Experiential Learning

Career Services is trying new ways to connect with students

lblouin — Mon, 06 Jan 2025 13:55:58 +0000

Career Services is trying new ways to connect with students lblouin Mon, 01/06/2025 - 08:55

Laurel Draudt says it wasn’t that long ago that college career services offices were known for resume review services and not a whole lot else. At some institutions, this “model from the 1990s” is still the norm. But when Draudt started as ��-Dearborn’s Career Services director in 2022, she was excited to experiment with a broader vision for their five-person office. Borrowing from her background in higher education professional development, Draudt saw an opportunity to recast Career Services as something students used throughout their academic careers — not just in the final few months before graduation when the pressure of a job search suddenly becomes real. “We’re really trying to get students to think about what they can be doing now to be more competitive later,” Draudt says. “We want to be having conversations with first- and second-year students about the benefits of an on-campus job or doing research or studying abroad, because if we can reach them early enough, they actually have time to make changes and do these things.”

So far, that new approach is manifesting itself in a few different ways. Draudt says the office recently added two new career coaches to bolster the office’s core service of by-appointment and walk-in career counseling sessions. And what career coaches are focusing on in those sessions with students is expanding a lot. They still give their fair share of feedback on resumes and cover letters when that’s what students need help with. But coaches are just as likely to be talking with students about programs and careers that might match their interests, how to find a not-for-credit internship (and how to sound professional when you send your inquiries), figuring out how to talk effectively about past job experiences even if they’re unrelated to a career field, or how to develop a tailored job search strategy so they’re not simply applying to hundreds of jobs and hoping for the best.

Draudt says they’ve also been investing a lot of energy into expanding their lineup of in-person and virtual workshops. Looking to go beyond the staples, like sessions on effective job interviewing, they’ve added workshops on other equally practical topics, like understanding benefits packages (which involved a collaboration with ��-Dearborn’s Human Resources office), confident communication, and how to manage stress and anxiety during a job search. The latter two workshop ideas came from the office’s newest member — Career Coach Zainab Radi, a former career peer in the office who recently graduated from ��-Dearborn and took a staff position in the office in October 2023. Radi says being so fresh out of college and having just been through her own job search have turned out to be big assets when coming up with workshop ideas that students might actually find useful. For the confident communication session, she hit up one of her former instructors, COB Lecturer Christine Fischer, who covered everything from strategies for emailing to pitching your ideas to a supervisor to making presentations. The workshop on stress and anxiety grew directly out of conversations she was having with students. “I noticed that with the current job market, and even everything going on politically, students were experiencing a lot of uncertainty and there was a lot of stress and negative energy around that,” Radi says. “Some students who were struggling in their job searches were even having panic attacks. Not being trained in mental health or counseling, I wanted to find a way to provide meaningful support.” So she reached out to her contacts at Counseling and Psychological Services, who put together a workshop on how to manage anxiety during a job search. Radi says it was really eye opening for the attendees, many of whom had never experienced anxiety until this stage of their lives. “I remember they were really surprised by the idea of taking a walk or just getting outside and enjoying nature,” Radi says. “But that can really help you destress. You have to do other things than be on your computer all day applying for jobs, hitting refresh to check and see if you got an email back from an employer. That can just make things worse.”

Career Coach Zainab Radi, a '23 alum and the newest member of the Career Services team, has been responsible for several new workshop ideas.

Both Draudt and Radi say they’re excited to try out more new ideas in 2025, including some new workshops. Radi says a session on financial literacy and how to manage your income boost post-graduation is one topic she’s been thinking about. And Draudt says they’re going to be making more of an effort to collaborate with people and offices that are already regularly interfacing with students. “There’s so much competition for student attention these days, we think it’s a good idea to reach students where they are, because the reality is many of them still might not be thinking they need career services until it’s time for their job search.” Draudt says linking up with faculty, many of whom are already providing a lot of informal career advice, and tailoring more programs and events to specific communities, like international students, are two big priorities for the new year.

Of course, one of the biggest changes for 2025 is that Career Services will be getting a new home. Right now, the office is tucked over in Fairlane Center, but around Spring Break, the staff will be packing up and moving to their new digs on the first floor of the Renick University Center. Draudt is hopeful the convenient location at the heart of campus will help students see that Career Services is something they can be taking advantage of at any point in their college journeys.

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Want to keep an eye on upcoming Career Services workshops? Check out the office’s VictorsLink page. Story by Lou Blouin. Photos by Annie Barker.

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Mon, 01/06/2025 - 13:45

New workshops on topics like managing anxiety during a job search, understanding benefits packages and confident speaking are part of an effort to impact students long before their senior-year job searches.

The Career Services team, from left: Career Coach and Professional Development Manager Devin Johannis, Assistant Director Mai Qazzaz, Career Coach Zainab Radi, Director Laurel Draudt and Senior Professional Development Program Jennifer Macleod.

Everything you need to know about ��-Dearborn’s comprehensive campaign

lblouin — Wed, 11 Dec 2024 13:24:31 +0000

Everything you need to know about ��-Dearborn’s comprehensive campaign lblouin Wed, 12/11/2024 - 08:24

You’re probably starting to hear more about the University of Michigan’s Look to Michigan fundraising campaign, which is a coordinated effort across all three campuses and kicked off its public phase in late October. But this latest comprehensive campaign has actually been going on for about three years, says ��-Dearborn Vice Chancellor for Institutional Advancement Casandra Ulbrich. That’s typical of big fundraising pushes, which try to raise about a third to a half of their total fundraising goal from big donors in a “quiet” or “private” phase before courting a larger base of small-dollar donors in a “public” phase. Ulbrich says campaigns are organized this way for a couple of reasons. First, a private phase is a great test of whether your message is going to resonate with people. “The majority of your giving is coming from a small percentage of people. And you’re not going to be successful unless they’re on board with your vision,” she says. Second, demonstrating that your cause already has momentum can help make public-phase donors feel more confident about supporting your cause.

This campaign differs from ��-Dearborn’s last big push — fundraising for the Engineering Lab Building — in that it’s what development staff call a comprehensive rather than a capital campaign. Ulbrich says university capital campaigns typically raise money for something very specific, often a building. Comprehensive campaigns target donors who feel passionately about a wide range of causes, and priorities typically include specific programs and scholarships, though it might also include buildings. In some ways, this makes it much easier to fundraise. “With a comprehensive campaign, we have priorities that give us guideposts, but if a donor comes to us with something they’re passionate about that falls out of the official case for support, we can likely find something within the university that they can support. So we’re not pigeonholed for what we’re raising money for," Ulbrich says.

For the Look to Michigan campaign, ��-Dearborn’s general guideposts are fourfold: student experience and success, faculty and staff excellence, holistic excellence and economic sustainability. And within that structure, Ulbrich says a few priorities seem to be especially resonating with donors. First, people are really getting behind the university’s prioritizing of need-based financial aid. The free-tuition Go Blue Guarantee is the flagship program in that area, but under the university’s new financial aid scheme, families who don’t meet the GBG’s income requirements are still often eligible for some need-based aid. Second, Ulbrich says donors are excited about the university’s practice-based learning initiative. “As soon as you talk to them about the theoretical versus the hands-on, that makes total sense to them,” she says. “And here at ��-Dearborn, that includes things like internships, study abroad, experiential learning — so there are a wide array of things donors can support.” Ulbrich says they even played up the practice-based learning theme with a soft launch gift that was mailed to recent donors and prospects. The custom Block M Lego set with a Dearborn base came unassembled so supporters could get a little taste of the hands-on ethos at ��-Dearborn.

