The University of Michigan is developing new technologies, research, educational programs, and partnerships to better understand and effectively address the world’s most critical issues pertaining to infrastructure, from land use to housing and transportation disparities to the impacts of building materials.
From pioneering autonomous technologies to reimagining community engagement approaches, U-M’s research environment fosters creativity, collaboration, and effective problem-solving across a variety of disciplines and partnerships, including: the Center for Low Carbon Built Environment , the Center for Smart Infrastructure Finance, the Center for Sustainable Systems , Mcity and the Urban Collaboratory. Find U-M experts in sustainability and environmental science, across fields and academic units.
“Water conservation and access” brings a slew of images to mind: wastewater flowing through main lines to a city treatment plant, a fisherman yanking invasive mussels off the hull of a trawler, the installation of filters in communities that lack access to safely managed drinking water.
The old adage “the end justifies the means” is one way to critically paraphrase the philosophical underpinnings of the early 20th century environmental conservation movement. Historically, conservation leaders have stolen land from Indigenous people, enacted eminent domain land grabs, and perpetrated other unjust actions in service of environmental conservation. Rackham alum Rebeca Villegas (M.S., M.U.R.P. ’20) is changing that harmful dynamic.
The devastating floods that ripped through the northeast United States are among the most recent in a long string of severe flooding events occurring worldwide, which make it plain that better flood predictions and safety plans are needed. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, flooding causes $8 billion in losses on average annually in the U.S. alone.
No amount of air pollution is good for the brain, but wildfires and the emissions resulting from agriculture and farming in particular may pose especially toxic threats to cognitive health, according to new research from U-M. Increasingly, evidence shows exposure to air pollution makes the brain susceptible to dementia.
“The e-mobility revolution presents an opportunity for all of us to lead the world toward a more sustainable future. And, at Michigan, this means land, sea, space, and air mobility.”
Rather than being solely detrimental, cracks in the positive electrode of lithium-ion batteries reduce battery charge time, research done at U-M shows. This runs counter to the view of many electric vehicle manufacturers, who try to minimize cracking because it decreases battery longevity.
