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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

