Look to Michigan Faculty Expansion Program (FEP)

At its November 2025 meeting, the Board of Regents approved the appointment of the following U-M faculty members to a Michigan Impact Professorship:

• David Conroy
  Professor and Bickner Chair of Applied Exercise Science
  School of Kinesiology
  Advanced Technology; Health and Well-Being Impact AreasProfessor Conroy’s work centers on designing tools that empower individuals to engage in everyday physical activities that can significantly enhance their well-being. His research explores innovative ways to make physical activity more enjoyable and accessible, ultimately supporting sustained behavior change. His teaching is deeply integrated with his research, as he is committed to preparing the next generation of physical activity professionals to address emerging global challenges, such as how climate change shapes opportunities for movement and health. A dedicated and passionate educator, Professor Conroy is known for applying evidence-based teaching practices that contribute to the success and growth of his students.

• Sara Dean
  Associate Professor
  Penny Stamps School of Art & Design
  Energy, Climate Action, Sustainability and Environmental Equity Impact AreaProfessor Dean’s research and creative practice is anchored in innovative, collaborative solutions for the common good. She is nationally recognized for her avante garde creative practices and ethical approaches to designing social interventions and object-oriented systems for creating healthier communities. Her work addresses pressing global challenges while promoting equitable, resilient futures, with a focus on access, transparency, the commons, and resilience. As an educator, Professor Dean conceives of design education as an opportunity to develop a critical perspective, a sustained practice, and a lifelong sense of curiosity.

• Jonathan Lifshitz
  Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
  Medical School
  Health and Well-Being Impact AreaProfessor Lifshitz is an internationally recognized leader in traumatic brain injury and a respected scientist known for his significant research contributions. Professor Lifshitz examines neuroinflammation subsequent to diffuse brain injury, focused on rod microglia and also examines brain injury rehabilitation for somatosensory and cognitive impairments. His recent investigations have brought critical attention to domestic and intimate partner violence as under-recognized sources of traumatic brain injuries, and he aims to build supportive networks for those affected by these issues. Dr. Lifshitz deeply values a creative and collaborative research environment, sharing bold, unconventional ideas to encourage his team to think freely and innovatively and is committed to fostering a space where creative ideas can flourish and evolve into impactful research.

Approved proposals:

• Sports Analytics – College of Engineering, School of KinesiologyAs a truly cross-cutting field, sports analytics (SA) connects disciplines from engineering to kinesiology in the shared pursuit of understanding performance, decision-making, and human movement. SA spans high-performance sport, sports management, and physical activity behavior. Interest in SA has spanned the prediction questions in multi-phase tournaments to more fine-grained player-centric performance analytics with the view towards maximizing performance and minimizing injury risk. When overlaid by the access to wearable and AI-enabled technologies, these techniques present an unfettered availability of streaming biometric and physiological data. More recently, prescriptive analytics has led to player-customized training schedules while keeping soft-tissue injury risk below a threshold using optimization techniques, reliant on the sensor-based inertial measurement unit (IMU) data and time-varying environmental/contextual conditions from geospatial data. Our focus lies in building research capacity in these areas through the faculty expansion program. Aligned with the impact areas of advanced technology and human health and well-being, we envision a comprehensive campus-wide effort, leveraging domain strengths in Kinesiology, IOE, the Human Performance & Sport Science Center (HPSSC), and Michigan Athletics. Our goal lies in positioning U-M as a leader for research, education, and student experiential opportunities in sport science and analytics, a rapidly advancing field.

• Climate Hazards and Society – College of Literature, Science and the Arts, School for Environment and SustainabilityAs global temperature rises, climate-related hazards are becoming more frequent, intense, and dangerous. Both single and cascading climate hazards are intertwined with policy, legal, economic, and equity considerations as communities, industries, and governments respond. A deeper understanding of these evolving risks helps communities prepare for and respond to disasters more effectively and equitably, and informs long-term planning, infrastructure design, and policy decision-making. This cluster-hire initiative will amplify and create synergies between multiple existing U-M initiatives, and will be transformative in creating the nation’s leading university effort to accelerate the ability of society to address these hazards. It will galvanize the scientific understanding needed for climate hazard prediction and preparation and inform innovative solutions that create resilience in the face of intensifying hazards to come. This hiring initiative will catalyze impact in U-M’s Look to Michigan impact area, Energy, Climate Action, Sustainability and Environmental Equity by nucleating interdisciplinary, cross-campus work via the hire of two mid- to senior-level faculty.

