Fellows News

“Riot Sweeps Chicago” should sound and feel intuitively familiar. However, this headline covered the front pages of a newspaper over a hundred years ago. Named the “Red Summer of 1919”, a spate of violence and bloodshed occurred from April to November 1919 with riots, lynchings, and mobs across the country. Hundreds of African American lives were claimed and hundreds more were left maimed and homeless. The most violent episodes occurred in Chicago, IL, Washington,…

Continue reading “Pandemics and protests: America has experienced racism like this before”

Neighborhood and individual level risks commonly co-occur for pregnant women and may cumulatively contribute to birth outcomes. Moreover, the relationship between favorable social and environmental neighborhood conditions and perinatal outcomes has been understudied. This study considered the accumulated impact of prenatal exposure to positive neighborhood social, environmental, and educational conditions in relation to maternal health during pregnancy and birth size outcomes. Read more about Senior Fellow Allison Appleton’s research.

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…

Continue reading “Weather adds stress to America’s crumbling infrastructure”

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.

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,…

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

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.…

Continue reading “Six Faculty Selected as CRF Family Research Scholars”

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,”…

Continue reading “Dr. Tony Reames is Working to Eliminate Energy Poverty”

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…

Continue reading “Structural racism, high blood pressure, Black people’s health all linked, experts say”