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Thursday, May 12, 2016
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com NEWS
‘U’ faculty members elected to join
the National Academy of Sciences
New study links education to depression in Black men
Four new inductees
bring total University
membership to 29
By ISHI MORI
Daily Staff Reporter
Four University of Michigan
faculty members were elected as
members to the National Academy
of Sciences — one of the highest
honors in academia in the United
States —Tuesday.
Members of NAS are selected
for their exceptional achievements
and contributions to research
and their responsibilities include
advising the members of the
federal government on science,
engineering and medicine. The
University’s four inductees join
2,291 active members and 465
foreign
associates.
This
year
brought 84 newly elected members
to NAS nationwide.
The professors inducted —
Stephen Forrest, Judith Irvine,
Susan
Murphy
and
Melanie
Sanford — also bring the total
number
of
active
University
faculty members in the NAS to 29.
Irvine,
the
Edward
Sapir
Collegiate Professor of Linguistic
Anthropology, was elected for
her research on language use
in African social life, such as in
local politics, in creating and
expressing social hierarchy and
in the making and destruction of
social difference.
Irvine found her election to the
NAS to be a joyful surprise, as her
field is uncommon among NAS
members.
“I was completely astonished to
be elected to NAS – an unlooked-
for honor and… unusual for my
field,” Irvine wrote in an e-mail
interview. “There are linguists in
the Psychology section but not so
much in Anthropology, though
some in the past.”
Forrest, the Peter A. Franken
Distinguished
University
Professor of Engineering and
Paul G. Goebel Professor of
Engineering, was already elected
to the National Academy of
Engineering in 2003 prior to his
NAS election.
Forrest,
who
specializes
in electrical engineering and
material science, was elected to
the NAS for his lifelong work
that led to breakthroughs in the
understanding of soft materials,
which can be easily deformed by
thermal stresses or fluctuations at
room temperature. His previous
election to the NAE was based on
the exploitation of the materials
and structures he developed for
applications including fiber optic
communications and displays.
Forrest wrote in an e-mail
that his goal is to secure a
more sustainable future with
his research , adding that his
membership in the NAS can bring
him one step closer.
“I
work
at
the
very
interdisciplinary
boundary
between
materials,
physics
and engineering, primarily on
photonic (that is optical) devices
for displays, lighting and solar
cells,”
Forrest
wrote.
“Since
lighting and solar cells both affect
our use and generation of energy,
you can see that I have a deep
interest
in
sustainability
and
helping the world toward greater
independence from fossil fuel.”
Murphy
was
elected
for
her research on mobile health
platforms,
specifically
for
developing
algorithms
for
wearable devices which deliver
individually tailored treatments.
Murphy
is
the
Herbert
E.
Robbins Distinguished University
Professor of Statistics, a research
New University
research finds high
school diploma
increases risk factors
By ALEXA ST. JOHN
Daily Staff Reporter
Despite
the
fact
that
an
education acts as a protective
factor against depression for most
social groups, it is conversely a
risk factor for depression among
Black men, according to a recent
University of Michigan study.
Soon
to
be
published
in
Frontiers
in
Public
Health,
the
findings
suggest
certain
intersections of race and gender
can lead to negative mental and
physical health conditions with
relation to education.
Shervin
Assari,
University
professor of psychiatry and lead
author of the study, said this
research — along with other
studies he has done regarding
the interactions between race,
gender and depressive symptoms
— has important social and public
policy implications.
Assari used data from the
Americans’
Changing
Lives
study
from
the
University’s
Institute for Social Research.
The study followed a nationally
representative sample of more
than 3,600 men and women for
25 years from 1986 to 2011. The
longitudinal
study
collected
data regarding a range of social,
psychological
and
behavioral
factors, according to its website.
According to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention,
5.6 percent of Blacks experience
moderate depressive symptoms
as compared to 4.3 percent of
non-Hispanic whites.
For the most recent study,
Assari focused on two outcomes
—
depressive
symptoms
and
the number of current medical
conditions — to survey how
education can protect against
depressive symptoms in white
men, white women, Black women
and Black men.
Assari said there are multiple
things that can be considered
protective factors — aspects of
life which promote health and
well-being — but his research
focused solely on education and
income.
“These types of resources help
the individual avoid risk and
minimize the consequence of
risks when they happen,” Assari
said. “When you have education,
education is the risk resource
for you not to get the medical
conditions that lower-educated
or people with lower education
would be at higher risk for. These
are types of social resources that
an individual can use to navigate.”
The study looked at how
baseline education — such as
the number of years in school or
the type of degree or credentials
earned — influences behavior.
Assari wanted to see how baseline
education could predict change in
depressive symptoms and chronic
medical conditions over 25 years.
According to Assari, for both
white men and white women,
having a high school diploma is
protective
against
depressive
symptoms, yet for Black women,
having these credentials neither
protects
nor
increases
the
risk. For Black men, however,
education correlates with an
increase in the risk of depression.
“In all groups, (education) is
protective with one exception,
which is Black men,” Assari
said. “If other people have a
high school diploma, they are
definitely not at higher risk of
ACADEMICS
HEALTH
See FACULTY, Page 9
See EDUCATION, Page 9