{"id":33457,"date":"2022-07-05T02:42:11","date_gmt":"2022-07-05T02:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/?p=33457"},"modified":"2022-07-05T02:42:11","modified_gmt":"2022-07-05T02:42:11","slug":"lsa-research-initiative-gives-4-5-million-to-four-umich-research-projects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/2022\/07\/05\/lsa-research-initiative-gives-4-5-million-to-four-umich-research-projects\/","title":{"rendered":"LSA research initiative gives $4.5 million to four UMich research projects"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> [ad_1]<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Four faculty research projects at the University of Michigan received a combined $4.5 million investment from the University this month to pursue their research on social and environmental justice, according to a June 21 <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/lsa.umich.edu\/lsa\/news-events\/all-news\/search-news\/four-research-projects-receive-nearly--4-5-million-in-grant-fund.html#:~:text=The%20College%20of%20Literature%2C%20Science,innovative%20new%20faculty%20research%20projects.\" rel=\"noopener\">press release<\/a>. The grants are a part of LSA\u2019s <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/lsa.umich.edu\/lsa\/alumni-friends\/meet-the-moment.html\" rel=\"noopener\">Meet the Moment<\/a> initiative, which awards funding to faculty whose research addresses urgent social issues.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The projects fall into two categories: A \u201cChange the World\u201d project, which can receive up to $2 million in funding extended over a five-year period; or a \u201cVital Impact\u201d project, which can receive up to $250,000 extended over a two-year period.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Anne Thomson, director of Research and Compliance for LSA, said LSA expects to fund another round of four projects in 2024, though they have not yet officially announced a call for applications.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1    \">\n<aside id=\"newspack-ads-widget-8\" class=\"widget_newspack-ads-widget clearfix\"\/><\/aside>\n<p>Thomson said the University established this initiative as a way to direct attention and resources to research with the potential to bring about concrete change.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe in LSA are uniquely positioned to bridge some of the things that have been happening in the world and what we can do to make it a better place,\u201d Thomson said. \u201cWe have expert faculty, we have all the resources, we\u2019ve got motivated and engaged students who are willing to learn new things and be part of something bigger than just their own disciplines \u2026 These projects are about combining all of these things together and bringing about something that can actually, truly make a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Michigan Daily spoke with members of the research team for each of the selected proposals to understand their projects\u2019 goals and the implications of their research.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Confronting the carceral state: criminalization, confinement and control<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Heather Ann Thompson, Christian Davenport, Matthew Lassiter, Kentaro Toyama, Jesse Hoffnung-Garskof, Melissa Borja, Ruby Tapia and William Lopez<\/em><\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-2    \">\n<aside id=\"newspack-ads-widget-9\" class=\"widget_newspack-ads-widget clearfix\"\/><\/aside>\n<p>This \u201cChange the World\u201d project will examine historical trends and present-day conditions in the American criminal justice system, including mass incarceration, police violence, wrongful convictions, systemic racism and immigration detention. Through studying historical archives, oral histories and other first-hand accounts, researchers hope to increase awareness and transparency on contemporary issues in the U.S. carceral system.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Heather Thompson, professor of Afro-American and African studies and history, said her area of focus within the project will be the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/eji.org\/issues\/prison-conditions\/\" rel=\"noopener\">conditions of confinement<\/a> in American prisons. Thompson said she hopes the collection and dissemination of this research will spark political and civic action on the issue of mass incarceration.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDespite so much discussion about criminal justice reform, we still, sadly, have <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.brennancenter.org\/our-work\/analysis-opinion\/history-mass-incarceration\" rel=\"noopener\">barely<\/a> moved the needle on mass incarceration,\u201d Thompson said. \u201cWe still have nearly <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sentencingproject.org\/criminal-justice-facts\/#:~:text=The%20United%20States%20is%20the,explain%20most%20of%20this%20increase.\" rel=\"noopener\">2 million people<\/a> locked up in this country, and so we are hoping that by calling attention to this phenomenon, by documenting what\u2019s going on on the inside, we can get legislators to look at this situation and hopefully shine some light on the inside.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Political science professor Christian Davenport\u2019s research will focus on wrongful convictions, as well as documenting <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/californiainnocenceproject.org\/issues-we-face\/police-misconduct\/\" rel=\"noopener\">dishonest or illegal<\/a> practices by officials in the justice system. Davenport said one goal of this project is to shift focus from individual actors to larger networks of wrongdoing in American institutions, including the state.