[RE]vive – Refugee Education Initiative

Ayah Kutmah

BA ’20

[RE]vive began as a student project initiated by myself and my partner, Brooke Bacigal, to address the “Lost Generation,” a term referring to a generation of Syrian students that, due to the longevity of the conflict, have been unable to go to school and access education. We spent last year developing a College Preparatory and Professional Development workshop for Syrian refugees in Istanbul, Turkey. Along with other team members, my partner and I worked with the Karam Foundation to host and teach this two-week long workshop to both students and teachers. The resounding success we observed and the relationships we made inspired me to expand this project to refugee communities in the US. The next stage of our project is to refine the curriculum we had developed over the summer, particularly to be more US-centric, and create multiple “versions” of the curriculum so that the material can be taught in different time increments. While doing this, we plan on reaching out to leaders and NGOs in various refugee communities to be able to then host these workshops and access these communities.

Library Mentors: Gabriel Duque and Marna Clowney-Robinson

Map your Story, Wear your Story

Adrianna Kusmierczyk

BFA ’19

Through the process of conversation and collaging historical maps with found imagery, I will create a series of mixed media “identity maps” that will be printed onto textiles to design customized garments. While doing some summer reading I came across a term used by the Situationist International group, psychogeography, the idea that environments shape human emotion and behavior. I decided to make this a key term in the development of my research on how people’s identities are shaped by places, their surroundings, and their upbringing. Every individual featured in this project will end up with a customized print and garment that tells a story about their identity. The customized collages will include maps from hometowns, old photos, memories, patterns and other elements that I feel will best represent the individual’s identity and personality after having interviewed them. The final exhibition will feature the hanging textile prints and a styled photo of the individual and their custom garment within a publication. To help understand my project visually I have attached this link (https://adriannakusmierczyk.tumblr.com) to my thesis process blog that I will be updating with iterations, research and inspiration.

Library Mentors: Jamie Vander Broek and Tim Utter

Wealth Essentialism in Adults and Children

Zaina Khoury

BS ’19

Psychological essentialism is the idea that certain categories, such as “male” or “wealthy,” are defined by underlying, innate, and non-obvious features. In other words, essentialist reasoning posits that someone is born with a particular quality, that they will always possess the quality, and that it may be used to categorize the individual. Our study will focus on wealth, specifically the qualities of richness and poorness, and assess the degree to which adults and children alike think about these characteristics. Being able to reliably essentialize certain qualities may be helpful in constructing categories and predicting characteristics of novel concepts or objects. That said, essentialist reasoning about people may be conducive to harmful stereotypes and premature judgments. Understanding how we categorize others could one day reduce the harm inflicted by negative stereotypes and encourage a more inclusive society. The adult portion of the present study is unique in that we will be testing for possible relationships between essentialism scores, socioeconomic status, and political affiliation. This is a multidisciplinary project which incorporates concepts from a variety of fields.

Library Mentor: Hailey Mooney

SEGH’s Global Health Crisis Case Competition

Kashvi Gupta

MPH ’19

Students Engaged in Global Health (SEGH) is planning our first-ever university-wide “Global Health Crisis Challenge.” The competition will focus on a relevant and reasonably complex global health issue, such as a natural disaster or an infectious disease outbreak. Students will be challenged to find a real-world solution to the problem that is both innovative and sustainable. Presentations will be judged on the feasibility of the solution, the involvement of all stakeholders in the development of the solution, optimization of resources present in the country assigned and those allocated as well as cultural appropriateness of the solution. On the first day of the competition, teams will be given the case details and they will additionally receive text messages, emails and social media content (through our Instagram and Facebook handles) about ongoing updates in the case. Teams can use details from the case and stimulation of the crisis to strategize and develop their solution. They will also have access to the library resources and guidance on how to navigate the resources. Next day, teams will be asked to present their proposal to a panel of judges as well as the press (that is, the audience) followed by a question and answer session. The competition will enable students to develop skills to manage uncertainty, and lead teams in high-stakes environments.

