by Eirill Falck | Jan 11, 2019 | Alumni Spotlights
Karen E. Smith reflects on the gender and class challenges she faced in the pursuit of her dream of becoming a mathematician—and on the challenges women in STEM still face.
by Kyah Dubay | Dec 20, 2018 | Alumni Spotlights
Forty-two years passed between the first and second Black men to earn a Ph.D. in physics. Edward Bouchet became the first, completing his doctoral degree at Yale University in 1876. The second was the University of Michigan’s own Elmer Imes in 1918. Now, 100 years...
by Kyah Dubay | Nov 21, 2018 | Alumni Spotlights
“I couldn’t have written the script for the path I travelled.” For Rackham alum George Hoey, grad school wasn’t in the original plan. Then again, neither was playing in the NFL. If you ask him, he’ll tell you the plan didn’t really...
by Eirill Falck | Oct 1, 2018 | Alumni Spotlights
It’s not hard to imagine why Christopher S. Palenik (Ph.D. ’04) became fascinated with microscopes as a child. His father, Skip Palenik, is a renowned microscopy expert who maintained a full-fledged microscopy laboratory in the basement of the Palenik family...
by Kyah Dubay | Jun 22, 2018 | Alumni Spotlights
As a social justice activist and scholar raised in 1970s Detroit, Jeannine Bell is no stranger to the challenges faced by marginalized populations today. Currently a professor at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law, Jeannine focuses on the systemic racism that...
by Kyah Dubay | Feb 3, 2018 | Alumni Spotlights
“I wonder if I could go to school here.” That was Juan Jaen’s thought as he walked past the University of Michigan’s old chemistry building while visiting from his home city of Madrid (Spain). Anita, his girlfriend at the time, now his wife, replied, “Well, go inside...
by Kyah Dubay | Jan 6, 2018 | Alumni Spotlights
Where science went, so did Jeff Hansen, from a college campus to the newsroom and back again. With an undergraduate degree in Economics, a Ph.D. in Microbiology, and a career in journalism, his career path might seem nontraditional, but to him, it makes perfect sense....
by Kyah Dubay | Nov 4, 2017 | Alumni Spotlights
Tiffany Marra has always had a heart for social justice. Even as a high school student in an agricultural part of California with a majority Latino population, she noticed a clear disparity in the opportunities available to different students. Some students were able...
by Kyah Dubay | Oct 7, 2017 | Alumni Spotlights
Josh Hyman is an assistant professor in the Department of Public Policy, the Department of Economics, and the Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut, so he spends the majority of his waking hours interacting with college students; however, he often...
by Kyah Dubay | Sep 6, 2017 | Alumni Spotlights
Whether he’s on the campaign trail, advocating for hospitals in rural Illinois, or offering advice for Rackham graduate students, one question guides Neill Mohammad’s day-to-day work: How can he use his experiences to help others? It was in November 2016 that Neill...
