Academics and research in the news

COVID-19’s impact on education

The majority of American public school students are now well into a virtual school year and data from around the country is starting to show that middle and high school students are falling behind. This week Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia, one of the biggest districts in the country, reported an 83% jump in middle and high schoolers earning F’s this year compared to last year. In the independent school district in Houston more than 40% of middle and high school students are failing at least two of their classes. And in St. Paul, Minn. the superintendent reports nearly 40% of public high school students have failing marks, double the normal number. Hannah Schacter, psychology professor at Wayne State University and an expert on adolescent development, joined a discussion about COVID-19’s impact on education. 
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Kids, teens could be feeling pandemic-related stress. Here's how parents can help

From the global pandemic to the divisive 2020 election, kids and teens are absorbing a lot of the same stress 2020 has brought adults; and what's worse, is that at a time when play dates or sleepovers are discouraged for public health reasons, kids might be needing that social outlet the most. Most organized youth sports are on hold right now, and many school districts in Michigan have moved fully remote due to a surge in COVID-19 cases. “During adolescence, this is a time when kids are really primed to want to explore their environment, to seek out new experiences. And being stuck at home with your parents isn’t really the best way to fulfill those developmental needs," said Hannah Schacter, an assistant professor of psychology at Wayne State. In the onset of the pandemic -- kids, especially teens, missed out on some key social milestones like prom, sporting events, and graduation. “And now suddenly you have moments of hope, of maybe it’s getting better and maybe we’re heading back there and then suddenly that’s shifting," Schacter said. Until Dec. 8, high school students statewide are learning remotely due to the an epidemic health order aimed at the slowing the spread of the virus. It's a move Schacter said could pose a greater problem for students who rely on in-school academic or social support. “It requires a greater sort of pro-activeness to seek out those services which is not always entirely possible in a virtual environment."
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Meet Michigan's incoming Supreme Court justice: Elizabeth Welch

Wayne State University professor Robert Sedler, an expert in constitutional law, said while Elizabeth Welch's election to the Michigan Supreme Court means there are more justices nominated by Democrats than Republicans, partisanship doesn't always determine how justices vote. He noted rulings where GOP-nominated justices David Viviano and Elizabeth Clement have sided with their Democratic-nominated colleagues. A notable exception, Sedler said, was the October ruling in which the court decided that a 1945 law that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer relied on for her emergency orders to combat COVID-19 was unconstitutional. The four GOP-nominated justices all ruled to void the law, sparking anger from Democrats. "It was not typical of the decisions coming from the court," Sedler said. "The court acted in a very partisan way." Sedler said while the court and the elections for justices are officially nonpartisan, he believes members keep their political support in mind. "You don't forget who brought you to the dance," he said.
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Wayne State University and Karmanos Cancer Institute to host two-day symposium focused on advancing health equity and the impact of COVID-19

Wayne State University and the Karmanos Cancer Institute will host the “Community-Engaged Research Symposium to Advance Health Equity: The Impact of Coronavirus Now and in the Future,” on Dec. 1 and 2. The virtual symposium is free and open to the public; registration is required and can be completed online. “This is our third annual symposium, and we are honored to take on the challenge of adapting it to the pandemic,” said Rhonda Dailey, M.D., assistant professor of family medicine and public health sciences, and scientific director of the Office of Community Engaged Research at Wayne State University. “The virtual platform is a convenient way for academicians, community organizations and community members involved in community-based research to present their hard-earned work related to COVID-19. We hope that attendees will use the symposium to form new, lasting connections and partnerships.” Community-academic research partnerships are more important than ever, according to Hayley Thompson, Ph.D., professor of oncology in the Wayne State School of Medicine and associate center director for community outreach and engagement at Karmanos Cancer Institute. “Just like cancer, heart disease and a host of other conditions, the burden of COVID-19 is greater in communities of color, in under-resourced areas and among groups who are marginalized in other ways,” said Thompson. “If we want to generate data and knowledge that can make a difference, meaningful collaboration between these groups and academic researchers is essential. This symposium is one step toward real collaboration.”
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3 reasons for information exhaustion – and what to do about it

Mark Satta, assistant professor of philosophy, penned an article for The Conversation about epistemic exhaustion.“An endless flow of information is coming at us constantly: It might be an article a friend shared on Facebook with a sensational headline or wrong information about the spread of the coronavirus. It could even be a call from a relative wanting to talk about a political issue. All this information may leave many of us feeling as though we have no energy to engage. As a philosopher who studies knowledge-sharing practices, I call this experience “epistemic exhaustion.” The term “epistemic” comes from the Greek word episteme, often translated as “knowledge.” So epistemic exhaustion is more of a knowledge-related exhaustion. It is not knowledge itself that tires out many of us. Rather, it is the process of trying to gain or share knowledge under challenging circumstances.”
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A new pilot program at Wayne State looks to shore up an often overlooked part of education - financial literacy

