Research Office News

Assistant Professor Rebeccah Sokol spoke with multiple news outlets about a recent study that showed teens who have been exposed to violence have a significantly higher rate of carrying firearms. Sokol said “This study highlights the importance of identifying the unique circumstances that link these two different types of exposure to violence to youth carrying firearms. By doing so, we can better understand why young people feel the need to own a firearm, provide intervention support and strategies, and reduce firearm injuries in youth,” 

The study was a collaboration between the Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention, where Sokol is the training and education core co-director, and the Firearm Safety Among Children and Teens Consortium.

Detroit Free Press

Huron Daily Tribune

The Bharat Express News

Pioneer

Techexplorist

Medical Xpress

USA Today

PhD student So’Phelia Morrow has been named a 2023 Public Voices Fellow on Advancing the Rights of Women and Girls. The US-based fellowship is part of The OpEd Project’s Public Voices initiative to include women’s voices in writing history and Equality Now’s mission to create a fair and just world for women and girls. During the year-long program, participants receive mentorship to effectively communicate their ideas and learn how to work with media outlets.

Associate Professor Kristin Seefeldt spoke to the Detroit Free Press and Bridge Michigan about Ann Arbor joining the growing list of cities across the nation exploring a guaranteed basic income program. Seefeldt will oversee the pilot program which will provide 100 income-eligible entrepreneurs with $525 a month for 24 months. “It could be someone who actually has established a small business that’s actively operating to someone who occasionally does yard work and mows lawns for neighbors … we’re really casting a broad net when we talk about … entrepreneurial activity,” said Seefeldt.

Clinical Assistant Professor Justin Hodge was interviewed by CBS Detroit  where he discussed health equity and the practices around the sale of flavored tobacco products across the state.  “We know that 21% of teens in Michigan have reported e-cigarette use, and a study with the FDA has shown that 40% of retailers have sold cigarettes to minors,” said Hodge.

Professor Trina Shanks’ research on the long-term implications of the Homestead Act was cited by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson in her dissent of last month’s Supreme Court ruling striking down affirmative action in college admissions.

ENGAGE Program Manager and Lecturer Fatima Salman spoke about the role of social workers in creating policy that supports mental health on the podcast “Breaking Through” with Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner.  

“Policy affects all of us,” said Salman. “We actually had the most amount of social workers running for office and winning ever in Michigan which is phenomenal because they approach policy through a mental health perspective. And how critical and amazing is that?”

Assistant Professor Rebeccah Sokol was quoted in a New York Times article exploring the rise in gun ownership in American families. Sokol’s research shows that families with teenagers who kept one firearm loaded and unlocked were more likely to buy another firearm during the pandemic than those who kept guns stored. These households are particularly vulnerable to gun injuries, she said. “Teens have some of the highest rates of firearm fatal and nonfatal injuries.”

PhD student Olivia Chang received an honorable mention from the 2023 Ford Foundation Fellowship Program. The programs seek to increase the diversity of the nation's college and university faculties by increasing their ethnic and racial diversity, maximize the educational benefits of diversity, and increase the number of professors who can and will use diversity as a resource for enriching the education of all students.