Weather adds stress to America’s crumbling infrastructure

As President Joe Biden and Senate Republicans grapple with determining the cost and layout of a new infrastructure plan, experts that AccuWeather spoke with explained how both a lack of upkeep as well as upward trends in damaging weather have cumulated into an “infrastructure crisis.” JPB Fellow Dr. Marccus Hendricks told AccuWeather in an interview that the current infrastructure crisis the U.S. is facing stems mostly from prioritizing new infrastructure and focusing…

New Publication: Structural Racism and the COVID-19 Experience in the United States

The long, fallacious history of attributing racial disparities in public health outcomes to biological inferiority or poor decision making persists in contemporary conversations about the COVID-19 pandemic. Given the disproportionate impacts of this pandemic on communities of color, it is essential for scholars, practitioners, and policymakers to focus on how structural racism drives these disparate outcomes. In May and June 2020, we conducted a 6-state online survey to examine racial/ethnic…

New Article: Maternal depression, adverse childhood experiences, and social support in relation to gestational diabetes risk: results from the Albany Infant and Mother Study (AIMS)

Psychosocial factors are of increasing interest as potential influencers in disease development. This study explores associations between gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and maternal depression, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), and social support, in response to emerging evidence in these areas. Read more about Senior JPB Fellow Allison Appleton’s research.

U-M Energy Equity Project to Develop First Standardized Tool for Driving Equity in Clean Energy Industry

ANN ARBOR—Despite widespread calls for a just transition to cleaner, more resilient energy systems, there isn’t a standardized measurement framework for evaluating the equity of clean energy programs. As a result, utility administrators, regulators, and energy advocates have been judging equity on an ad hoc basis. The Urban Energy Justice Lab at the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS) today announced a new program aimed at addressing this gap,…

Six Faculty Selected as CRF Family Research Scholars

University of Massachusetts Amherst The eighteenth cohort of the Center for Research on Families (CRF) Family Research Scholars (FRS) was selected based on their promising work in family-related research. The 2021-22 cohort represents a wide range of disciplines and research interests, including scholars from the departments of biology; health policy and management; institute for global health; psychological and brain sciences; and sociology. JPB Fellow Raphael Arku is one of them.…

Dr. Tony Reames is Working to Eliminate Energy Poverty

Earth Day is everyday to folks like, Dr. Tony Reames who is at the forefront of the movement to create efficient, affordable and equitable energy systems. While interviewing a grandmother in Kansas City during his doctoral research, Dr. Reames asked the woman about her energy bill. Her response was a familiar one. “She told me when she saw the utility truck, her heart rate escalated, even if she knew her bill was paid,”…

Structural racism, high blood pressure, Black people’s health all linked, experts say

High blood pressure. And structural racism. Researchers say they are two of the biggest factors responsible for the gap in poor heart and brain health between Black and white adults in the United States. And they are inextricably linked. Studies have shown high blood pressure affects Black adults — particularly women — earlier and more dramatically than their white peers. By 55, research has found that three of four Black…

Closing The Gap On Transportation: Walking Or Biking While Black Can Be Deadly

Many have heard of “driving while Black”, but also “biking while Black” or even “walking while Black”, can have deadly consequences for Black Americans. A public health historian and scholar explains for Reset how legacy policies, planning and practices disproportionately endanger African American pedestrians, joggers and cyclists. GUEST: Jennifer Roberts, assistant professor of Kinesiology, University of Maryland School of Public Health; director, Public Health Outcomes and Effects of the Built Environment Laboratory Find here…

Combating Energy Poverty in the U.S. – Podcast

One-third of American households struggle to pay for their basic energy needs. University of Michigan’s Tony Reames explores the role of policy in overcoming energy poverty. Energy justice and poverty have come to the forefront of public dialogue, and are part of long-standing inequities that continue to persist in the United States. In this country, a third of households find it difficult to afford the energy they need to heat and…

Disaster research response experts share insights for pandemic

Experts share experiences, consider approaches to the coronavirus pandemic and inequalities in its impact. At the beginning of the pandemic, many people thought that COVID-19 would be a so-called great equalizer. Because no one was immune to the new coronavirus, everyone could be affected, regardless of race, wealth, or geography. Instead, the pandemic proved to be the great exacerbator, hitting marginalized communities the hardest, according to Marccus Hendricks, Ph.D., from the…