July 12, 2017

Board of Regents meets July 12

The U of M Board of Regents will receive the second annual update on the University Progress Card, a tool used to track progress on high-level institutional goals, at its July meeting. Progress Card highlights include increasing graduation rates, a higher Twin Cities campus first-year student average ACT score, an increase in institutional gift aid systemwide, and greater Twin Cities campus R&D expenditures. The board will also receive annual updates from Gopher Athletics and the U of M Alumni Association, as well as discuss UMore Park. 

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Middle-class wages have stagnated over time

Middle- and working-class workers’ earnings in the US have been stagnating or sinking in recent decades, according to a study conducted by a group of researchers that included the University of Minnesota’s Fatih Guvenen. The team’s research explores how the lifetime income for men and women in the US has changed over six decades, from 1957 to 2013.

Sustainable rubber and plastics become a reality

Tire companies have long sought an efficient way to make isoprene—the main building block of natural rubber—from sugars found in trees, grass, and other plants. Now, a University of Minnesota-led team of engineers has given them one. The new discovery has the potential to expand domestic production of car tires from renewable sources and is expected to have an impact on many other rubber-based products.

Study: Link between community’s rate of military sacrifice, Trump support

Increasingly, a divide is emerging between communities whose residents are dying to defend the country and those communities whose young people are not. This divide—including a large urban-rural casualty gap—contributed to Donald Trump’s presidential victory in November 2016, says Francis Shen, a U of M law professor and coauthor of a study that has found a “significant and meaningful relationship” between a community’s rate of military sacrifice and its support for President Trump.

Humphrey School partnering on research to help Greater Minnesota

The Humphrey School is partnering with University of Minnesota Extension on a three-year study to examine economic and population trends in rural Minnesota, and to help communities attract more residents. Associate Professor Ryan Allen is co-leading the project. A report Allen authored earlier this year determined that attracting more immigrants is the key to growing Minnesota's labor force in the future.

Study determines what makes ‘successful’ smile

New research shows that less is more when it comes to a successful smile, which could have implications for how surgeons and therapists work with patients who have facial paralysis. The study observed how 802 people perceived 3D computer-animated facial models that had varying mouth angles, symmetry, extent of smile and amount of showing teeth. The researchers found that a successful smile may contradict the “more is always better” principle because bigger, toothier smiles were not as well perceived.

People

The Office of the Vice President for Research has announced the recipients of the 2017 Research Infrastructure Investment Program; the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum has achieved the highest national recognition afforded to the nation’s museums; Sandy Ulsaker Wiese has been elected chair of the University of Minnesota Alumni Association’s board of directors; U in the News features highlights of U faculty and staff cited in the media.

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