Compared to past fundraising efforts, Ulbrich says the current campaign is leaning more heavily on the support of standout alumni like Anthony Williams (left), pictured here at the Look to Michigan campaign launch event in October with College of Business Dean Frédéric Brunel. The '03 COB alum and CEO of Corktown Health is making a difference in Detroit and beyond as he works to provide comprehensive and affirming health care to the LGTBQ+ community. Williams was also recently appointed by Governor Whitmer to the state's first LGBTQ+ Commission. Photo by Carolyn Noble

So who exactly is our donor base this time around? Ulbrich says this campaign is a little different in that we’re relying most heavily on alumni support. “This has changed a lot at Dearborn over the years,” she says. “Our fundraising used to be more heavily skewed toward corporations and foundations. But a lot of corporations have cut back on giving, and foundation money has become much more competitive. Now, the majority of our fundraising comes from individuals, the vast majority of whom are alumni of the institution. Larger gifts also tend to be alums.” She says most large donations come in the form of planned gifts, where donors pledge to give a certain amount of their wealth after their deaths. “This is an attractive option for a lot of people because it allows them to support something they believe in and be recognized for it without having to reorient their finances while they're alive,” she says. Ublrich also expects this fundraising campaign could have a different shape than the typical donor pyramid: The rule of thumb is that 80% of your fundraising comes from 20% of donors. But with a little more grassroots support from smaller donors, Ulbrich says the donor pyramid “might start to look a little more like a rectangle.” So far, Ulbrich says we’ve raised about $26 million, which puts us “ahead of where we’ve been in past campaigns.”

With the public phase in full swing, the development team will continue to seek out big-dollar donations, but a lot of energy will now turn to social media, newsletters and direct mail efforts that court small-dollar donors in the wider ��-Dearborn-connected community, especially alumni. Another big thing to look forward to: On May 1, the university is hosting a gala at the newly renovated Michigan Central Station. “We decided on a soft launch for the public phase for a couple reasons. We didn’t want to compete with the 50 events happening in Ann Arbor. But we also wanted to have an event at a location that was significant historically for us, and with our connection to Ford, we had our heart set on Central Station. With the renovation, they simply weren’t ready for us,” Ulbrich says. Details for that event are still forthcoming, but Ulbrich says they’re planning to have a discounted faculty-staff ticket price.

In fact, though alums make up the lion’s share of the donor base, Ulbrich doesn’t want faculty and staff to overlook their role in supporting the campaign. One of her talking points with bigger donors is that a large number of people who work at ��-Dearborn also choose to give. “Faculty and staff giving is hugely symbolic, because it’s a show of faith in the institution,” she says. “I give to the Go Blue Guarantee. And so I can say that to a donor and explain why it's important to me to give. To show a donor that the people who know the institution best are willing to support it with their own dollars — that can be very persuasive.”

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Ready to make a gift? Find a cause you're passionate about and donate now. Story by Lou Blouin

Accessibility or Affordability

Experiential Learning

University-wide

Alumni Engagement

Institutional Advancement

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Wed, 12/11/2024 - 13:24

It’s beginning to look a lot like . . . fundraising season. We answer your top questions about the university’s Look to Michigan campaign, which recently entered its public phase.

So far, ��-Dearborn has raised about $26 million during its Look to Michigan fundraising campaign.

The (solar) power of teamwork

lblouin — Wed, 13 Nov 2024 14:46:29 +0000

The (solar) power of teamwork lblouin Wed, 11/13/2024 - 09:46

Sustainable energy is a growing field, with opportunities for students working toward a number of different majors, especially in engineering. But when two students saw a need for more ways to develop hands-on experience on the University of Michigan-Dearborn campus, they took the lead to launch a collaboration with a national organization providing just that.

Christian Cannon and Alexis Thompson not only brought GRID Alternatives to ��-Dearborn but — as co-presidents of the university's student chapter — united the group with the Ann Arbor campus to provide meaningful experiences installing solar energy systems in San Diego County, Los Angeles and even Nepal. Cannon — a 2024 environmental science graduate — now works as a clean energy business development intern at Walker-Miller Energy Services in Detroit. Thompson has been working as a consultant for sustainability projects while completing her degree in mathematics, with a certificate in geographic information systems.

Cannon and Thompson began exploring a partnership with GRID Alternatives, the largest nonprofit solar installer in the United States, out of a shared interest in gaining hands-on experience in the clean energy field. While attending the Solar Power International conference in Las Vegas in 2017, they met Tim Sears and Erica Mackie, the co-founders of GRID Alternatives, who helped connect Cannon and Thompson with the then-leaders of their affiliated student group chapter — GRID Alternatives Students for Sustainable Energy — on the ��-Ann Arbor campus. Soon after that meeting, Cannon and Thompson became the co-presidents of a newly united U-M chapter under the guidance of faculty advisor Tony Reames, an associate professor in U-M’s School of Environment and Sustainability, and Eva Gogola, ��-Dearborn’s director of annual giving and advancement services.

Students participating in GRID take part in an immersive service-learning opportunity called Solar Spring Break, providing students with hands-on experience at GRID locations in different regions throughout the country and abroad. The students also volunteer to install solar panels in low-income neighborhoods. "This work represents an invaluable opportunity for students to gain real-world experience in the clean energy industry," Cannon says.

One challenge student-run organizations face, however, is funding. Like GRID-affiliated chapters across the U.S., the U-M chapter had to raise money for the solar installation equipment, travel and other expenses. Thompson stressed the need for equity in these efforts, pushing back against the trend that the students who are able to participate in such opportunities are only those who can personally afford to do so. "One of the things we wanted, which has not always been the case with other GRID campus groups, was to send people to work in these communities who look like those communities," Thompson says.

Cannon and Thompson worked closely with Mariah Fiumara, director of U-M’s Engineering Center for Student Organizations, to raise funds through competitive grants, business sponsorships and local fundraising efforts, while Ann Arbor GRID member Camille Burke, a 2020 grad, rallied support from other student-run organizations. The group raised more than $100,000, which supported a dedicated team of 100 students from both campuses. "I want to stress that this is something students can do, that it is possible," Thompson says. "We want this work to continue for ��-Dearborn and Ann Arbor students."

The group took part in three Solar Spring Breaks, the first installing solar energy systems on the La Jolla Indian Reservation near San Diego, the second installing in residential homes in Los Angeles and the most recent on the Kumal Tower in Nepal's Chitwan National Park. Together, these initiatives represent more than 40 kW of solar capacity — an amount that can typically supply electricity to about 10 average U.S. homes while offsetting 40 tons of carbon dioxide.

Camille Burke, Christian Cannon and Alexis Thompson (top row, second, third and fourth from left) with fellow GRID members on the Kumal Tower.

