and feel like I am making the right decision," she said. "I will do this till I succeed or fail spectacularly.”

Chinese cyber-attacks: The threat posed to the U.S. economy

Stephen Wang — Wed, 08 May 2013 16:55:06 +0000

This week, the Pentagon for the first time used its annual report on China to directly accuse the Chinese government and military of conducting cyber-attacks against the U.S. How dangerous are the cyber-attacks? What threat do they pose to America's innovation economy? How do the hackers operate? Is there such a thing as a secure system? These questions are addressed by Michael Bailey, a cyber security researcher in computer science and engineering at the University of Michigan: An excerpt: “One of the competitive advantages we have in the U.S. is this innovation economy, the idea that we create wealth through the creation of new intellectual property. That intellectual property oftentimes is stored digitally, unlike for example, in olden times, the printing press, where if you wanted to make a copy of the printing press, you needed physical copies of the blueprints or you needed to get in and see how a machine actually works. "Now, I can actually make a perfect digital replica of your blueprints and take them out of your network, out of your organization, without setting foot inside of your network. … Inherently there’s a risk. There’s no such thing as a secure system. Unless you’re going to lock something in a room, you’re not going to get security.”

Doing business in China: Being efficient isn’t enough

William Foreman — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 19:33:42 +0000

The business world is often ruled by natural selection. Efficient new companies thrive. Stodgy old ones go bankrupt. But that’s less likely to happen in China, says Brian Wu, an assistant professor of strategy at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. Newer companies have a difficult time competing in China because of institutional barriers, Wu says. These include building relationships with government officials, dealing with local regulations and getting loans from banks. Wu discussed his latest research on the issue in an April 2 talk, sponsored by U-M’s Center for Chinese Studies at the International Institute. Here's an excerpt from his lecture: “More efficient firms, they grow, expand and prosper. Less efficient ones just exit the market. In other words, there’s a one-to-one correspondence between economic efficiency and survival. It’s Darwin’s survival of the fittest idea. “But what we find in China based on Chinese census data is almost the opposite. We see a divergence between efficiency and survival. More efficient companies are more likely to exit the market. “Incumbent firms have an advantage in terms of survival. They can survive even if they are less efficient because they already have social, institutional, governmental connections. They can get better loans more easily. They can sell to another region more easily. So all these factors can increase their chances of survival.”

Study: Higher risk of stillbirth for Ghanaian women who sleep on backs

Mary Masson — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 20:02:57 +0000

Pregnant women in Ghana who slept on their back were at an increased risk of stillbirth compared to women who did not sleep on their back, according to new research led by a University of Michigan researcher. The study found that supine sleep - or sleeping on your back - increased the risk of low birth weight by a factor of five, and that it was the low birth weight that explained the high risk for stillbirth in these women. The findings were published this month in the International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics. The senior author, Louise O’Brien, said that although the study was conducted in a maternity hospital in Ghana, which has high perinatal mortality, a recent case-control study from New Zealand also found a link between maternal supine sleep and stillbirth. [caption id="attachment_5647" align="alignleft" width="250"] A mother rests with her newborn baby in Ghana. (Photo courtesy of Jocelynn Owusu)[/caption] Stillbirth is a traumatic event that occurs in about two to five babies out of every 1,000 born in high-income countries. In low-income countries, such as those in Africa, about 20 to 50 babies out of every 1,000 are stillborn. “But if maternal sleep position does play a role in stillbirth, encouraging pregnant women everywhere not to sleep on their back is a simple approach that may improve pregnancy outcomes,” said O’Brien, an associate professor in U-M’s Sleep Disorders Center. Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest rate of stillbirth in the world, and little progress has been made in reducing those deaths. “In Ghana, inexpensive interventions are urgently needed to improve pregnancy outcomes. This is a behavior that can be modified. Encouraging women to avoid sleeping on their backs would be a low-cost method to reduce stillbirths in Ghana and other low-income countries,” O’Brien said. The study's first author, Jocelynn Owusu, of the Department of Health Behavior and Education in U-M's School of Public Health, interviewed women soon after delivery at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra Ghana. O’Brien said the possibility that supine sleep has a part in low birth weight and subsequently stillbirth is plausible because of uterine compression on the inferior vena cava, the large vein that carries blood from the lower half of the body into the heart. This results in reduced venous filling and cardiac output. “The data in this study suggests that more than one-quarter of stillbirths might be avoided by altering maternal sleep position,” O’Brien said. “This supports the need to develop simple intervention trials.” A longer version of this story is available at UofMHealth.org.

