Michigan Minds

UM's Vision 2034 is the outcome of the yearlong strategic visioning process that engaged more than 25,000 students, faculty, staff, alumni, donors, and local community members. UM's vision to be the defining public university outlines four areas where the university will make dramatic and focused impact; life-changing education, human health and well-being, democracy, civic and global engagement, climate action, sustainability, and environmental justice. Provost Laurie McCauley talks about life changing education.

In January 2034, president Santa J. Ono set the university on a path to imagine what aspirations the University of Michigan could achieve in the next 10 years. UM's Vision 2034 is the outcome of the yearlong strategic visioning process that engaged more than 25,000 students, faculty, staff, alumni, donors, and local community members. UM's vision to be the defining public university outlines four areas where the university will make dramatic and focused impact; life-changing education, human health and well-being, democracy, civic and global engagement, climate action, sustainability, and environmental justice. Ono talks about democracy, civic and global engagement on this episode of the Michigan Minds podcast.

Consumers have to wrangle with a sticky issue: Much of the plastic used every day can't be recycled.And the kind of recycling that can be done is called mechanical recycling, which means that plastic that can be recycled is simply broken down to be repurposed as other plastic objects, often which are of a lower value than the original product. Eventually, objects made out of this recycled plastic, such as park benches, just end up in a landfill.But University of Michigan chemist Anne McNeil is focusing on how to recycle previously unrecyclable plastic, using chemistry to modify the plastic into a product of equally high value to the original product.

Welcome to the Michigan Minds Podcast, where we explore the wealth of knowledge from faculty experts at the University of Michigan. Do you feel like you matter?Mattering, the sense of being valued, having purpose. No matter who you are, mattering matters. It's essential to happiness and healthiness. It's not a given. It doesn't always come easily, especially for certain individuals who may be more prone to feeling purposeless; the elderly and veterans among them.I'm Kim Shine, a senior public relations specialist at Michigan News. Today we're talking to John Piette, a professor of health, behavior and health education at the University of Michigan's School of Public Health, about his research and community work focused on showing people they matter, specifically veterans.Hi John, welcome. Thank you for being with us on Michigan Minds to talk about your work with veterans and other groups who may feel as if they don't matter. Let's talk about your research and work with veterans, and your project, V-SPEAK.

Though it's only February, many of the millions of people who resolved to lose weight this year have already given up, opting instead to sit for hours of binge-worthy Netflix, or to polish off those leftover holiday cookies. That's partly because people set unrealistic goals and focus too much on the scale, says University of Michigan clinical exercise physiologist Laura Richardson. In the new Michigan Minds podcast, Richardson discusses more sustainable and healthy ways to jumpstart –– and stick to –– a fitness plan. 

The 2024 election season is underway — as more voters pay close attention to which candidates and issues best serve them. But unlike previous years, the battle for the White House will be anything but normal because democracy could be jeopardized, says University of Michigan political expert Vincent Hutchings.

What are the implications of negative peer feedback on social media posts, and how can content creators use this feedback to alter messaging? On this episode of Michigan Minds, Jessica Fong, PhD, discusses findings from a news study on the role of negative peer feedback on social media, how creators can use this information to enhance their presence on platforms, and the ways in which feedback encourages users to moderate their tone. Fong is an assistant professor at the University of Michigan Stephen M. Ross School of Business, where she researches matching markets, platform design, advertising, and behavioral economics.

Jan Van den Bulck, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Communication and Media at the University of Michigan College of Literature, Science and the Arts. His research focuses on involuntary and incidental media effects, and explores how entertainment media affect our perception of the real world. In this episode of Michigan Minds, Van den Bulck discusses how watching TV impacts our knowledge of various fields including law enforcement and emergency medicine, and talks about the relationship between media use and sleep.

Aaron Perzanowski, JD, joins Michigan Minds to talk about digital ownership, the tradeoffs that occur when purchasing digital products instead of physical, and issues that consumers should be aware of involving user constraints, permanence, and privacy. Perzanowski is the Thomas W. Lacchia Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School, and teaches and writes about the intersection of intellectual and personal property law.