"Our campus was the first university to conduct an international trip through GRID Alternatives’ Solar Spring Break program," Cannon says of the group's work in Nepal. The idea for an international installation took root with the group's first experience on the La Jolla Reservation, where the proximity to Tijuana, Mexico, inspired the team to provide sustainable energy to lower-income areas beyond U.S. borders. While the logistics were unfavorable for a Solar Spring Break in Mexico, the students found an ideal opportunity to do meaningful work rehabilitating Nepal’s Kumal Tower, a disused watchtower that previously did not have a functioning power supply, converting it into a fully functional wildlife observation center.

Members of GRID Alternatives Students for Sustainable Energy found their experiences installing solar energy systems meaningful on both professional and personal levels. “Working with GRID Alternatives taught me how my engineering skills could make sustainable energy accessible to those who need it most," says Yesha Lester, a 2019 ��-Ann Arbor grad. "I gained hands-on experience with solar technology and saw the power of community-focused projects. Knowing our work would lower a family’s bills made the project rewarding and showed me that engineering is about improving lives, not just solving technical problems.”

While GRID has not been active at ��-Dearborn since 2022 because Solar Spring Break programs were paused for the pandemic, Cannon has been speaking with other sustainability groups on campus about adopting solar work and leading more sustainability-focused international projects in the future. He says the rewards for interested students are well worth the effort: "Working with GRID Alternatives has deepened my academic learning and shaped me into a leader within the clean energy industry.”

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Story by Shaun Manning. Photos courtesy of Christian Cannon.

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Wed, 11/13/2024 - 14:43

Alum Christian Cannon and student Alexis Thompson led GRID Alternatives Students for Sustainable Energy, an inter-campus student group providing hands-on experience in renewable energy.

Christian Cannon, left, helps install solar panels on the roof of the Kumal Tower, a disused watchtower in Nepal.

Dearborn Wolverines gain real-world experience through internships

kbourlie — Thu, 17 Oct 2024 16:35:56 +0000

Dearborn Wolverines gain real-world experience through internships kbourlie Thu, 10/17/2024 - 12:35

For students getting ready to enter the workforce, internships offer valuable opportunities to build skill sets and resumes, while also testing out knowledge learned in the classroom in the real world. Reporter recently talked to four students who dedicated part of this past summer to an internship to learn more about their experiences.

Caroline Tepper, College of Business

Business major Caroline Tepper plans to graduate this December and already has a job lined up with Ford Motor Company, thanks in large part to a purchasing and supply chain internship she completed this summer.

“I'm lucky and grateful that I've been extended an offer to actually join Ford Motor Company starting in January. It's really exciting to come back after my internship,” Tepper says. “I'll be a Supply Chain Ford College Graduate in purchasing, and that entails a three-year rotational program. You move through two or three different rotations to help new hires gain experience in the field.”

Tepper says her summer experience gave her a chance to put skills she learned to the test.

“I actually utilized pretty strong data analytical skills throughout learning how to navigate several of Ford's data risk tools that they use in order to monitor risks throughout the entire world,” says Tepper.

For other students preparing to enter the workforce with their first internship, Tepper reminds them, “You have to think of it like a foot in the door to a company potentially extending you a full time position. It’s almost like a longer interview.”

“Try your best, ask questions,” Temper advises. And remember: “We have fresh and diverse perspectives, and what we can bring to a company from our college experience, I think, it’s really valuable.”

Christina Townsend, College of Arts, Sciences and Letters

��-Dearborn senior Christina Townsend found her perfect internship match this summer working in social media and public relations for the Friends for Animals of Metro Detroit animal shelter. The journalism and screen studies major – who is also minoring in marketing – needed to complete an internship to fulfill her degree requirements. For the animal lover, being able to use her videography skills while building her marketing skills was an ideal fit.

“I'm a big cat and dog lover. For the dogs, I joined them on walks around the site and I took pictures with them. With the cats, I visit them in their cat condos and make videos with them or put them in a greeting room and make a more interactive video with some toys. But I also enjoy the people. There's a lot of good people here,” says Townsend.

One of those people was her supervisor, Manager of Development and Community Relations Maria Nardecchia, who Townsend says “took her under her wing” and went above and beyond to make sure she got the experience and knowledge she needed out of the internship. “I left the internship more confident in my ability to market and showcase my skills,” says Townsend.

Logan Kilby, College of Engineering and Computer Science

Mechanical engineering senior Logan Kilby spent summer 2024 continuing to gain hands-on experience through his product engineering co-op with American Axle and Manufacturing. The mechanical engineering student has worked in driveline systems for the company over the last three years, largely focusing on component engineering. While the co-op has given Kilby the real world experience he needs to succeed as an engineer, it’s also given him an opportunity to make industry connections both within his company and with original equipment manufacturers such as GM.

As he looks toward graduating this December, he’s confident in the knowledge and skills he’s built. “I've really gone from not knowing anything to having all kinds of skills under my belt. And I feel confident that I can do the job of any full-time engineer,” says Kilby. “Most of the tools I would use as an engineer, I already have about three years’ experience with.”

This October, Kilby accepted a full time position as a mechatronic engineer with AAM.

Maya Abdallah, College of Education, Health and Human Services

Maya Abdallah

During her final semester at ��-Dearborn, Maya Abdallah completed a summer internship at United Outstanding Physicians with their data entry department. While the internship was not required for her major, Abdallah wanted to get insight into the business and insurance side of healthcare since the next step in her career path is applying for medical school. During her internship, Abdallah was able to learn more about how medical insurance works and the collaboration that happens behind the scenes between physicians and insurance providers to make sure the needs of patients are met. She says one of the best aspects of her internship was the people she worked with. “They were very welcoming and very nice, and they really wanted to make sure that I had a good experience there. They really made sure that I was learning.”

While Abdallah is now looking at applying to medical school, she’s glad to have had this experience early on in her academic career so she can put that knowledge into practice and knows what to expect later on.

“It's a very niche and specific part of the medical field that you wouldn't really see even as a physician,” says Abdallah. “I definitely will be using it in my future career.”

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Interested in learning more about completing an internship as part of your academic journey? College of Arts, Sciences and Letters students can contact the CASL Internship Office. College of Engineering and Computer Science students can contact CECS Experiential Education. College of Business Students can contact the COB Business Career Center. College of Education, Health and Human Services students can contact CEHHS Field Placement.

Story by Kathryn Bourlier. Photos by Julianne Lindsey and Julie Howells.

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Experiential Learning

Student Success

College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters

College of Business

College of Education, Health, and Human Services

College of Engineering and Computer Science

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Mon, 10/21/2024 - 16:17

Hear from students across ��-Dearborn’s four colleges who furthered their career goals over the summer.

Caroline Tepper outside of the Ford Motor Company World Headquarters in Dearborn where she completed in internship over the summer. Photo by Julianne Lindsey

Caroline Tepper outside the Ford Motor Company World Headquarters in Dearborn, where she completed an internship over the summer.

A ‘SURE’ benefit: Students gain research skills to open doors for careers, grad school

stuxbury — Mon, 23 Sep 2024 15:51:25 +0000

A ‘SURE’ benefit: Students gain research skills to open doors for careers, grad school stuxbury Mon, 09/23/2024 - 11:51

��-Dearborn prides itself on project-based learning, faculty mentorship and research opportunities for undergraduate students. The university’s SURE — Summer Undergraduate Research Experience — program combines all of these to give students an advantage when it comes to resume building or grad school applications.

