Research Office News

Assistant Professor Fernanda Cross has been named a 2023 Anti-Racism Research & Community Impact Faculty Fellow. The Anti-Racism Collaborative is a partnership of U-M’s National Center for Institutional Diversity with the provost’s anti-racism initiatives and is intended to help support, connect and amplify scholars across the U-M campus who study racial inequality, racial equity and racial justice. The fellowship provides funding to support Cross’ research titled Addressing the Mental Health Needs of Latinx Youth in Washtenaw County.

Professor Karla Goldman wrote in The Conversation about the new memorial commemorating the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire victims, most of whom were Jewish and Italian young women and girls. One of the deadliest workplace disasters in U.S. history, the tragedy inspired worker protections and invigorated labor activism.

“The memorial offers a bold and graceful reminder not only of the fire but of its imprint on the world we inhabit today,” wrote Goldman.

Assistant Professor Rebeccah Sokol wrote in The Conversation about both the increase in gun deaths among children and teens and the research-backed strategies and tools to reverse this trend. “Reducing young people’s access to unsecured and loaded firearms can prevent firearm-involved deaths across all intents including suicide, homicide, and unintentional shootings.” The editorial also ran in the San Francisco Chronicle and the Chicago Sun-Times.

PhD student Nicolás Juárez was named to the 2023 cohort of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Health Policy Research Scholars. The national leadership program is for full-time doctoral students who are entering their second year of study and are from populations underrepresented in specific doctoral disciplines and/or historically marginalized backgrounds.

“I am so excited to be part of the 2023 Health Policy Research Scholars cohort,” said Juarez. “I know another world is possible, and I am incredibly grateful to be given the time and resources to craft socially just and participatory approaches to environmental degradation and injustice.”

Professor Luke Shaefer spoke with “Detroit Today” on WDET about how rising income inequality affects our economy and our society. “Workers today want to feel like people are looking out for them,” said Shaefer, “and they don’t feel that when they see CEOs making so much, and they don’t feel that when they don’t see government playing a role.”

Lecturer Jewel Woods spoke with Psychology Today on the connection between therapists and their clients and why increasing the representation of men, particularly Black men, in the behavioral health workforce is so important. “There are so few male African-American clinicians, but we have tremendous opportunities to do good.”

Associate Professor Shanna Kattari is the editor of “Exploring Sexuality and Disability: A Guide for Human Service Professionals,” published earlier this month. “It is the first book on sexuality and disability published specifically focused on those serving and supporting the disability community (compared to targeting only academics or only disabled people), and one of 10 books on sexuality and disability that exist in the world,” said Kattari.

Chapter editors include Lecturers Jax Kynn, Erin Martinez and Laura Yakas; PhD students E.B. Gross, Nicolas Juarez and Kari Sherwood; and MSW student syd lio riley.

Professor William Elliott III spoke with WalletHub about the ending of the student loan moratorium. “The student debt problem requires that policy both deal with its symptoms and its root cause,” said Elliott. “Paying for college should not be a lifelong sentence.”