As the number of coronavirus cases continues to rise in the U.S. and around the world, dozens of University of Michigan experts across a wide variety of disciplines are conducting research and using their expertise to address COVID-19 and its impact on public health, the economy, the environment, education and more.

The World Health Organization called countries to "pull out all the stops" and warned "this is not a drill," as new coronavirus infections surpass the 100,000 threshold worldwide. As the outbreak unfolds, nearly three dozen University of Michigan experts can discuss its societal, economic and public health impacts.

ANN ARBOR—Black communities in the United States have been disproportionately affected by the number of coronavirus cases and deaths. At the same time, white nationalist activities have increased in the last months. Riana Anderson, assistant professor at the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health, discusses how these trends are affecting the mental health of Read more

ANN ARBOR—Thousands of central Michigan residents living along the Tittabawassee River are evacuating after rapidly rising waters overtook dams there. The Michigan governor warned that downtown Midland could be under about 9 feet of water Wednesday. The evacuations come as Michigan remains under a stay-at-home order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. University of Read more

ANN ARBOR—Businesses across the nation are preparing to start reopening their workplaces. Rick Neitzel, an expert on occupational and environmental health at the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health, outlines five steps that employers and employees can take together to return to work in the safest manner possible. Neitzel is associate chair and associate Read more

ANN ARBOR—Divorce—not buying granite countertops for a remodel—is what drives people to withdraw from their retirement funds well before they actually retire, according to a University of Michigan researcher. And mortgage payment distress is also a major factor—leading families to withdraw funds. Americans were most likely to access cash from their retirement accounts before they Read more

ANN ARBOR—Michigan’s eviction filing rate was 17% in 2018—or the equivalent of one eviction case for every six occupied rental housing units in the state, according to new research from the University of Michigan and Legal Services of South Central Michigan. The Michigan Eviction Project found eviction filing rates vary widely by county, from 1.4% Read more

ANN ARBOR—Discussions of drought often center on the lack of precipitation. But among climate scientists, the focus is shifting to include the growing role that warming temperatures are playing as potent drivers of greater aridity and drought intensification. Increasing aridity is already a clear trend across the western United States, where anthropogenic climate warming is Read more

ANN ARBOR—Safe and more affordable nuclear energy is the goal of a new project led by the University of Michigan, bringing together researchers who specialize in nuclear energy technology and computer science. The study, which will develop AI-enhanced “digital twins” of nuclear reactors, is funded with a three-year, $5.2 million grant from the Advanced Research Read more

EXPERTS ADVISORY ANN ARBOR—University of Michigan economists Gabriel Ehrlich and Daniil Manaenkov are speaking Friday morning via video to Michigan lawmakers and other officials as part of the twice-yearly Consensus Revenue Estimating Conference. The experts from U-M’s Research Seminar in Quantitative Economics are providing a state and national economic outlook. The conference comes amid a Read more

FACULTY Q&A  ANN ARBOR—The House of Representative plans to introduce a bipartisan bill that would create a National Public Health Corps similar to AmeriCorps that would hire hundreds of workers to help conduct contact tracing as the U.S. moves to reopen its economy. Angela Beck is a clinical assistant professor of health behavior and health Read more

Erik Gordon is one of the University of Michigan’s most quoted professors in mainstream media, but his path to this status was not a traditional one. Hear how Erik’s meandering career path has led him to a faculty position at one of the most prestigious business schools in the country.