“The magical thing about the SURE program is an ability to see and explore what you are interested in — and you get paid to do this work so you are able to put in the energy, time and effort,” says College of Arts, Sciences & Letters senior Anna Lariviere.

The SURE program pairs faculty mentors and undergraduate students for an 8-12 week summer session where student researchers conduct hands-on research, attend professional development sessions and participate in social outings. They receive a stipend for their work. .

SURE project participation increased 48% this year and provided opportunities for 49 students, who worked in areas ranging from medical research to social justice. See the complete list.

Here’s what two students gained from this year’s experience. Additional SURE projects were featured in last week’s Reporter.

Brendan McCloskey with faculty advisors Associate Professor Maggie Yi Guo and Professor Young Ro
Project. User assessment of security threats

Before company data breaches seemed like a regular thing, there was the shock of the 2013 Target data breach. Cybercriminals stole 40 million credit and debit records and 70 million customer records. Management Information Systems Associate Professor Maggie Guo, a technologist, and Operations Management Professor Young Ro, a behaviorist, researched the event at length at the time. “The breach happened because someone did not update their software,” says Guo, noting there wasn’t much other research on the topic. “So what can leaders do to best motivate people to update their software?”

After taking a hiatus from that particular research project due to the pandemic and competing priorities, the two faculty members resumed the work after learning that 2023 had the highest number of data breaches on record. According to the Identity Theft Resource Center 2023 Data Breach Report, 2023 saw a 72% increase in data breaches since 2021, which held the previous all-time record.

Enter Brendan McCloskey, a College of Business junior majoring in information management systems who often sits at the front of the class. McCloskey learned about the research work from Guo, who taught his IT-related business classes.

McCloskey spent his summer working with Guo and Ro to develop and pilot test a Qualtrics survey that explores what conditions need to exist for a person to update their computer software to protect data from a breach. This motivational understanding can help CIOs and other business leaders work to develop resources, like training videos, that play to the psyche of the computer user. McCloskey, who enjoys the technological side of business, says he’s never done research before and he wanted to get experience in database and cybersecurity work. “I now have experience in different sectors of business systems, which opens more doors for me,” McCloskey says. “I also learned how to take in and analyze relevant information fairly quickly through the literature reviews and analysis I did over the summer. That’s a skill that will help me in the future too.”

McCloskey helped the two professors conduct their first test study. Together, they learned that motivating factors include physical proximity and perceived potential loss. McCloskey also helped contribute to the publication of an abstract about these results, which was recently accepted as a topic of presentation at the 2024 Decision Sciences Institute’s Annual Conference in November. They are currently seeking funding so McCloskey can attend the conference and present this work.

McCloskey says the SURE program not only provided additional opportunities for him, it also made him more comfortable reaching out to his professors and feeling more connected to campus. “I’m an introvert — surprise, an introvert who likes IT— and I don’t like to put myself out there. But I did and it was a very good experience for me. I am glad Dr. Guo asked me to work with her,” he says. “I learned new software, saw the level of detail that goes into research and met new people. I also am more confident in my abilities.”

Anna Lariviere with faculty advisor Associate Professor Harmony Reppond
Project. Bait and switch of the American dream: Persuasion tactics of MLMs

Avon is calling — as is Tupperware, Amway, Scentsy and other multi-level marketing businesses. But are they selling a realistic picture of the success someone can achieve through what they offer? And what tactics do MLMs use when trying to sell the American dream?

Senior Anna Lariviere, who is majoring in psychology, wrote a persuasive paper on the 2021 Netflix documentary series “LuLaRich” for a composition course during her freshman year. What the CASL student didn’t know at the time was that, across the CASL Building, Psychology Associate Professor Harmony Reppond was beginning her own exploration into the topic.

Fast forward three years: After taking Reppond’s social psychology course, Lariviere learned that her professor conducted 51 interviews with people involved in MLMs. In those candid interviews, interviewees — many of whom were college educated — said they didn’t learn about MLMs in college and were not prepared for the outcomes they experienced. Reppond wanted to provide psychologically relevant information for MLM information seekers based on the data she’s gathered like recruitment and sales tactics.

Lariviere, who plans to attend graduate school for clinical psychology and wants to work in healthcare, wanted to get involved with research but wasn’t sure if she’d be able to get that type of experience as an undergraduate. She says Reppond’s project gave her the opportunity she sought. “This gave me a chance to build skills and see how all the psychology classes I’ve taken come together. I’ve learned how to do this work in silos — like one class may focus on a certain aspect of psychology research — but this helped me apply it in one project,” she says.

Throughout the summer, Lariviere read through interview transcripts to look for emerging themes. “Even though the interviewees were from several different MLMs, they had common experiences. We figured out the factors at play between the people,” Lariviere says. Themes that emerged included high-control groupthink (pressure or a desire to conform) and social proof (where someone is influenced by the actions of others). Based on the themes, Reppond developed a persuasion tactics code book and she and Lariviere are working on a publication.

Lariviere says the experience confirmed her love of her chosen career field and will help her stand out when it comes to applying for graduate school. And Reppond says Lariviere is an excellent student and researcher whose work will help the public better understand MLM tactics.

“This is not saying something is good or bad. It’s about showing the system at play and how persuasion impacts people. We see it as an awareness piece,” Reppond says. “We want to give people researched information so they can make better educated decisions for themselves.”

Story by Sarah Tuxbury

Experiential Learning

Research

Student Success

Undergraduate Research

College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters

College of Business

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Mon, 09/23/2024 - 15:50

Nearly 50 students from all four colleges took part in the 2024 Summer Undergraduate Research Experience. Hear from two of them.

COB Professor Maggie Yi Guo and junior Brendan McCloskey did research on data security breaches. Photos by Annie Barker

‘You see how integrated we are globally’

stuxbury — Mon, 16 Sep 2024 13:09:44 +0000

‘You see how integrated we are globally’ stuxbury Mon, 09/16/2024 - 09:09

��-Dearborn students who study abroad have unique reasons for choosing their destination country and different goals for their experiences. Some students may feel financial or other obstacles to working toward their degree in another country — but among this year's nearly 70 students who traveled through ��-Dearborn’s Study Abroad experiences, many were able to access financial aid and other resources that allowed them to fulfill their goals.

Want to learn more about upcoming Study Abroad opportunities and financial support to attend the programs? Visit the Study Abroad website or reach out to Global Engagement Director Scott Riggs.

Students proudly hold up a ��-Dearborn flag while exploring Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico

Christian Cannon graduated from ��-Dearborn in spring 2024 with a BS in environmental science and a minor in business management. He’s currently working as a clean energy business development intern at Walker-Miller Energy Services, one of the largest Black, woman-owned energy firms in the United States. Before he started his position, he traveled to Puerto Rico, thanks to financial support from the Go-Global Guarantee program.

"I've actually been aware of the study abroad program for a while, but I didn't have the financial ability to do it in the past," Cannon says. As a rising senior, Cannon reached out to Geology Professor Jacob Napieralski to inquire about an upcoming environmental field course to Puerto Rico and what it would take for him to attend it. “I was able to afford the cost of the trip thanks to the generous Go-Global Scholarship," Cannon says.