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMost of the time, we\u2019re focused on people who challenge the state,\u201d Davenport said. \u201cAnd in a sense, we\u2019ve given state actors not necessarily a pass, but we haven\u2019t looked at them with the same degree of scrutiny that we\u2019ve looked at terrorists, for example, or insurgents or rioters or rebels. And so part of it is this broader sweep to kind of turn more directly towards the state, but also a certain degree of frustration with regards to the fact that we have (state actors) that engage in illegal activities, wrongful activities, morally heinous activities, and they\u2019re allowed to get away with it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-3    \">\n<aside id=\"newspack-ads-widget-11\" class=\"widget_newspack-ads-widget clearfix\"\/><\/aside>\n<p>Through a study of media coverage, court documents and other historical archives, Davenport said the team plans to generate a record, most likely from World War II to present day, of wrongful activity on the part of the justice system. The team hopes the record will reveal connections and patterns that have previously gone unnoticed, compelling the criminal justice system to be more fair and transparent.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMany outcomes emerge,\u201d Davenport said. \u201cOne is that individuals that have been wrongfully convicted would be released. More preemptively, individuals that would potentially be treated in a wrongful manner would not be because we\u2019ve pulled the perpetrators off the street.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>History professor Matt Lassiter said his research will work to document the use of fatal force by police officers in the state of Michigan. Lassiter has previously worked on the \u201c<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/policing.umhistorylabs.lsa.umich.edu\/s\/detroitunderfire\/page\/home\" rel=\"noopener\">Detroit Under Fire<\/a>\u201d project, which examined historical archives to record and investigate instances of fatal force in Detroit. With the grant from the Meet the Moment initiative, Lassiter said he plans to expand this work into the entire state to understand historical and current patterns in police violence.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Lassiter said he hopes this research will increase visibility and transparency surrounding police violence and provide valuable context for policy reform.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur policymaking and our media discussion often lacks sufficient historical context,\u201d Lassiter said. \u201cFor example, a lot of media, a lot of understanding of police violence in the U.S., really starts in about 2001, 2002, because that\u2019s when Google News and other internet-accessible databases start. So by going back further, we\u2019re able to use the password-protected databases we have access to provide more historical context. So it\u2019s really just for journalists, for policy makers \u2014 providing information and context that\u2019s not really out there.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-4    \">\n<aside id=\"newspack-ads-widget-13\" class=\"widget_newspack-ads-widget clearfix\"\/><\/aside>\n<p>Lassiter also emphasized the unique role of undergraduates as collaborators in this research undertaking and said he believes this project will allow young people to have a direct effect on policy-making and advocacy by analyzing and disseminating critical information about the criminal justice system.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have realized that undergraduates often write a great paper in a class, and the only person who reads it is the professor or the GSI,\u201d Lassiter said. \u201cWhy can\u2019t students make a documentary film? Why can\u2019t history students do the same thing that science and engineering students do, which is do things that are going to have a public impact?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Measuring, modeling and mapping microplastics in the atmosphere of Michigan<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Anne McNeil, Andrew Ault, Ambuj Tewari, Paul Zimmerman, Allison Steiner and Mary Starr<\/em><\/p>\n<p>This \u201cChange the World\u201d project will work to measure and map the quantity of microplastics in the air in the state of Michigan. The team will combine spectroscopy and statistical modeling to identify and draw conclusions about the presence of different types of microplastics in different areas across the state.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-5    \">\n<aside id=\"newspack-ads-widget-14\" class=\"widget_newspack-ads-widget clearfix\"\/><\/aside>\n<p>Andrew Ault, associate professor of chemistry, said collecting this data will be crucial in expanding our understanding of the main sources of microplastics and the associated <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/pubs.rsc.org\/en\/content\/articlelanding\/2022\/em\/d1em00301a#:~:text=This%20is%20alarming%20due%20to,to%20accumulate%20in%20different%20organs.\" rel=\"noopener\">exposure risks<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMicroplastics are an <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/abs\/pii\/S0141113616300733#:~:text=Microplastics%20have%20thus%20passed%20from,pose%20to%20the%20marine%20ecosystem.\" rel=\"noopener\">emerging pollutant<\/a>, and you\u2019re exposed to large numbers in the environment every day, but most of the research so far has focused on drinking or eating and how that might be a way that we are exposed to microplastics,\u201d Ault said. \u201cWhat this project is going to try to understand is, how much is getting up into the air? This could be anything from tire bits getting kicked up, to microplastics coming out of the Great Lakes, all the way to things coming out of dryers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Anne McNeil, professor of chemistry and macromolecular science and engineering, explained that there are two primary methods of sampling air: active sampling, which involves collecting air through a pump, and passive sampling, which collects airborne particles on a surface to be analyzed. According to McNeil, the team opted for passive sampling to suit their goal of collaborating with local high school students and teachers.