The Craig Fahle Show featured guests Matthew Roling, founding executive director of Wayne State’s Office of Business Innovation, and Julie Hollinshead, adjunct faculty member of the Finance Department at the Mike Ilitch School of Business. The two are responsible for the launch of a new pilot program, the WSU Financial Capability Center. It is designed to give students access to financial tools and qualified individuals who can support, guide and enable them to organize and stabilize their lives financially and get on the road to financial security. 
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CBD sales soaring, but evidence still slim that the cannabis derivative makes a difference for anxiety or pain

Hilary A. Murasak, assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences at Wayne State University’s School of Medicine, wrote an article for The Conversation on the rise of CBD usage during the pandemic. “Many people have turned to cannabis and its derivatives as they search for pandemic relief, and one of the most widely available ones is CBD. It is also legal and readily available. You can buy oils, tinctures, capsules, gummies, cosmetics and even toilet paper said to contain the molecule. Martha Stewart has a line of CBD products, and some companies are marketing CBD products for holiday gifts. And, you can even buy CBD products for your pet. An investment bank has estimated that this market will be worth $16 billion by 2025, even though many of the products that allegedly contain CBD may not contain any CBD all. And, if they do, the amount often is far less than the amount stated on the product bottle or box.”

WSU digs Hamtramck again; signs pact with museum

Wayne State University students are wrapping up part two of their archaeological dig in Hamtramck. Two years ago, the students did the first phase of their project: digging into the history of the site of the old Village Hall on Jos. Campau, between Grayling and Alice streets. The second dig began in August, and wrapped up this week. Village Hall was built in 1914, and also housed the village fire department and police station. Working under the direction of WSU anthropology professor Krysta Ryzewski, the students have collected an assortment of items from the site of Village Hall, as well as about 17 other buildings that occupied the area over the years. The goal of the class, Ryzewski said, is to interpret the items to learn about the lives of the people, mainly immigrants, who lived and worked there for more than a century. “We’re looking to uncover the unwritten history that tells us about the rise of Hamtramck in the early 20th century,” Ryzewski said. This second dig was held because the previous one was so successful. In fact, aside from revealing information about the past, the experience led Wayne State University to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the Hamtramck Historical Museum, to cooperate on future projects. The official signing saw Stephanie Hartwell, dean of the WSU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and Museum Executive Director Greg Kowalski each signing the document. This agreement provides that the museum will offer internships to students, invite WSU researchers to participate in a variety of projects in conjunction with the museum, host guest lecturers from WSU, participate in joint grant writing opportunities, and publicize the joint ventures. In return, WSU will recruit students to do internships at the museum, provide faculty consultation to assist with projects, help identify grant sources, invite museum staff to lecture at the university, and share digital media and library resources with the museum.  
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Opinion: What we can learn from COVID-19 supply chain issues

Hakan Yildiz and Tingting Yan, both associate professors of global supply chain management at the Mike Ilitch School of Business with Wayne State University, wrote an op-ed regarding COVID-19 supply chain issues. “Global supply chains have been hit hard by COVID-19. The automotive industry is among the primary industries that experienced major disruptions and Michigan felt the economic devastation with record unemployment rates. As supply chain academics, we have been conducting research to understand the impacts of the pandemic to supply chains, how companies have responded and what they should do. In partnership with the Automotive Industry Action Group and QAD, we have conducted a multi-industry, multi-country survey. We have also conducted interviews with professionals and participated in innovation-incubating hackathons.”
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Amy Coney Barrett sizes up 30-year-old precedent balancing religious freedom with rule of law

Mark Satta, assistant professor of philosophy, wrote a piece for The Conversation on religious freedom with the rule of law balance. “Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s first week as an active Supreme Court justice began on Nov. 2 and almost immediately included a case that could test her credentials as a religious conservative. On the surface, Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, which was argued in front of the court on Nov. 4, concerns whether the state can require organizations it partners with to accept same-sex couples as foster parents. But underneath are questions about how Barrett and her fellow justices will deal with a decades-old Supreme Court ruling that could have wider implications for religious liberty cases. The case in front of the justices concerns how Philadelphia partners with private organizations – both religious and secular – to find homes for children in foster care. In 2018, Philadelphia learned that two organizations, Catholic Social Services and Bethany Christian Services, had religiously motivated policies against placing children with same-sex couples in violation of Philadelphia’s Fair Practices Ordinance.”