Mixed results: Fighting corruption with Web activism in China and India

William Foreman — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 19:07:13 +0000

[caption id="attachment_5620" align="aligncenter" width="566"] Chinese villagers protesting outside the Guangdong provincial government complex in Guangzhou. Some officials fear online activism increases protests and social instability. (Photo by William Foreman)[/caption] I Paid a Bribe has been a big hit in India. The website allows citizens to report bribe-giving incidents, and the information is used to make policy recommendations to fight petty corruption. Since the graft-busting site was launched in 2008, it has been replicated in at least 17 other countries, including China, where many spin-off sites were created in different parts of the nation. But the experience in China was short-lived and much different than in India. After about three months, some Chinese sites were shut down by the government, while the public lost interest in others that were co-opted by officials or morphed into private investigation businesses. Why did I Paid a Bribe flourish in India and fail in China? The issue was addressed in a March 26 talk by Yuen Yuen Ang, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Michigan. Ang noted that according to popular opinion, China’s authoritarian government could not possibly tolerate having citizens make online reports about bribery. But she said this explanation doesn’t tell the whole story because China’s government is not monolithic. It’s a huge entity with different ministries and layers of government that often have conflicting viewpoints. With I Paid a Bribe, some thought the sites were valuable sources of information. But other officials viewed them to be threats that amplified the corruption problem and undermined legitimacy. A deeper analysis of I Paid a Bribe in China and India yields other significant differences, Ang said. India’s site was managed by a reputable non-government agency, while citizens and online activists launched the sites in China. The goals in the two countries were also different. Ang explains the significance of these differences in these excerpts of her talk, sponsored by U-M’s Center for Chinese Studies and the International Institute: “What’s missing in China is not just the freedom of speech. What’s missing in China is also the absence of professionally managed NGOs to channel citizens’ input into constructive policy engagement and public education. You see that in India, but this is critically missing in China. "The other thing missing in China is that Chinese citizens as well as online social activists tend to have a narrow view of anti-corruption as exposing and arresting bad people rather than changing procedures, changing the way government works. "India’s I Paid a Bribe has a very explicit goal. It says our intent is to change the system that breeds corruption, rather than indict individuals within the system. "If you change the individuals, the threat of corruption remains. But if you change the system, you root out corruption permanently. If you go to India’s I Paid a Bribe, you see no mention of this person is bad. There is no mention of any individual. It’s very much focused on: What’s wrong with our system? What are the concrete and practical things we can do to fight corruption?”

Beyond the ‘Arab Street’: Cutting-edge public opinion surveys in the Middle East

William Foreman — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 19:56:00 +0000

