1. Esports minor coming to University of Michigan with help of $4M gift

    Mark Rivett posted April 29, 2021

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    A $4-million gift from a University of Michigan alumnus and video game company Activision Blizzard CEO will help establish an esports program in the university’s School of Information.

    Robert Kotick’s gift will lay the groundwork for an esports minor at UM by 2022 to help students prepare for careers in the industry, according to a university news release. The gift will fund a professor to lead the development of the program, combining research and instruction in computer science, sports management and user experiences, the release states

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  2. Shrijesh Siwakoti Diversity Internship Award Recipient

    Mark Rivett posted April 26, 2021

    In April, 2021 U-M School of Information presented the Dr. Veronica Wilkerson-Johnson Diversity Internship Award to Shrijesh Siwakoti.

    Shrijesh Siwakot is a second-year graduate student at the University of Michigan School of Information (UMSI), studying Data Science. He is also a recipient of the Dr. Veronica Wilkerson Johnson Diversity Internship Award, which is intended for School of Information students in underrepresented populations to support their annual internships. Dr. Veronica Wilkerson Johnson is the former Director of the UM Lansing Service Center.

    Shrijesh worked as a data science intern for the Detroit Police Athletic League’s Program Administration team this summer. Detroit PAL is a nonprofit organization in Detroit that serves its youth through several sports, academic and leadership development programs, and aims to improve community-police relations by bringing them together. He worked with their sports and demographic data from 2019, his work involved extracting, cleaning up and analyzing data to create several annual reports.

    He also got the opportunity to work in Lansing with the UMSI Citizen in Design Program (CID). The Citizen interaction Design Program is a course that aims to create information tools that support 21st-century citizenship. This is a project-based, experiential learning course where students apply their skills to create information products in partnership with a Michigan community. Students will work with partners in Michigan communities to deliver information tools and services that foster an engaged citizenry. Students will work in teams, travel to the partner community, and have support of administrative staff to manage projects.

    Shrijesh Siwakoti

    Shrijesh Siwakoti

    With the successful completion of this internship, I got the opportunity to work with real world datasets and reiterate my interests in working in the social sciences field and certainly was the first step towards launching my future career as a data scientist. None of this would have been possible without your generosity. I sincerely appreciate your kindness and support. I hope to have the opportunity to meet with you in the future.

  3. Ford partners with University of Michigan in $75M robotics facility

    Mark Rivett posted April 6, 2021
    Ford Building

    The Ford Robotics Building at the University of Michigan oepend on March 16, 2021.
    Photo Credit: Ford/Tanya Moutzalias

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    A new $75-million, 134,000-square-foot robotics facility at the University of Michigan is now open.

    The Ford Robotics Building on the north campus will serve as a world-class, advanced robotics facility and the new hub of the UM Robotics Institute, according to a university news release. The four-story building will include research labs for all types of robotics, as well as classrooms, offices and makerspaces.

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