Discover Rackham
Alumni Spotlight: Steve Ullmann
As an undergraduate student at University of California, Berkeley, Dr. Steve Ullmann knew he would continue his education and eventually build a career in economics, specifically in antitrust and regulatory theory. He had extensive conversations with faculty and...
Student Spotlight: Colleen Crouch
Colleen is exploring. She grew up on a farm and went to college in a big city. She lived in the Southeast and on the West coast. Now she’s enjoying what the Midwest has to offer. “Ann Arbor offered a chance for something completely new. I wanted to explore a different...
Graduate Student Mental Health Matters
Is academia a contributing factor to mental and emotional health problems? How are universities and their institutional cultures contributing to these issues? Is there space to have these discussions? Who will listen? In the past year, I have often had these...
Student Spotlight: Nkemka Anyiwo
Nkemka did a lot of work in youth community organizations over a number of years and through those experiences, she recognized that so many people have intentions of what they want to do with the kids they support but don’t have the research foundation to ground...
Alumni Spotlight: David K. Jones
Before coming to the University of Michigan, David K. Jones worked in the Idaho legislature, finding himself increasingly interested in policy at the state level. When it came time to find the right place to pursue his graduate education, he knew he needed an...
Unusual Advice: Take a Class Outside Your Field
As a third-year Ph.D. student, having finished all of my required courses and much to the confusion of many of my friends and colleagues, I decided to take an additional class during a semester when I already had little time to spare. While there were times that my...
Celebrating a Century of Opportunity
No, these graduate students and alums aren’t on their phones. They are examining history, having just received a pin representing their inclusion in the Barbour Scholarship program. Pins like these were given to Barbour Scholars in the 1930s. To mark the centennial of...
On Communicating Science
I gave a talk about my field of work a couple of months ago, to an audience of people mostly outside it. After the talk, a senior member in the audience came over and asked me a few questions about genetics and health. He had a family history of lung cancer, he said,...
Student Spotlight: Amy Westmoreland
Amy’s dissertation looks at diversity in the workplace and how racial stereotypes influence chances for upward mobility. She particularly focuses on Asian Americans and the model minority myth that portrays Asian Americans as competent and smart but lacking social...
Alumni Spotlight: Veena Sahajwalla
Veena Sahajwalla vividly remembers her interview for the Barbour Scholarship program. She remembers sitting in the interview room, feeling nervous, and being asked what impact she wanted to have on the world - what her vision was for her own legacy. Her response? “To...