Should plea bargaining include the right to confront witnesses?

In a criminal justice system centered around the plea bargain, the Sixth Amendment’s Confrontation Clause should apply to plea bargains as well as trials, according to a forthcoming essay in the Columbia Law Review. “A defendant’s trial rights come bundled—he must take them all, by going to trial, or leave them all, by pleading guilty,” wrote William Ortman, an assistant professor at the Wayne State University School of Law. The Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment grants defendants the right to question witnesses testifying against them, but the clause has only been interpreted to apply to defendants who proceed to a trial. In his paper, titled Confrontation in the Age of Plea Bargaining, Ortman argued this is severely restricting in the United States, where only 5 percent of cases end up going to trial. Some 97 percent of federal cases and 94 percent of state cases end are resolved with a guilty plea negotiated before a trial is ever held. “There is no good reason to design a rule that accomplishes its mission in a small fraction of the cases and leaves the others untouched,” Ortman wrote. Ortman proposed that instead of only applying to trials, the limitation of the Confrontation Clause be changed to apply to “critical adjudication.” Trials would fall into this category, as would plea bargaining. Preliminary and pretrial hearings would not.
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Constitutional law expert on Trump campaign's lawsuit

Wayne State University law professor and Constitutional law expert Robert Sedler talks about the lawsuit the Trump campaign has filed in the Michigan Court of Claims seeking to stop the vote counting until the campaign had “meaningful access” to the ballots. Sedler said the suit was unlikely to succeed. “Article II, section 4 of the Michigan Constitution, the "purity of elections" clause, says that the Legislature shall enact laws to preserve the purity of elections, to preserve the secrecy of the ballot, to guard against abuses of the elective franchise, and to provide for a system of voter registration and absentee voting. The Legislature has enacted such laws, and local clerks comply with them. The court will not in any circumstances order a stop to counting of ballots. Every vote must count, no matter how long it takes.”
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Racism impact: No longer a Black/White issue

“When you look at the numbers beyond COVID, for African Americans, they have the worst health conditions – diabetes, heart conditions, obesity, high blood pressure – because of diet and poverty, the stressors for living in poverty,” said Khari Brown, associate professor of sociology at Wayne State University with a specialization in race, religion and politics. “Living and eating healthy, exercising, is a function of class and education, not just of the individual’s class but of your social class and being in a network.” Brown explained that we are all in numerous “networks” – friendship networks, networks of our children’s friends, a neighborhood network of where we live, professional networks, religious network, and others. “If you’re in a network with a knowledgeable group, you become more knowledgeable. It’s one of the reasons African Americans have some of the worst health and worst health outcomes. They live in poor communities with poor access to health. You have poor individuals that are living in poor neighborhoods – they’re in poor friendship networks – eating healthy and exercising is a function of class,” Brown said. “It’s one more variable. It’s race and class and place. It’s where you are. If you see people running, biking, kayaking – it looks fun. You may want to try it. It’s exposure. Place matters.”  
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A look at the most contentious presidential elections in history

It’s Election Day 2020 and after a long and contentious campaign, tensions are running high. It feels like the country is the most divided it has been since the Civil War. Some are worried that the current climate of political instability could jeopardize the country’s democratic process. Though this election cycle is certainly unprecedented, it isn’t the first contentious election in America’s history. What can we learn from previous fraught elections and how the country endured after them? Marc Kruman, founding director of the Center for the Study of Citizenship and professor of history, says that the current election feels very different and is different from those in recent history. “This is the most contentious presidential election of my lifetime,” says Kruman. He adds that the erosion of trust evidenced throughout this election cycle makes it a uniquely anxious event. “I think that if we are going to compare it, it would probably be to the election of 1876,” says Kruman, adding the caveat that the 1876 election was far tenser than the lead up to 2020. The current climate of division, though anxiety-inducing, may actually be necessary according to Kruman. “Contentiousness actually has led to greater voter participation and greater enthusiasm and that speaks to the health of our democracy,” says Kruman.
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Americans in Windsor area 'on pins and needles' as election results trickle in

Saeed Khan, the director of global studies at Wayne State University, said as the world anticipates results, a tremendous number of votes were cast as absentee or mail-in ballots, which in many places might take days to count, and that includes Michigan. "There's also going to be a sense of uncertainty when it comes to what's going to be the rhetoric," he said. He pointed out earlier in the evening that it was expected President Trump might declare victory based on the trajectory of the race so far. "However, as this thing will go longer and longer and the votes start coming in, then we're going to find the race tightening up and perhaps with Democrats doing far better," Khan said. "If that then turns into an issue, where Biden can then claim victory, especially in the Electoral College, we're going to find not just a rhetorical battle occurring, but we're also going to find several legal challenges because President Trump has never been predisposed to be someone who will concede a defeat, and particularly one where he feels as though it's on a technical matter."
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Ford CEO's dangerous racing hobby raises questions over risk to shareholders