The "Arab street" is a popular cliché used to describe what people are thinking in the Middle East. But it's rarely clear how opinions are collected on this proverbial street. One thing is obvious: There is serious need for a better understanding of the public's views in the Arab world as the region copes with ongoing social, economic and political challenges. The University of Michigan is making a significant contribution to meeting this need. Partnering with Qatar University, U-M has helped create an institute that is doing the most rigorous, state-of-the-art social science research in the Arab Gulf. It's also among the very best research centers of its kind in the entire Arab region. "There's no place that comes close to what we and our Qatari partners are doing," said Mark Tessler, a U-M political science professor and one of the principal investigators in the initiative. The surveys the institute conducts focus on governance, education, youth, social values, identity, health, gender relations, labor and many other important issues. The center—called the Social and Economic Survey Research Institute—started five years ago when Qatar University decided to enhance its social science research capacity and began looking for partners. U-M was sought out partly because the university is home to the Institute for Social Research—the world's largest academic social science survey and research organization. Experience in conducting public opinion surveys and training programs in the Arab world also led the Qataris to U-M. It didn't take the Qataris long to pick a partner. "We gave them a plan about what we thought they needed to do, key positions to fill, organizational structures and examples of worthwhile projects," Tessler said. "They took it to their board and came back in a few months and said they wanted to work with us." [caption id="attachment_5495" align="alignleft" width="300"] Mark Tessler (left) with SESRI director Darwish Al-Emadi.[/caption] U-M was impressed by the Qatari vision and the prospects for making a significant contribution and readily agreed to the partnership, Tessler said. Before the 1930s, Qatar was impoverished and known mostly for pearl trading. But the discovery of oil and gas has transformed the tiny Gulf state on the Arabian Peninsula into one of the richest countries in the world. And it's investing heavily in education, including women's education. "They're creating a knowledge economy," said David Howell, associate director of ISR's Center for Political Studies and also a principal investigator in the initiative. "They could sit back and just take advantage of their natural resources, but they're reinvesting it to understand their society better and make it a better place for the people who live there. I think that's impressive." Since beginning work in 2009, the institute has carried out about 30 national and regional surveys. Many focus not only on Qatari citizens but also on the country's huge expatriate community, which makes up more than 80 percent of the population. The studies have included an annual omnibus survey that tracks continuity and change over time in people's views and perceptions on key issues such as education, media habits, gender relations and the status of women. Results from the 2012 omnibus survey included: –77 percent of Qataris believe it is "important" or "very important" to live in a country that is ruled democratically. –70 percent of Qataris said television was their main source of news. –The majority of male (58 percent) and female (68 percent) respondents agreed or strongly agreed that men and women should share equal status in society. Tessler said that such surveys are vital for good governance. "It's important to know what people think and value," said Tessler, who also co-directs another multicountry survey project called the Arab Barometer and who has organized survey research training programs in six Arab countries."We believe that policymakers and officials will be more responsive if information about what the public wants and thinks is available." [caption id="attachment_5500" align="aligncenter" width="566"] A view from Doha's Islamic Museum. (Photo credit: Mark Tessler)[/caption] All of the surveys are done face to face, not by telephone, by scores of well-trained and experienced interviewers, Howell said. They use laptops programmed to collect data and send it back to researchers in real time so that the information can be monitored for quality. "One nice thing is that, unlike Americans, Qataris are not used to being surveyed all the time, so they're not oversaturated," Howell said. Last November, U-M renewed its five-year partnership agreement with Qatar University. One of the next objectives is to create a policy center at the institute that will take greater advantage of the survey data—not just for academic purposes but also to assist and better inform the country's policymakers, Tessler said. "That's important for planning, setting priorities and getting feedback on what seems to be working and not working," he said. Howell said the institute is an example of what U-M does so well around the world: capacity building—creating infrastructure that is sustainable and doesn't depend on U-M to maintain it. "This is something Michigan can pull out of at some point, and it would still be great," he said. "It would move on, survive well and be high quality."

‘Listen to me’: Creating a news network in Somaliland

William Foreman — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 19:18:51 +0000

Most people in Somaliland get their news from radio and television. But the broadcasters are concentrated in the cities, and their signals don’t reach listeners in the countryside. Mohamed Gulaid has a solution for the problem. The master’s student in the School of Information at the University of Michigan has created a news network using mobile phones and other technology that is inexpensive and available. “An individual can do a lot because of technology,” he said. “You can have a big impact on your community and surroundings.” Gulaid’s main goal is to create a news source that would enhance government transparency in Somaliland, the northern part of Somalia that declared independence in 1991. “I want to duplicate the effect of social media in the developed world, where people have access to their officials via Twitter and Facebook,” he said. He is using IVR – interactive voice response – applications that mimic Twitter. This allows people to listen to news stories on their phones and discuss public policy, peace building and other key issues in community forums. The project, called “Listen to me” or “Ila Dhageyso” in Somali, is a collaboration between U-M and Microsoft Research in India. The network has now become more than a news source. “People started discovering hidden menus within the phone and started to use the system in an entertainment way,” Gulaid said. “They recorded music, songs, jokes and stories.”