Library Mentor: Preet Rana

Global Identity and Altruism

Aber John Espinoza

BA ’21

Our current project is a follow-up to research we completed in India last year, where we found that cultural openness and respect for diversity explain the relationship between global identity and heightened global prosociality. In this project proposal we are looking to extend our work in India to include an experiment testing the same variables as our first correlational study, using the experimental manipulations of global identity we developed in the United States. This project is unique in that studies focusing on superordinate identity have been predominantly conducted in Western countries while this study was conducted in India, a non-Western country, that has experienced significant Westernization and globalization in regard to tourism, business, and culture since the mid 1800s. By providing evidence that those who identify as “global” are more globally prosocial toward out-groups, this research builds upon previous literature focusing on the connection between global identity, intergroup relations, and prosociality, while lending an Indian perspective.

Library Mentor: Hailey Mooney

Activity Breaks in the Classroom for Academic Excellence

Katie Chan

BSN ’19

            

From left: Kate Chan and partner Sarah An

We are Sarah An and Katie Chan, nursing students at the University of Michigan. We partnered with Project Healthy Schools to work with the Detroit Public Schools Community District. Together, we are launching a pilot program at two schools based off the Take10! model, which incorporates 10 minute physical activity breaks during class time in order to improve focus and academic performance. We are looking to compare on-task behavior and lesson retention in two second grade classes, one that participated in the Take10! model and one that did not. Our plan is to use the second grade program at one school and adapt it for the 7th grade at the other school. We believe that presenting a case study assessing the impact of the Take10! model with supportive positive evidence to the staff at the end of the semester will help to encourage other teachers to participate in the program next semester.

Library mentors: Kate Saylor and Jackie Freeman

Dale, Dale, Dale

Natalia Cuevas

BFA ’19

Dale, Dale, Dale is an interactive installation that touches upon systemic and symbolic violence against Latinx immigrants using the traditional act of piñatas to reference the commodification of a community and culture. I plan to construct 50 life-size, human-shaped piñatas, each representing a migrant-dependent industry particular to each state within the United States, as a way to explore to the vulnerability, pain, and resilience of the migrant workforce. I will juxtapose the celebratory essence of the piñata with impending violence within our economy to encourage a deeper understanding of one another and connect viewers to the social/political realities of the migrant workforce. This project will examine the overwhelming sense of animosity towards migrant labor in order to debunk the myth of the “job stealing immigrant”, and seeks to expose the underlying hypocrisy surrounding exploitation of migrant labor, immigration policies, and anti-immigrant sentiment within America. This project will not only explore my own family history and community, but will also help me understand my positionality as a first generation Mexican-American within the context of migrant labor.

Library Mentors: Jamie Vander Broek and Sheila Garcia

Disability Studies Catalog and Collection

Jeff Edelstein

MA ’19

While initiatives like the University of Michigan Initiative for Disability Studies (UMInDS) have started to build academic programming with respect to disability studies, the infrastructure for the implementation of disability studies into general diverse and inclusive research, teaching, and scholarship is still relatively limited. I plan to fill in gaps in UM resources and provide physical artifacts for a collection of selected resources to be maintained by UMInDS. By establishing a thorough catalog of written and audiovisual content (e.g. books, articles, and documentaries), I hope to benefit faculty and students throughout UM who wish to integrate disability perspectives into their instruction and studies.

Library Mentor: Stephanie Rosen

Medical Surplus Redistribution: Project Ghana

Corey Efros

BS ’19

Blueprints for Pangaea is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that reallocates excess, unused medical supplies from hospitals in the United States to hospitals abroad. Our process includes collecting, storing, and arranging transport of these supplies to foreign hospitals. In our Ann Arbor chapter, we collaborate with Michigan Medicine by collecting their excess supplies and shipping them through partner Medical Surplus Recovery Organizations. Our organization’s unique supply redistribution has a three-fold impact rather than just one. Firstly, we redistribute supplies to those in need, increasing accessibility and helping save lives. Secondly, we curb supply chain inefficiency by redirecting the use of millions of dollars of supplies. Lastly, we substantially reduce exacerbation of carbon emissions and, consequently, environmental burden. More information can be found at https://www.blueprintsforpangaea.org/ and https://www.facebook.com/b4pangaea/

Library Mentor: Preet Rana