Spring 2024

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cover illustration by Becky Sehenuk Waite

 

 

 

Cover illustration by Becky Sehenuk Waite

Hey Siri, Are We Cool?

AI is developing rapidly, and there’s no consensus on what that means. Sure, it can help with planning vacations or solving medicine shortages—but will it also lead to human extinction? LSA faculty and alumni weigh in on AI’s changing landscape.

 

More Than One Story

An LSA student has curated a museum exhibit that celebrates the stories of Chinese Americans in Detroit—from their migration to the present-day community.

 

Can We Really Teach Machines to Smell?

A statistics professor and his students are exploring the rapidly developing field of artificial intelligence with a new spin on humans’ oldest sense.

 

Reality Check

We all know you shouldn’t believe everything you see on TV, in the movies, or on social media. Right? Right? Still, media can have a profound impact on how we view the real world, leading to everything from bloody noses to long-lasting harm.

 

From the Dean

LSA is the launchpad for great ideas, careers, and innovations at a time when the liberal arts are more important than ever.

 

When Did You Fall in Love with Hip Hop?

Professor Stephen Ward is leading an LSA celebration of the 50th anniversary of hip hop that’s as vibrant and multitudinous as the art form itself: in the classroom, online, in Detroit, on a mixtape, and in an art gallery. 

 

The World’s Oldest Preserved Fish Brain (We Think)

The accidental discovery of a 319-million-year-old fish brain highlights the beauty of curiosity-driven research and the importance of museum collections.

 

Shedding Light on Dark Matter and Dark Energy

A team of LSA researchers found that the standard model of cosmology may be coming under pressure based on new data about the growth rate of large cosmic structures.

 

5 Questions …

… with Paul Farber, alum and director of Monument Lab, who, as curator-in-residence for the U-M Arts Initiative, is collaborating with U-M to explore the art museum’s historic building, the land it stands on, and the “living force” of history. 

 

At Sundown

Dearborn, Michigan. Levittown, New York. Decatur, Illinois. La Cañada Flintridge, California. LSA’s Stephen Berrey and students of the Sundown Town Project say these towns have something in common: their historical segregation practices.

 

Ancient Wisdom, New Technology

AI is giving new life to scrolls buried in Mount Vesuvius’s wreckage, and classical studies Professor Richard Janko is on the team deciphering texts unearthed from volcanic ash.

 

A scholarship made Alison’s dream of attending Michigan a reality. Now, as an LSA sociology major, she is turning her passion for serving others into action for a better community.

Your annual fund gift to LSA changes the lives of students like Alison so they can make a difference in the world.