President’s Award for Public Impact
2022 LILIA CORTINA, COLLEGE OF LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND THE ARTS; STEPHEN M. ROSS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
Lilia Cortina, a University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor and professor of psychology and of women’s and gender studies in LSA, and professor of management and organizations at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business, will receive the President’s Award for Public Impact honoring a faculty member whose research and expertise tangibly addresses a major public-sector challenge.
2021 H. LUKE SHAEFER POVERTY SOLUTIONS; GERALD R. FORD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC POLICY; SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK
H. Luke Shaefer, director of Poverty Solutions, professor of social work in the School of Social Work, and the Hermann and Amalie Kohn Professor of Social Justice and Social Policy in the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, will receive the 2021 President’s Award for Public Impact. This award honors individuals whose research and expertise tangibly addresses a major public-sector challenge.
Shaefer’s work on the expanded Child Tax Credit, and his impassioned dedication to leveraging research to help communities and advance social policy, were referenced in his nomination. The expansion of the tax credit was motivated in part by Shaefer’s work, on which he partnered with the city of Detroit.
2020 MARGARET DEWAR TAUBMAN COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN PLANNING
Margaret Dewar, PhD, professor emitera, urban & regional planning in the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, will receive the President’s Award for Public Impact. The award honors individuals whose research and expertise tangibly addresses a major public-sector challenge.
Dewar’s work focuses on American cities that have experienced abandonment and loss of employment, with the goal of helping strengthen deteriorated neighborhoods and enhance access to safe and affordable housing.
2019 MARC ZIMMERMAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Marc Zimmerman, director of the Prevention Research Center and the Michigan Youth Violence Prevention Center in the School of Public Health, received the President’s Award for Public Impact. The award honors individuals whose research and expertise tangibly addresses a major public-sector challenge.
Zimmerman is the Marshall H. Becker Collegiate Professor of Public Health and professor of health behavior and health education. He also is editor of Youth and Society, a member of the editorial board for Health Education Research, and editor emeritus of Health Education and Behavior. His research focuses on how positive factors in adolescents’ lives help them overcome risks, and measurement and analysis of psychological and community empowerment.
2018 JOSEPH RYAN SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK
Ryan has committed his career to improving the lives of children in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems in Michigan and other states. His research on the risk factors associated with child maltreatment has been critical in helping state governments and social service agencies better prevent abuse.
Along with Brian Perron, professor of social work, Ryan Launched the Child Development and Adolescent Data Lab to help policymakers and social service agencies use data and empirical evidence to better inform their decisions.
Former Gov. Rick Snyder appointed Ryan to the Michigan Committee on Juvenile Justice in 2018. His work using data to study child welfare, education, juvenile justice and adult arrest has helped the state think more critically about child welfare and justice policies. He also helped the Illinois Department of Children and Youth Services evaluate programs for families and youth at risk.
“The social problems we face today are incredibly complex and will not be solved in isolation by policymakers, direct service workers, agency directors or the scientific community,” Ryan said. “The answers we pursue will only arise in productive and focused partnerships. The opportunity to help build these partnerships to improve the lives of vulnerable children and families is inspiring and incredibly rewarding.
“I feel honored to work at the University of Michigan, an institution that values public service and actively encourages and supports faculty to build bridges between research labs and communities around the world.
“Scientific inquiry and the advancement of knowledge are foundational activities on campus. This award reflects the university’s commitment to using that knowledge for the sole purpose of making life better for others.”
School of Social Work Dean Lynn Videka said Ryan is a great example of a scholar who makes a difference in people’s lives.
“Joe Ryan is a transformative public scholar,” she said. “His work informs better policies and services for the children of Michigan, Illinois and the nation. His research serves the public good for our nation’s most vulnerable children and it is an exemplar of strong university-government partnerships.”
2017 MEGHAN DUFFY LSA; ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY
Meghan Duffy received her B.S. in biological sciences from Cornell University in 2000. After a brief stint working as a field technician in Antarctica, she moved to the Kellogg Biological Station and Michigan State University for graduate school. She received her Ph.D. in zoology and ecology, evolutionary biology and behavior from MSU in 2006. At the University of Wisconsin, she conducted postdoctoral research, which was supported by an NSF fellowship in biological informatics. From 2008-2012, she was an assistant professor in the School of Biology at Georgia Tech. She joined the EEB faculty at U-M in August 2012.
Duffy’s research focuses on the ecology and evolution of infectious diseases, especially in aquatic systems. In addition to her research activities, she writes for a popular ecology blog, Dynamic Ecology. She has received a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from President Barack Obama, the Mercer Award from the Ecological Society of America, and the Yentsch-Schindler Early Career Award from the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography.
Duffy is currently a public engagement fellow with the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Her outreach activities include teaching classes to middle and high school students in Southeast Michigan. She also writes for and speaks to general audiences, and is happy to speak with reporters about issues related to ecology, the ecology and evolution of infectious diseases, basic science, diversity in science, women in science, public engagement and outreach.
2017 ARTHUR LUPIA LSA; POLITICAL SCIENCE
Arthur Lupia is the Hal R. Varian Collegiate Professor of Political Science. He examines how people make decisions when they lack information and how they manage complex information flows. He draws from multiple scientific and philosophical disciplines and uses multiple research methods.
Lupia’s topics of expertise include information processing, persuasion, strategic communication and civic competence. He has held a range of scientific leadership positions, including principal investigator of the American National Election Studies. Lupia has also developed new means for researchers to better serve science and society.
As a founder of TESS (Time-Sharing Experiments in the Social Sciences), he has helped hundreds of scientists from many disciplines run innovative experiments on opinion formation and change using nationally representative subject pools. He contributed to the development of the EITM Summer Institutes, and currently serves as its lead PI. Lupia is regularly asked to advise scientific organizations and research groups on how to effectively communicate science in politicized contexts.
He currently serves chair of the National Academy of Science’s Roundtable of the Application of Social and Behavioral Science Research, is an executive member of the board of directors of Climate Central and is on the advisory board of the National Academies’ Division of Behavioral and Social Science and Education. He is past chair of the Division of Social, Economic and Political Sciences at the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Lupia has received multiple honors, including the Ithiel de Sola Pool Award from the American Political Science Association and the National Academy of Sciences’ Award for Initiatives in Research. He is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has been a Guggenheim Fellow and is one of the inaugural Andrew Carnegie Fellows. His newest book is titled “Uninformed: Why People Know So Little about Politics and What We Can Do about It.”