Cannon says he enjoys traveling with his wife, and has previously spent time in Mexico, Jamaica, Belize. He’s also and has conducted solar installation projects in Nepal when he served as co-president of U-M’s GRID Alternatives Students for Sustainable Energy.

During his nine days in Puerto Rico, Cannon and his team joined University of Puerto Rico Physical Science and Geology Professor Pablo Llerandi-Roman and his team of researchers in the field, learning about rare wildlife like fluorescent insects and Puerto Rico’s national animal, the Coqui frog. They also had the opportunity to visit Sandra Farms, one of the largest family-owned sustainable coffee farms in the country. "They gave us a VIP experience from start to finish," Cannon says, which included tasting several varieties of the Adjuntas-grown hand-picked coffee with the owners of the estate. Adjuntas is a small mountainside town in the territory.

His field experience in Puerto Rico also emphasized for Cannon the ways that habitats are affected and endangered by climate change. "I think that anybody that travels internationally, you see how integrated we are globally," Cannon says. "The one thing I noticed as a common issue is that the natural environment and landscape in these areas are increasingly being destroyed by human activities like pollution, deforestation and other consequences accumulating to higher levels of global warming. Reducing our carbon footprint and addressing the causes of climate change is a global concern that demands a unified effort, with proactive solutions from every individual.”

Throughout his study abroad experience, Cannon packed a lot into his nine days on the islands. "Our environmental field course in Puerto Rico focused on observing the overall regional geology, studying the ecology of subtropical environments, conducting coral reef health assessments, and identifying environmental hazards," he says. Cannon and other students in his cohort served as scientific researchers, engaging in everything from "climbing the mountains in the El Yunque National Rainforest to swimming with endangered species like sea turtles in the ocean."

Cannon plans to build on his experience in Puerto Rico as he begins his career as an environmental scientist in the clean energy industry. He also hopes to collaborate with ��-Dearborn's Natural Sciences Department to develop a similar study abroad fieldwork course in Belize.

"Belize is home to the world’s largest living coral reef system, which serves as a vital model of sustainability and conservation," Cannon says. "The country’s efforts in preserving this natural wonder highlight how strategic environmental management can protect biodiversity while supporting local economies and combating climate change."

Dan Kimura explored Italy during his summer study abroad experience.

Padua, Italy

This summer's journey to Padua, Italy, was not marketing major Dan Kimura's first study abroad experience — he comes to ��-Dearborn from Brazil. "In the beginning, I thought that it would not be possible for me to study abroad while I'm studying abroad," he says. "But doing some research, I realized that it was plausible and it was attainable."

Kimura says he chose Italy for his study abroad program — the International Summer Program in Management — in part because it offered an organizational behavior class, which he had wanted to take to fulfill degree requirements. "It worked perfectly in my schedule," he says. "The class was really dynamic, it was almost like a psychology class." Kimura and other students, led by College of Business faculty Diana Smrt, studied at the University of Padua.

More significant to his choice of locale, Kimura visited Italy as a young child and wanted to spend more time with the culture. "I remember going to Rome and to other famous places, but not deeply going inside the culture and the way people think there," he says. "This program was a good experience for me to get to know the country, truly."

Along these lines, Kimura says he was striving for "the most local experience possible."

"I played soccer once with some of my friends there. I tried to eat somewhere different every day and go to really traditional places and not only the touristic things," he says. "I think the lifestyle that I had in Italy was really valuable for me, even more than the class itself and the knowledge that I got from the class."

Perhaps unsurprisingly, then, one of Kimura's favorite aspects of the study abroad program was the people he met in his journey.

"I made really good friends there," he says. He described the European students he met as "eager to know different cultures" and having "a curiosity to do different things," which understandably resonated with the well-traveled ��-Dearborn senior.

Last week, Reporter featured seniors Hope Pacheco and Vincent Intrieri, who shared their own experiences traveling to Poland and Canada.

Students took classes at the University of Padua while on COB's International Summer Program in Management.

Story by Shaun Manning

Experiential Learning

International

College of Business

Off

Mon, 09/16/2024 - 13:08

Senior Dan Kimura and ’24 grad Christian Cannon crafted unique and meaningful experiences for their study abroad journeys.

Christian Cannon visited Puerto Rico on a summer Study Abroad trip. Photo courtesy of Christian Cannon

"An experience that I'll never forget'

stuxbury — Wed, 11 Sep 2024 19:59:32 +0000

"An experience that I'll never forget' stuxbury Wed, 09/11/2024 - 15:59

��-Dearborn students get a world-class education that, for many, is close to home. But for those who want to realize their academic goals farther away, the university has options for that too. This year, nearly 70 students traveled through ��-Dearborn’s Study Abroad experiences. They were supported by $110,000 awarded in scholarships and financial aid.

Gaining vital life experiences and learning to navigate the world — in addition to fulfilling graduation requirements — Dearborn Wolverines traveled to Italy, Poland, Puerto Rico and Canada this summer. This article focuses on two of those experiences; two more will be shared in Tuesday’s Reporter.

Want to learn more about upcoming Study Abroad opportunities and financial support to attend the programs? Visit the Study Abroad website or reach out to Global Engagement Director Scott Riggs.

Students in front of the Polish Wall of Solidarity

Gdańsk, Poland

Senior Hope Pacheco, a history major in the Honors Program, had never left the U.S. before. Now she has a new sense of independence and cultural appreciation after traveling to Gdańsk, Poland as part of Dearborn Discovery Core study abroad.

"I got my passport for this trip. I gained confidence in myself," says Pacheco, who adds that the ��-Dearborn faculty advisors on the trip helped support and prepare her for her adventure. "I was truly, for once, just relying on myself and having to get through everything while we were there."

Pacheco wanted to study in Gdańsk in part because of its role in the earliest days of World War II. While she does not have a military background herself, Pacheco wants to teach military history and was curious about how people outside of the United States view the world wars. "Learning World War II history from Poland's perspective and the Polish people's perspective added a lot for me," she says, noting that her education so far has focused almost entirely on the U.S. perspective. “Most Polish people don’t talk about the Second World War on a normal basis, but a realization for me was that they took great care to honor the city again to reconstruct everything to look the way it did before the war. With reconstructing the city to its original form it is able to show people how strong of a country Poland is to come back from being part of the war since the beginning."

Pacheco took three classes at the University of Gdańsk during her two months there. She learned about the engineering principles of human-centered design, as well as significant moments in Polish history including the Solidarity movement of the 1980s. Her favorite was a history course about the city of Gdańsk, which was founded in the 10th century. She learned how it was designed and about the reconstruction efforts due to the world wars and other conflicts in the area.

While in Poland, she saw the 13th-century Malbork Castle, which was damaged during World War II and has since been restored. She walked the grounds of Krakow, Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps. And she visited several museums, including the Main Town Hall Museum and Uphagen's House, a reconstruction of a house from the 18th century. During her free time, Pacheco and her roommates took a train to visit Norway. "We were able to walk around the city of Bergen and compare it to the city of Gdańsk," she says. "We were also able to swim in the North Sea with jellyfish and go hiking."

“There was so much to learn,” she says. “It was an experience I’ll never forget.”

Student Vincent Intrieri and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Ottawa, Canada

Vincent Intrieri has traveled the world through his 13-year career in the U.S. Navy. He’s made a lot of friends, visited several countries and seen the importance of cultural awareness and diplomacy. Intrieri, who’s majoring in international studies, started at ��-Dearborn in 2022 with the goal of becoming a diplomat.