<\/p>\n<p>McNeil said they will be piloting this program in a few high schools in the coming year and providing these schools with the equipment to collect air samples, and then expanding into at least one school in every county in Michigan. According to McNeil, the pilot schools will all be located within a two-hour drive of Ann Arbor.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ll be working with a high school science teacher in every county in Michigan and their students, and so they will be part of the research study,\u201d McNeil said. \u201cOne of the things I\u2019m really in love with (about) this project is that we have the power to inform all of these people and get them really engaged. They\u2019re actual participants in our research process. They\u2019re gonna go out there and put the samplers out there, collect the samplers, send it to us, we\u2019ll analyze the data, but then we can give the data back to them, and they can play around with it.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-6    \">\n<aside id=\"newspack-ads-widget-15\" class=\"widget_newspack-ads-widget clearfix\"\/><\/aside>\n<p>Statistics professor Ambuj Tewari said the team\u2019s plan to incorporate <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sas.com\/en_us\/insights\/analytics\/machine-learning.html\" rel=\"noopener\">machine learning<\/a> into their data analysis will have far-reaching implications for the ability to measure and document microplastics in other areas.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat we want to use machine learning for is to accelerate the process of taking the sample \u2014 which probably has microplastics, but all sorts of other air pollutants will also stick onto the sample,\u201d Tewari said. \u201cIt\u2019s a very time-consuming, laborious process to take that sample and figure out what microplastics are contained in that. It\u2019s very manual right now \u2026 and if we can automate it using machine learning and algorithms, if we can make the workflow faster, that will enable microplastic research, not just here in Michigan, but throughout the globe.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>McNeil said aside from their work\u2019s impacts on public awareness and microplastics research techniques, it also has implications for environmental justice advocacy in Michigan.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe state of Michigan has a whole environmental justice <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.michigan.gov\/egle\/about\/organization\/environmental-justice\" rel=\"noopener\">public advocate office<\/a> and they\u2019ve been working on mapping air pollution metrics in the context of neighborhoods and socioeconomic status,\u201d McNeil said. \u201cSo we see our data also fitting into the state of Michigan\u2019s goals toward trying to understand your exposure levels to various pollutants, and microplastics are another pollutant that is far understudied.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Meeting the Mnomen: restoration of wild rice populations for environmental and social justice<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Selena Smith, Kerstin Barndt, Nathan Sheldon, Tony Kolenic, David Michener, Michael Kost and Roger LaBine<\/em><\/p>\n<p>This \u201cVital Impact\u201d project will work to restore the wild rice population in Willow Pond in the Matthaei Botanical Gardens. Wild rice, or <em>mnomen<\/em>, is <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/michiganflora.net\/genus.aspx?id=Zizania#:~:text=Wild%2Drice%20is%20Michigan's%20only,Peninsula%20and%20western%20Upper%20Peninsula.\" rel=\"noopener\">native<\/a> to the area and of <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.anishinaabekcaucus.org\/our-work\/manoomin\" rel=\"noopener\">cultural significance<\/a> to the Anishinaabeg, whose indigenous land is <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/lsa.umich.edu\/eeb\/about-us\/land-acknowledgement-statement---actions.html\" rel=\"noopener\">occupied<\/a> by the University.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Selena Smith, associate professor of earth and environmental sciences, said this project will take a unique approach to understanding environmental justice and conservation.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToday, we\u2019re seeing a lot of issues surrounding environmental and climate change, and these are very pressing issues, but they\u2019re also issues that <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/newsreleases\/epa-report-shows-disproportionate-impacts-climate-change-socially-vulnerable#:~:text=WASHINGTON%20(Sept.,%2C%20flooding%2C%20and%20other%20impacts.\" rel=\"noopener\">unequally impact<\/a> different kinds of people within our society and are intimately linked with issues like racism and socio-economic status and geographic areas,\u201d Smith said. \u201cOur project is looking at different approaches to these linked threats of racism and environmental justice with climate and land-use change issues. And it comes from the premise that in order to address these kinds of challenges, we need to recognize and better value different ways of knowing outside of the traditional white, Eurocentric, westernized epistemologies.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Smith said the team will begin by monitoring the water chemistry, vegetation and sediment of Willow Pond to have a baseline picture of the conditions of the location. After planting the rice, the team will monitor the growth and its impact on the pond ecosystem using the same metrics as the baseline measurement.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Nathan Sheldon, professor of earth and environmental sciences, said in addition to their focus on present-day conditions for planting wild rice, the team will also be analyzing historical patterns in the pond\u2019s chemistry.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause we\u2019re trying to look at the viability of going back to a pre-colonial potential here, we\u2019re also going to take some cores that go down through the sediments, and that\u2019ll allow us basically to go back in time as we go from the top down,\u201d Sheldon said. \u201cSo the idea will be, hopefully, that we\u2019ll be able to see not just whether the chemistry is what it needs to be today, but also what it looked like in the past, and we can figure out how things change.