From U-M to GM, May Mobility and now Newlab Detroit, Alisyn Malek has become one of the country’s top innovators. Named one of the top-10 innovators to watch by the Smithsonian Institution, her experience as a founder and entrepreneur has served her well for her most recent endeavor. In July she became managing director of Newlab Detroit, a collaboration with Michigan Central, Ford Motor Co.’s mobility innovation district in Corktown. 

The focus of this past year’s Student Design Competition was the Midtown Cultural Center, a district in Detroit consisting of multiple cultural institutions. Students were challenged to utilize technology to support the mission of the Midtown Cultural Center.

More than 150 community members gathered to celebrate a year of “making” at the Brightmoor Maker Space recently. The Detroit Community Schools and the University of Michigan’s Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design hosted the open house to celebrate its first academic year in operation.

Experts from eight units across the university and a group of 15 students teamed up to create the Community Engagement: Collaborating for Change massive open online course (MOOC).

Striving to implement transformational social change, the University of Michigan’s Center for Social Impact has encouraged students to find innovative ways to positively impact the city of Detroit.

Rick Haas has been passionate about cars from a young age, purchasing his first vehicle with lawn-mowing money before he was old enough to get behind the wheel. His passion never waned, steering him toward engineering and a career in the automotive industry.

In 2015, U-M researchers at the Graham Sustainability Institute were awarded a $3 million grant from the Erb Family Foundation to determine the relative contributions of various phosphorus sources, both urban and agricultural, in the Detroit River watershed.

On the former sites of vacant Detroit homes, University of Michigan researchers and their partners have built innovative gardens that help manage stormwater while removing neighborhood blight.

The University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business annual Impact Challenge is considered one of the most ambitious and immersive leadership development programs of its kind for business school students.