Even with all his travel experiences, what Intrieri hadn’t been able to do is see the inner workings of an international government. The senior was intrigued by ��-Dearborn’s Ottawa Political Internship Program, a five-week study abroad experience where students work as legislative staffers in the Canadian Parliament. Run for 40-plus years, it’s the oldest American internship program operating in Canada.

Intrieri saw the study abroad program as an opportunity to expand upon his experience in the Navy and learn more about the United States’ neighbor to the north. Intrieri worked in the Canadian Parliament's House of Commons. Working for legislative assistant Simon Wood, Intrieri helped review legislation and policies and write policy analyses for Member of Parliament Marcus Powlowski. Intrieri says his favorite part of the study abroad experience was the daily interactions with staff in Powlowski's office. "I really enjoyed the frank conversations about geopolitics or happenings going on within the Canadian government, the American government and the world," Intieri says. Another highlight was experiencing the history of Parliament Hill, the home to Canada’s federal government. "One thing that really stands out to me about that trip is understanding the sacrifices that Canadians have made for democracy," Intrieri says, citing Canadian efforts to secure Berlin during World War II by conducting successful missions north of the city. "That will resonate with me, how many sacrifices the Canadian people have made for democracy and freedom and oftentimes, have never even been thanked."

Outside of his workdays, Intrieri also enjoyed visiting the Canadian War Museum and the Canadian Museum of History, and having dinner with other members of the Ottawa study abroad class, with the restaurant Joey Rideau being a highlight. "I enjoyed the eclectic menu there," he says. "My personal favorite was the sushi. It was very fresh. Also, the Mediterranean Bowl consists of harissa chicken, chickpeas, artichokes, roasted peppers, Kalamata olives, gem tomatoes, jasmine rice, hummus and tzatziki. I especially enjoyed the shawarma in Ottawa; it was easily accessible and delicious."

Intrieri says he can see himself living in Ottawa one day and encourages interested students to consider studying abroad. "It was more than just a great experience, it was transformative,” he says. “I made friendships that will last a lifetime."

Story by Shaun Manning

Experiential Learning

International

Student Engagement

Off

Wed, 09/11/2024 - 19:58

Seniors Hope Pacheco and Vincent Intrieri took part in ��-Dearborn study abroad programs and shared what it was like spending their summer living and studying in different countries.

CASL student Hope Pacheco, far left, is pictured in Poland with History Professor Anna Müller, CECS student Solomiya Pylypiv and History Associate Professor Kristin Poling. Photo courtesy Kristin Poling

Undergrad students develop an improved sleep apnea mask

lblouin — Mon, 12 Aug 2024 14:01:44 +0000

Undergrad students develop an improved sleep apnea mask lblouin Mon, 08/12/2024 - 10:01

An estimated 930 million people worldwide struggle with sleep apnea, but two of them in particular played an inspirational role in a group of ��-Dearborn students' recent senior design project. Engineering undergrads Saja Samra’s and Maggie Bustamante’s dads both live with the condition, which causes people to stop and start breathing, sometimes hundreds of times, during their sleep cycle. To treat their condition, their dads both use a CPAP machine, which utilizes a face mask to keep airways open during sleep. The devices can help people get much better — and safer — rest, but the technology isn’t without problems. “Both our dads had similar issues — things like air leakage and discomfort, and that it was too bulky,” Samra says. “Portability was a big issue for my dad,” Bustamante says. “Whenever he would go camping or go on a trip for work, a lot of times he would choose not to bring it, and then he wouldn’t sleep nearly as well.”

This feedback prompted Samra and Bustamante to take a pitch to their senior design teammates: What if we designed a better CPAP mask? Both Ammel Mutahr and Sajida Tohfe liked the idea, so they started digging into what exactly that would involve. All four students majored in Human-Centered Engineering Design, a relatively new program at ��-Dearborn that emphasizes human needs and blends traditional engineering with skills borrowed from art, anthropology, psychology and sociology. So they quickly deployed the strategies they learned over their previous three years in their program. In typical HCED fashion, they started by talking with potential users, surveying more than a dozen people who have sleep apnea about their specific, real-world challenges with their CPAP devices. They also had more in-depth conversations with both dads. From that feedback, they learned that some of the most common issues involve fit around the nose and chin, comfort, the clumsiness of getting the mask on and the overall bulkiness of the device. With only two semesters to work on the project, they decided to focus on the first three issues, to see if they could create a better CPAP mask.

They began with a design brainstorming session, pulling inspiration from things like military pilot oxygen masks, which have inflatable head straps to create a tight fit, and even the Ironman helmet, a full head covering with interlocking panels. They then created low-fidelity prototypes with simple materials like cardboard and masking tape, and gradually moved through a series of higher-fidelity 3D-printed models. The dads proved to be a huge help in making some important tweaks along the way. “We knew comfort was a concern, so for one of our earlier prototypes we used TPU, which is a kind of plastic that has a little more give to it,” Bustamante explains. “But when Saja’s dad tested it, he said it was a little rough on his skin. So we tried this silicone resin, which is this relatively new type of resin used in 3D printing, and that ended up being much more comfortable.”

In addition to the silicone resin, their final prototype included a number of features designed to improve fit and comfort. Mutahr played a key role in developing the inflatable auto-adjusting straps, which not only make the mask fit better but make it easier to get off and on. Bustamante and Samra focused on an auto-sealing mechanism, which used two small motors around the bridge of the nose to seal the mask if pressure sensors detect an air leakage. One of the biggest breakthroughs was when Tohfe discovered a quick and cheap way to create individualized masks. Using a smartphone app called Scandy Pro: 3D Scanner, people could use their phone cameras to perform detailed scans of their faces, which then could be used to create 3D-printing files for custom masks.

The team’s innovative design earned the Best in College Award at this year’s Senior Design Competition. Still, the team says their final prototype by no means feels complete, as the compressed timeframe for the competition meant they couldn’t do everything they wanted. For example, Samra says the motors added some bulk to the mask, a quality they were trying to avoid, so she’d like to explore using a lighter-footprint technology, like actuators. And they’d likely add those to more places on the mask, like along the chin, where some of the people they surveyed say they experience air leakages. Mutahr, who also designed an app interface for their mask, pointed out that even Senior Design Day, when they presented their design to the public and the competition judges, gave them ideas for improvements. “For example, we got a comment from one of the judges, who had sleep apnea, and he had a really large beard, but he had to shave it because of the mask,” she says. “That’s something you probably wouldn't think about unless you’re actually talking with people who have sleep apnea. We heard comments like that from so many people who have issues with their masks. So you do the research, you read the statistics online, but seeing it in real life and how our solution could actually be helpful, that’s probably when you get the best design ideas.”

Mutahr says one of the most gratifying pieces of feedback was that their idea “could be on ‘Shark Tank.’” Indeed, they’re not ruling out trying to commercialize the product. One of their team’s faculty advisors is a patent lawyer, and a different project that Samra, Tohfe and Mutahr worked on in one of their HCED classes is already under review for a patent. The big challenge right now is getting the band back together. Bustamante graduated this spring and is busy with her new process engineering position at GM, where she’s helping retool a factory for EV production. Samra and Tohfe, who also graduated recently, are interviewing for jobs. And Mutahr still has a semester to go. “But we’d definitely love to pursue that,” Samra says. “Maybe after Ammel graduates, we can make it happen.”