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Smith said this project will not only restore an important native plant but also work towards a deeper understanding of the social and cultural aspects of wild rice.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a plant that\u2019s been <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.michiganradio.org\/environment-science\/2018-08-29\/settlers-nearly-destroyed-michigans-wild-rice-beds-native-tribes-are-restoring-them\" rel=\"noopener\">severely impacted<\/a> in the Great Lakes region,\u201d Smith said. \u201cIt used to be really widespread, but industry, pollution, dams, land-use change and the removal of the Anishinaabeg from their traditional lands has resulted in a big loss \u2026 It\u2019s returning this plant to where it used to grow before these impacts, but then it\u2019s also addressing issues of food security and maintaining cultural traditions and a culturally important plant to the native people of Michigan.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Balancing water needs amidst climate change: Mono Lake as a case study for communities and watersheds in the U.S.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Naomi Levin, Benjamin Passey, Andrew Gronewold and Arya Harp<\/em><\/p>\n<p>In collaboration with the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.monolake.org\/\" rel=\"noopener\">Mono Lake Committee<\/a>, this \u201cVital Impact\u201d project aims to use Mono Lake in California to understand how to balance the needs of urban communities with ecological conservation.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Naomi Levin, associate professor of earth and environmental science, said the worsening impacts of climate change make this project\u2019s work and the communication of its results particularly urgent.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of urgency in climate change in terms of affecting many different ecosystems (and) many different ways that we interact with our earth systems,\u201d Levin said. \u201cIn Mono Lake in particular, the lake levels are dropping and staying low. They\u2019re 12 feet below what they should be. And basically, every year that we don\u2019t understand fully the lake level, and every year that we\u2019re not communicating as well as we can about the lake level to the public, there are more and more risks associated with the impacts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Levin said the team will be using a three-part approach to modeling and examining Mono Lake. According to Levin, the team will first create a new hydrological model of the lake to better understand its features and behavior. Levin said they will also be working to understand the historical trends of how the lake\u2019s levels fluctuated in the years before it was officially measured by examining isotope ratios from the lake sediment. Using the new model and extended historical record, the team hopes to create predictions of what will happen to the lake\u2019s levels in the future from the continued effects of climate change and human use.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Arya Harp, communications director for the Mono Lake Committee, said this project will be a critical step in advancing public communication and awareness about the lake.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Beginning in 1941, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (DWP) <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.monolake.org\/learn\/aboutmonolake\/savingmonolake\/#water-diversions-almost-destroyed-mono-lake\" rel=\"noopener\">began<\/a> diverting water from Mono Lake tributary systems to meet the growing water demands of Los Angeles. As a result, Mono Lake dropped by 45 vertical feet, lost half its volume and doubled in salinity over the next 40 years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe state of California had a <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.monolake.org\/learn\/aboutmonolake\/savingmonolake\/\" rel=\"noopener\">decision<\/a> to save Mono Lake about 28 years ago,\u201d Harp said. \u201cYet, the lake is still critically low, so it has not met its mandated healthy water level. And especially in a time of climate change, we need the lake to get back up to that level. People really want to make that happen. But we need more science in order to figure out exactly how we\u2019re going to be able to do that most effectively and efficiently.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>All of the selected projects plan to begin research between July 1 and September 1 of this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><em>Summer News Editor Samantha Rich can be reached at sammrich@umich.edu.<\/em><\/p>\n<aside>\t\t\t\t\t<amp-analytics class=\"i-amphtml-layout-fixed i-amphtml-layout-size-defined\" style=\"width:1px;height:1px\" i-amphtml-layout=\"fixed\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t<\/amp-analytics><\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<nav class=\"jp-relatedposts-i2\" data-layout=\"grid\">\n<h3 class=\"jp-relatedposts-headline\"><em>Related articles<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/nav><\/div>\n<p>[ad_2]<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/research\/four-umich-research-projects-receive-combined-4-5-million-from-lsa-research-initiative\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[ad_1] Four faculty research projects at the University of Michigan received a combined $4.5 million&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33458,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-learningtheory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33457"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33457\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33459,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33457\/revisions\/33459"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}