Awards and Recognition

Governor Tim Walz and Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan announced appointments to the Children’s Cabinet Advisory Council and the State Advisory Council on Early Childhood Education and Care. Rebecca Shlafer and Megan Gunnar have been appointed by the governor to the Children’s Cabinet Advisory Council while Aaron Sojourner was named to the State Advisory Council on Early Childhood Education and Care. The councils will make recommendations to support community engagement and the work of carrying out Executive Order 19-34 across state government and the Children’s Cabinet.

Dana Davis comments at CBS Minnesota about whether we should be concerned about all the germs on our phones; George Weiblen is quoted in Medium about the high-stakes race to breed cannabis with no THC; Kristi Flynn is quoted in Mic about dog anxiety treatments that don't involve drugs; Maggie Towle and Erin Keyes are quoted in a Minnesota Daily story on a new mental health space planned for the west bank; Tim Kehoe comments in the Star Tribune on the trade war and some good news for farmers; Michael Osterholm is quoted in a New York Times (PDF) story about a deadly fungus found in hospitals and nursing homes; Julia Ponder is quoted in an MPR News story about the record number of injured bald eagles admitted to The Raptor Center.

About one in three kids in the U.S. is overweight or obese, which is nearly three times the number seen in the 1960s. A team of researchers led by Claudia Fox, associate professor of Pediatrics and co-director of the Center for Pediatric Obesity Medicine at the University of Minnesota, has received a five-year, $3.2 million grant to study treatments for severe obesity in adolescents. The grant is awarded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health.

Scott St. George is quoted in a New York Times (PDF) story about using music to illustrate climate change; Ziad Nahas was interviewed in a CBS Minnesota story on how light therapy works; Tetyana Shippee is quoted in a MPR News story on a state report card being developed for assisted living facilities; George John comments on the future of brick-and-mortar shopping centers at CBS Minnesota; P.J. Fleck's new contract was covered by the Mpls./St. Paul Business Journal (PDF); Robert Stewart and Christopher Uggen are featured in a Inside Higher Ed story on a U of M study showing that colleges are more likely to reject applicants who report felony convictions; Andrew Winton comments in CBS Minnesota on the growing trend in online banking; Elaine Tyler May is quoted in a New York Times (PDF) story about fertility access; William Doherty is mentioned in The Atlantic story, “Can Marriage Counseling Save America?”

Michael-Paul Schallmo, assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry, recently received a $740,000 grant to begin using vision as a tool in studying schizophrenia.

Sonya Wang, pediatric neurologist with M Health Fairview and associate professor in the Department of Neurology at the University of Minnesota Medical School, recently received a grant of more than $800,000 over two years from the National Institutes of Health to research the effects of music-based intervention (MBI) on neurodevelopment and pain response in preterm infants. The objectives for the research are to identify differences between MBI and controls in preterm brain maturation and early neurodevelopment, and to measure differences in preterm pain responses between MBI and controls. Michael Silverman, director of the Music Therapy Program and a distinguished teaching professor in the U of M School of Music, will be working alongside Wang on this research grant.

Jane Kirtley is quoted in a New York Times (PDF) story on the latest entry in podcasts: true-crime ‘copcasts’; David Tilman is quoted in a National Public Radio story on a study showing that a healthy diet is better for the planet; George John comments in CBS Minnesota on the ever-proliferating rise of streaming services; Lucy Dunne is interviewed in Gizmodo on the future of wearable technology; Pri Shah is interviewed in the WCCO story, “What Makes A Good Boss?”; Rachel Hardeman is quoted in US News & World Report on a Minneapolis birth center that is battling racial inequity; Vic Massaglia, Meagan Pierluissi, and Jabra Kawas are quoted in a Minnesota Daily story about a new U of M group created for faculty, staff and graduate students veterans; Mark Bergen is quoted in Marketplace about the marketing tactics behind those odd weights and sizes you see at the supermarket; Alik Widge is quoted in MinnPost about why a much-hyped treatment for depression faces an uncertain future.

Robert McMaster is quoted in the Minnesota Daily on the record diversity found in this year’s U of M Twin Cities freshman class; Robert Vince, Swati More, and James Beach are mentioned in a Kare 11 story about how their eye scan could catch Alzheimer's early; George John is quoted in the Pioneer Press (PDF) about how malls are embracing new occupants as brick-and-mortar retail struggles; Jason Varin is quoted in the Yahoo! story, “You're Probably Taking Too Much Advil”; sun exposure can affect your microbiome, with comments from Alexander Khoruts at NBC News; the U.S. has stopped Ebola before, but that is no guarantee it will repeat that success, with comments from Michael Osterholm in the Washington Post (PDF); Sharon Jansa answers the Star Tribune’s question, “How did Minnesota become the Gopher State?”; Nancy Sims is interviewed in a Kare 11 story about Lizzo sharing a writing credit for her song, 'Truth Hurts'; Katharine Nelson comments at CBS Minnesota about why some of us are so afraid of creepy-crawly animals; Sexually active Minnesota teens are making healthier choices, with comments from Jill Farris in the Star Tribune; Jay Amundson comments in a Minnesota Daily story about U of M campus efforts toward climate action.

A new partnership between the Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement (CAREI), the Wisconsin Center for Education Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the Wisconsin-based nonprofit Education Analytics has won a five-year, $6.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The project’s goal is to improve the academic achievement of elementary and secondary school students in the two-state region by advancing the use of evidence-based practices.

A recent National Institute of Health (NIH) grant for $1.9 million over five years will allow Mikael Elias, assistant professor of biochemistry, molecular biology and biophysics and a member of the BioTechnology Institute, to continue exploring how bacteria communicate with each other. The grant builds on recent discoveries in the Elias lab. Bacteria rely on a shared language to group up and form communities. Taking advantage of this, the lab recently modified an enzyme to break up this communication pathway. Rather than killing off unwanted bacteria, which is how antibiotics work, the enzyme prevents bacteria from grouping up and lessens their collective impact.