###

Story by Lou Blouin

Experiential Learning

Student Success

Technology

College of Education, Health, and Human Services

Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering

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Mon, 08/12/2024 - 14:00

Four seniors from the Human-Centered Engineering Design program built a precision-fit face mask that could bring relief to the millions of adults who live with sleep apnea.

From left, Saja Samra, Maggie Bustamante, Ammel Mutahr and Sajida Tohfe show off their work at Senior Design Day. Photo courtesy of Ammel Mutahr

Promoting Wolverines at work

stuxbury — Fri, 02 Aug 2024 17:28:50 +0000

Promoting Wolverines at work stuxbury Fri, 08/02/2024 - 13:28

��-Dearborn’s student workers make up 35% of the campus’ workforce. Many of these student workers are Pell-eligible and the first in their families to attend college. Among the Dearborn Wolverines working on campus, nearly all have a 2.5 GPA or higher. But students often find it hard to communicate how their campus work is connected to their career and professional goals.

So what does this data — gathered through a Wolverines@Work pilot program launched by ��-Dearborn’s EXP+ — tell us?

“We need to embark on a major redesign of our campus student employment so students can make these connections to skills they are learning and their future careers,” says Maureen Linker, Associate Provost for undergraduate and experiential learning.

She notes the Wolverines@Work initiative — led by Kelsey Parker, Project Manager for Experiential Learning and Laurel Draudt, Director of Career Services — has the goal of assessing and enhancing the current state of ��-Dearborn student employment from both the student employee and student employee supervisor perspectives. Ultimately, says Linker, campus student employment should be another high impact learning practice like internships, study abroad and capstones.

And EXP+ isn't doing this work alone, Linker says. Since 2022, EXP+ has collaborated with the Arizona State University-led Work+Collective in designing a new model for on-campus employment. Through the collective, ��-Dearborn partners with nearly 20 universities around the nation, including the University of Connecticut and Virginia Commonwealth University, who are all evaluating their student employment practices and processes.

Maureen Linker, Associate Provost for undergraduate and experiential learning

“��-Dearborn stepped forward and became a regional and statewide leader in this national-reaching Work+Collective. Now that the first phase of the work is complete, we are sharing what we’ve learned so far in the hopes that other Michigan universities will join us,” Linker says. She says the ASU team wanted to work with ��-Dearborn because of the university’s Experience+ structure — which helps connect students’ educational experiences to career goals — along with campus’ project-based learning course focus, the SURE program and the digital storytelling initiative ��-Dearborn Speaks.

Linker says survey data and focus group feedback, which was gathered over the 2023-2024 academic year, showed that campus employment connects students to the university in a way that may help them stay in school and get to graduation. And with more than one-third of the campus workforce likely being new to the work world, university leaders needed to provide more support to student employee’s supervisors. Linker says the feedback also highlighted the importance of helping working Dearborn Wolverines find deeper meaning in these campus roles so they can see how the skills they are learning through university employment directly transfers to post-graduation careers.

To support this work, ��-Dearborn’s pilot program included supervisor and student employee surveys, professional development sessions, regularly scheduled employer-employee check-ins, and the opportunity for students to share their employment stories through photojournalism projects and digital storytelling efforts. The pilot program concluded in June 2024. Now the next phase is underway and these efforts are becoming more visible across the university.

Outcomes from the pilot include:

A better understanding of ��-Dearborn’s student employee landscape and impact through survey data. For example, 660 student workers were employed during the 2023-24 academic year; student respondents shared that if they had a good relationship with their supervisor, they felt more connected to campus
Development of a new student employment handbook
Tips and templates for creating student-employee job descriptions that attract the best candidates by showcasing how a position can tie into future career goals
Creation of supervisor training programs like the upcoming Federal Work Study Virtual Panel from 10-11:30 a.m. Aug. 8 and the Supervisor Spa from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Aug. 14. Questions about these events? Reach out to Wolverinesatwork@umich.edu.

To share these and redesign-process lessons learned, ��-Dearborn recently hosted a "Redesigning Campus Student Employment for Student Success and Retention" conference.

Attended by representatives from universities across the state — including several community colleges and more than half of Michigan’s 15 public universities, the day-long event showcased ��-Dearborn's role in an ASU partnership project, which is funded by a $1.5 million grant from the Strada Education Network. Linker also encouraged institutions to join the Work+Collective effort at the conference. After the conference, Eastern Michigan University joined the collective and Western Michigan University offered to host an additional conference around the subject.

“The turnout for the conference was incredible. This tells me that we aren’t the only ones who feel student employment needs more attention,” Linker says. “As universities, we are focused on academic success and working hard to get our students to graduation. That’s crucial, but data also shows us that the student employment experience plays a major role in student success. Historically, universities haven’t invested in making the student employment experience a coordinated process that emphasizes support and learning outcomes. The current student employment experience often depends on their relationship with a supervisor, who may not have had the training or resources to mentor a student employee. We want that to change.”

��-Dearborn Office of TRIO Programs Assistant Director Latresa Rice attended the conference and shared her office’s experiences with the Wolverines@Work pilot program study, The office staff in TRIO Programs — a series of federally-funded and state-funded programs that help students from disadvantaged backgrounds overcome barriers to higher education — supervises 19 student employees.

Rice, a ��-Dearborn alum, says some campus employers, like TRIO, are already observing best practices, like regular check-ins when mentoring student employees. But she looks forward to having a centralized place for student employees to connect and for supervisors to explore training opportunities. She says university support is key and it will benefit everyone.

“As employers, many of us see ourselves in our students and we want to do the best for them. I remember what it felt like being first-gen and coming from a low-income background. It’s not an issue of dedication to our students — that’s always there. But resources for supervisors haven’t always been available in an easy-to-find way. It’s important to remember that these students are learning from us as leaders,” says Rice, who graduated from ��-Dearborn in 2004 and went on to earn graduate degrees in social work and business administration.

“As a ��-Dearborn student, I worked in TRIO,” Rice continues.” My supervisors — William Keener and Perry Boyd II — shaped me. They gave me confidence to try new things. They cleared red tape. They motivated me by showing me what career and education paths were available and modeled what good leadership looks like.”

At the conference, Rice encouraged one of her student employees — Kalaia Jackson, a ��-Dearborn junior —to present their table’s breakout discussion summary. Jackson, who’s majoring in biological sciences, stood confidently in front of the crowd and clearly shared the highlights. Jackson credits that confidence to experiences gained through the support of Rice, who encourages Jackson to publicly speak to groups on behalf of the TRIO programs. Jackson, who plans to attend medical school, sees how this skill can help her in the future when it comes to presenting research. See a video Jackson made about her student employment experience — it’s fourth in the list.

Rice says she regularly finds ways to nudge her student employees out of their comfort zones. “Our ��-Dearborn students are talented. We need to challenge them because if we don’t give them a chance to do it, they won’t know that they can,” she says. “It’s all about learning about their goals and then connecting them with experiences where they can step out and boldly shine.”