Ford Motor Co.'s new CEO Jim Farley's racing hobby is risky business that raises the stakes for shareholders if he is injured or killed doing it, some business experts said. Ford's Executive Chairman Bill Ford has signed off on Farley continuing to race his vintage cars, raising concerns over what measures are being taken to protect Farley and the company in the event he has an accident. Giving Farley the flag to keep racing isn't so bad, said Marick Masters, interim chair of the Department of Finance at Wayne State University, who has studied the risks of executive behavior over the years. “The probability of them dying from these kinds of activities is relatively small,” Masters said. “There are all kinds of engagements company executives participate in, from sky diving to scuba diving to horse jumping. But these are much less dangerous than obesity, heart disease, smoking and drinking.” The death of an executive could hurt the company’s performance in the near term if that executive is pivotal to the company, Masters said. But established companies such as Ford build a bench of leaders to survive any situation, he said. “I’d be more concerned in today’s world whether an executive might abuse drugs, use alcohol or commit sexual harassment,” Masters said. “Those would put the company at risk in that the executive is not performing at an optimal level and could adversely affect the company’s finances.” Masters said it's a safe bet that Ford is "loaded up" on insurance for its executives. Besides, a good leader should come out from behind the desk and live life, he said. "Many executives are very driven people who like to be adventurous, otherwise they wouldn’t be in those positions, and it goes with the territory," Masters said. "Teddy Roosevelt liked to do big game hunting, that’s dangerous. Nobody took more risks in World War II and throughout his life than Winston Churchill did."
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This is why you love to be scared

Halloween is almost here which means ghouls, ghosts and goblins will be lurking around every corner, ready to scare you. But have you ever wondered why so many of us love to be scared? Whether it's a scary movie or haunted house, the experts say the thrill and desire of getting creeped out is rooted deep inside your brain. But being able to suspend our disbelief and tap into that primal part of our brain isn't new. "The fear system evolved hundreds of thousands of years ago to prepare us for real dangerous situations," Dr. Arash Javanbakht of Wayne State University said. "Our current environment is too safe so, basically, those fear experiences could also be a form of practice." Javanbakht said constantly asking ourselves "what would I do in that situation?" is a problem-solving exercise to prepare us for similar situations. Experts say that fear can be a great motivator for good. Challenging yourself to face your fears can be a healthy way of proving to yourself that you are capable of things you may not have thought possible.
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Yoga may bolster the brain regions most affected by aging

Yoga is deeply linked to traditional Eastern medicine and a view of the body as a system of energy channels and nexuses—a perspective that does not easily align with Western medicine. But since the start of this century, scientific research on yoga has exploded. Many recent studies assess yoga as a “complementary therapy” to be used alongside other treatments for problems such as back pain, depression, anxiety and arthritis. Such research often has found that the practice can help. Still, yoga studies tend to be of uneven quality, often relying on self-reported survey data. Research shows that three patterns emerged with some consistency: yoga practice could be linked to increased gray matter volume in the hippocampus, a key structure for memory; increased volume in certain regions of the prefrontal cortex, the seat of higher-order cognition; and greater connectivity across the default mode network. This network plays a role in processing memories and emotions and “what we call self-referential processing—processing information about yourself,” explains Jessica Damoiseaux, a cognitive neuroscientist at Wayne State University and co-author of the review paper. The significance of having more gray matter volume in these regions is not entirely clear, she says, but “it suggests there may be more connections between neurons, which can indicate better functioning.”
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Public history project illuminates past pandemics

According to Wayne State University history professor Marsha Richmond, the key to moving forward from the COVID-19 pandemic may just lie in the past. Since April 2020, Richmond has been recruiting faculty and students from across the university to help us all learn from epidemics and pandemics throughout history. Named the Pandemic Perspectives project, it serves as a virtual classroom that views both the current crisis and past pandemics through a historical and sociological lens. Comprised of video lectures, virtual presentations, and podcasts, the project illustrates how the world dealt with pestilence and communicable illnesses in the past. With nearly a dozen modules, the project covers everything from smallpox and the Bubonic Plague to HIV/AIDS. “The aim is to be able to learn from the course of past pandemics and epidemics in human history,” says Richmond. “This may shed light on and provide new insights — or a broader perspective — about our current experience.”