Environmental justice expert is U-M’s first U.S. Science Envoy

UM’s Board of Regents approved naming the school the Marsal Family School of Education during its meeting Thursday, Feb. 16, in recognition of a new $50-million gift that will support initiatives to prepare and support a diverse population of teachers, build partnerships with schools and communities and conduct research in collaboration with education professionals.

The David and Lucile Packard Foundation announced today the 2022 class of Packard Fellows in Science and Engineering. This year’s class features 20 innovative early-career scientists and engineers—including University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS) Assistant Professor Brian Weeks—who will each receive $875,000 over five years to pursue their research.

Misha Teplitskiy, assistant professor at the University of Michigan School of Information, was awarded a $115,655 grant from Schmidt Futures for his research project “Study of Discrimination in Science - Exploring Whether the Identities of Scientists Affect Peer Evaluations.” The award provides funding for one year. Teplitskiy’s research has frequently focused on making sure science is equitable and reproducible. For this project, Teplitski will investigate how biases show up during peer reviews and how that might affect researchers.