��-Dearborn's Student Employment Advisory Council, which assisted in the Wolverines@Work initiative has representation from across campus, including: Career Services, Athletics, University Union and Events, Office of Academic Success, One-Stop, Financial Aid, Human Resources, EXP+ and the Provost Office.

Story by Sarah Tuxbury.

Experiential Learning

Off

Fri, 08/02/2024 - 17:23

University leaders are redesigning the student employment experience at ��-Dearborn. What does that mean for students and their supervisors?

TRIO Assistant Director Latresa Rice encourages her student employee Kalaia Jackson to speak at a recent conference. Photo by Sarah Tuxbury

Reckoning with AI’s trust issues

jpow — Fri, 26 Jul 2024 19:30:40 +0000

Reckoning with AI’s trust issues jpow Fri, 07/26/2024 - 15:30

It seems to be an unbreakable human habit to unleash technologies into the world and ponder the consequences later. The most recent dramatic example of this phenomenon is the artificial intelligence boom. For years, critics — even many who believe the technology can do a lot of good in the world — have been sounding the alarm that AI applications are creating sticky situations when it comes to safety and fairness. Autonomous vehicles have injured and killed pedestrians. Algorithms used in healthcare, banking and law enforcement are embedded with human racial biases. More recently, companies behind generative AI models like ChatGPT have apparently developed their models using an unfathomable amount of copyrighted material — without bothering to ask content creators.

AI’s reach into our lives is bound to get broader, and Associate Professor of Computer and Information Science Birhanu Eshete wants his students to be prepared — not only to create powerful problem-solving technologies, but to reckon with the implications for our lives. That’s the mission behind a new trustworthy AI course that Eshete created and launched in Winter 2024, which blends a project-based curriculum focused on specific technical AI applications with explorations of the technology's social, political and economic contexts.

With a two-pronged approach and a sprawling topic, it wasn’t the easiest course to design. Eshete says trustworthy AI is a label that ecompasses a diverse set of issues, from security, privacy and safety to transparency, ethics, fairness and regulation. Any one of those seven topic areas he used to organize his class could be a course on its own, he says. “But the value of an overview course is that students get introduced to a pretty comprehensive set of issues — and then they can go deeper into anything that interests them,” he says. Plus, by reinforcing that almost anything AI touches has human implications, he can drill home to a bunch of future AI professionals that AI is hardly just a technical discipline.

For example, in the ethics section of the course, the class pondered looming real-world applications of AI like autonomous trucking. Eshete says proponents of long-haul autonomous trucks often advance a safety argument — namely, that highway accidents involving trucks are often catastrophic and a result of human error. If the job could be done more precisely by machines, then we could reduce the number of injuries and fatalities. “So it might sound ethically right to make trucks autonomous, because we could save lives,” Eshete explains. “But on the flip side, you’re going to push thousands of truck drivers out of a job, and they and their families will suffer. In fact, the World Economic Forum estimated that roughly 75% of jobs have the potential to be replaced by robots and artificial intelligence. Imagine the disruptions to society. So workforce replacement is not just a technology issue. It’s a human issue.”

You can also see the complexity and variety of the trustworthy AI space in the range of topics students chose for their final projects. One team looked at algorithms used to detect skin cancer to analyze the technology's level of racial and gender bias and explore ways to enhance fairness while protecting privacy. Another group explored techniques for reducing the error rate of stop sign detection algorithms used in autonomous vehicles. A third team investigated techniques used to acquaint a model with tricky inputs designed to fool it. And the final group of students explored how to “poison” databases of customer reviews, a technique attackers use to influence consumer sentiment about products.

Doctoral student Firas Ben Hmida, who’s also a research assistant in Eshete’s lab, says the trustworthy AI topic has been a real eye opener for him. “When I started at my engineering college back home in Tunisia, I started off in cybersecurity, and my interest, probably like everybody else, was advanced attacks and how to defend against attacks,” Hmida says. “But then, as I started working with Professor Eshete, you see that there is this whole other side to cybersecurity and AI. Outside the course, even several of the projects we’re working on in the lab deal with trustworthy AI, so I’m even thinking my PhD is now going to be about trustworthy AI.”

Eshete with his doctoral students Firas Ben Hmida (right) and Philemon Hailemariam. Photo by Erin Kirkland/Michigan Photography

Eshete heard that kind of feedback pretty consistently from students. “I got a lot of comments like, ‘It allowed me to look at AI beyond neural networks,’” Eshete says. “That’s great to hear because you don’t know how students are going to react when you spend half your lecture in an AI course talking about Socrates, Plato and Aristotle and ethical philosophy.” In fact, Eshete says the feedback was the most positive of any course he teaches. Specifically, he says students appreciated that the overview format allowed them to explore many topics in a single course. They also liked the project-based format, which eliminated the need for exams and quizzes.

Eshete plans to teach the class on campus every winter semester, with the exception of Winter 2025 when he’ll be on sabbatical. He’ll actually still be teaching the trustworthy AI course though — just at Addis Ababa University, his alma mater in Ethiopia, where he'll be spending part of his leave. “I’m actually really looking forward to teaching the course in two different countries, because any of these AI trustworthiness issues could mean many different things depending on the context,” he says. “For instance, if you’re thinking about fairness and race here in the U.S., we’re accustomed to thinking about things in terms of Black and white. But in Ethiopia, everybody is Black. So the context of race is slightly different, and we think more about different ethnic groups. So it will be interesting to see how students respond to thinking about these issues for AI applications in high-stakes contexts.”

###

Story by Lou Blouin

Careers or Internships

Experiential Learning

Technology

College of Engineering and Computer Science

Computer and Information Science

Off

Mon, 07/22/2024 - 19:30

In his new trustworthy AI course, Associate Professor Birhanu Eshete is helping students go beyond the technical know-how and understand the social, political and economic contexts of the artificial intelligence boom.

Photo by Erin Kirkland/Michigan Photography

Experiential Learning

Career Services is trying new ways to connect with students

Everything you need to know about ������-Dearborn’s comprehensive campaign

The (solar) power of teamwork

Dearborn Wolverines gain real-world experience through internships

Caroline Tepper, College of Business

Christina Townsend, College of Arts, Sciences and Letters

Logan Kilby, College of Engineering and Computer Science

Maya Abdallah, College of Education, Health and Human Services

A ‘SURE’ benefit: Students gain research skills to open doors for careers, grad school

Brendan McCloskey with faculty advisors Associate Professor Maggie Yi Guo and Professor Young RoProject. User assessment of security threats

Anna Lariviere with faculty advisor Associate Professor Harmony ReppondProject. Bait and switch of the American dream: Persuasion tactics of MLMs

‘You see how integrated we are globally’

Puerto Rico

Padua, Italy

"An experience that I'll never forget'

Gdańsk, Poland

Ottawa, Canada

Undergrad students develop an improved sleep apnea mask

Promoting Wolverines at work

Reckoning with AI’s trust issues

Everything you need to know about ��-Dearborn’s comprehensive campaign

Brendan McCloskey with faculty advisors Associate Professor Maggie Yi Guo and Professor Young Ro
Project. User assessment of security threats

Anna Lariviere with faculty advisor Associate Professor Harmony Reppond
Project. Bait and switch of the American dream: Persuasion tactics of MLMs