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Our podcast offers a fresh way to stay connected with UMRA and the greater University of Michigan community. Whether through our many Seminar and Learn & Grow sessions, delivered by prominent faculty and inspirational community leaders, or intellectual discussions by our vibrant interest groups – UMRA Reads and UMRA Travels – we are certain you will find each episode engaging; fitting conveniently into your daily routines and busy schedules.
Episodes
Wednesday Jan 24, 2024
Progress in Developing Clean, Cheap and Sustainable Energy through Solar Power
Wednesday Jan 24, 2024
Wednesday Jan 24, 2024
Dr. Zetian Mi's is a Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Michigan who is focused on the investigation of semiconductor nanostructures and their application in electronic, photonic, clean energy, and quantum devices and systems.
A new kind of solar panel, developed at the U-M, has achieved 9% efficiency in converting water into hydrogen and oxygen—mimicking a crucial step in natural photosynthesis. Outdoors, it represents a major leap in technology, nearly 10 times more efficient than previous solar water-splitting experiments of its kind. But the biggest benefit is driving down the cost of sustainable hydrogen.
Currently, humans produce hydrogen from the fossil fuel methane, using a great deal of fossil energy in the process. However, plants harvest hydrogen atoms from water using sunlight. As humanity tries to reduce its carbon emissions, hydrogen is attractive as both a standalone fuel and as a component in sustainable fuels made with recycled carbon dioxide. "In the end, we believe that artificial photosynthesis devices will be much more efficient than natural photosynthesis, which will provide a path toward carbon neutrality," said Zetian Mi.
Dr. Mi will describe the innovative research in his lab and discuss overall progress towards developing clean, sustainable energy.
Wednesday Jan 24, 2024
Adventures in Bee Keeping
Wednesday Jan 24, 2024
Wednesday Jan 24, 2024
Beekeeping basics with novices Patty and Steve Bebee and experienced beekeepers Amy and Beau LaFleur. They provide a short overview of getting started as a hobbyist beekeeper and share our experiences getting started, hive components, life inside the colony, the different jobs of honeybees, and a year in the life of a beekeeper. Equipment, clothing, costs, time, and what about getting stung? If time permits, we can talk about honey harvesting/benefits of honey. They finish with a panel discussion on how and why we started beekeeping.
Monday Dec 18, 2023
Monday Dec 18, 2023
Dr. Mark Clague -- Associate Dean for Collaborations and Partnerships, Professor of Music and Director of the U-M Gershwin Initiative and Co-Editor-in-Chief MUSA -- talks about the University of Michigan Gershwin Initiative is an ongoing scholarly examination of the Gershwins' music, in which U-M scholars in collaboration with peers from across the nation and globe, document and analyze—note-by-note and word-by-word—the treasure trove of works featuring music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin—including Porgy and Bess, often considered America's greatest opera—as well as the celebrated instrumental works by George Gershwin. Professor Clague will share the current findings for these analyses and discuss how the Initiative is contributing to student education and the international music community.
Thursday Dec 14, 2023
UMRA Reads: My Planet: Finding Humor in the Oddest Places by Mary Roach
Thursday Dec 14, 2023
Thursday Dec 14, 2023
New York Times best-selling author Mary Roach was a hit columnist in the Reader's Digest magazine, and this book features the articles she wrote in that time. The quirky, brilliant author takes a magnifying glass to everyday life, exposing moments of hilarity in the mundane. Insightful and hilarious, Mary explores the ins and outs of the modern world: marriage, friends, family, food, technology, customer service, dental floss, and ants—she leaves no element of the American experience unchecked for its inherent paradoxes, pleasures, and foibles.
Thursday Nov 16, 2023
UMRA Reads: Dawn of Detroit by Tiya Miles
Thursday Nov 16, 2023
Thursday Nov 16, 2023
Tiya Miles is the recipient of a 2011 MacArthur Foundation "genius grant" and is a professor at the University of Michigan in the departments of American culture, Afro-American and African studies, history, women's studies, and in the Native American Studies Program. She lives in Ann Arbor.
"Extracting seemingly lost lives from sparse records to recover the humanity of people regarded as property, Tiya Miles exposes the tenacity of slavery and forced labor, both black and Indian, in multiethnic and multicultural Detroit during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries."
Wednesday Nov 15, 2023
Complexities of China-U.S. Relations
Wednesday Nov 15, 2023
Wednesday Nov 15, 2023
Professor Mary Gallagher is the Amy and Alan Lowenstein Professor of Democracy, Democratization, and Human Rights, Professor of Political Science and Director of the International Institute in the College of Literature, Science and the Arts at the University of Michigan. She is also a Research Associate Professor at the Center for Political Studies for the Institute for Social Research also at U-M
Mary is an expert in Chinese politics, law and society, and labor politics. A U-M faculty member since 2000, she directed U-M's Kenneth G. Lieberthal and Richard H. Rogel Center for Chinese Studies from 2008 to 2020. She also taught at the Foreign Affairs College in Beijing, was a Fulbright Research Scholar at East China University of Politics and Law in Shanghai, and, in 2012-13, was a visiting professor at the Koguan School of Law at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
Professor Gallagher is the author of Authoritarian Legality in China: Law, Workers and the State, and Contagious Capitalism: Globalization and the Politics of Labor in China. She also co-edited three other books: Chinese Justice: Civil Dispute Resolution in Contemporary China; From Iron Rice Bowl to Informalization: Markets, Workers, and the State in a Changing China; and Contemporary Chinese Politics: New Sources, Methods, and Field Strategies. Additionally, she has published many articles in academic and non-academic publications, including World Politics, The Washington Post and The New York Times. Dr. Gallagher is a member of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations and has consulted for the World Bank, the U.S. State Department and Department of Labor, and many other international organizations. In 2018, Professor Gallagher received a U-M Faculty Recognition Award for her contributions to the understanding of China and autocratic regimes, her teaching, and her leadership.
Thursday Oct 26, 2023
UMRA Reads: The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
Thursday Oct 26, 2023
Thursday Oct 26, 2023
The Thursday Murder Club is an intelligent mystery about a group of senior citizens who find themselves in the center of a murder investigation.
Wednesday Oct 18, 2023
Learn & Grow: Preparing Your Gardens for Winter
Wednesday Oct 18, 2023
Wednesday Oct 18, 2023