• Sustainable Semiconductors for a Secure Future – College of Engineering, Ross School of Business, College of Literature, Science and the ArtsToday’s semiconductor supply chains are fragile, dependent on rare-earth inputs and toxic processing consumables, risks that cascade into sectors central to our economy. The solution to decouple production from toxic and rare inputs and translate molecular discovery into manufacturable practice will yield a semiconductor system that is more scalable, trusted, and sustainable. Four interdisciplinary faculty hires spanning the College of Engineering and the Ross School of Business (with collaboration from LSA Chemistry) will advance multiple impact areas of U-M’s Look to Michigan initiative (Advanced Technology; Energy, Climate Action, Sustainability, and Environmental Equity; and Life-Changing Education). The initiative will leverage state and national partnerships, as well as expanding cross-college curricula, experiential learning, and industry-embedded internships to develop a robust Michigan-based semiconductor workforce.

• Democracy Policy, Data, and Civic Education – Ford School of Public Policy, School of Information, Marsal Family School of EducationDemocratic societies around the world are facing converging crises that threaten their stability: eroding trust in institutions, administrative dysfunction, fragile digital infrastructures, and declining or unproductive participation in public life. The Ford School of Public Policy, the School of Information, and the Marsal Family School of Education are committed to a collaborative, interdisciplinary cluster hire of three faculty to advance U-M’s commitment to the Look to Michigan impact areas of Democracy, Civic & Global Engagement and Life-long Education. Together, these scholars will contribute to the backbone of an integrated intellectual network that positions U-M as a leader in shaping the policy, data, and educational foundations of democracy and civic engagement. All three units already share many productive partnerships; this initiative provides a critical opportunity to build new institutional structures that will cement these connections and create interdisciplinary and transformational research capacity in the areas of democracy policy, data, and civic education.

Approved proposals:

• • AI and Machine Learning in Drug Discovery – College of Pharmacy, Life Sciences Institute, Michigan Medicine
    
    The University of Michigan (U-M) aims to enhance its leadership in drug discovery by incorporating Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) into the process. This interdisciplinary approach seeks to improve the efficiency, success rate, and cost-effectiveness of drug development. U-M plans to hire three mid-career faculty members specializing in AI/ML in drug discovery, focusing on virtual drug screening, drug design and optimization, and predicting clinical outcomes. This initiative builds on U-M’s existing strengths, including its successful Michigan Drug Discovery program, and its collaborative environment that integrates computational and medicinal chemistry expertise. The hires will also foster industry partnerships, contribute to a self-sustaining research center, and help train the next generation of leaders in AI-driven drug development. The initiative aligns with U-M’s Look to Michigan goals as its primary aim to reduce the current 90% clinical failure rate and accelerate bringing new therapies to market.
  • Learning Sciences, Engineering, and Learning Project Design – Marsal Family School of Education, College of Engineering, U-M Center for Innovation
    
    This collaborative proposal (a partnership between the Marsal Family School of Education, the University of Michigan Center for Innovation, and the College of Engineering) is founded on the idea that U-M is known for the value it places on interdisciplinary collaborations. The proposal requests two tenure-track open rank or person-specific appointments with a focus on learning sciences, engineering, and learning product design. One position in the College of Engineering will focus on applying artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and virtual reality in an educational setting. The second position in Marsal will focus on developing and studying learning technologies and product design. The partnership seeks scholars whose focus is on the development and application of learning technologies to achieve just and equitable learning opportunities, teaching practices, policies, and engineering and education systems.
  • Advancing Artificial Intelligence Foundations – College of Engineering (Departments of Computer Science & Engineering, Electrical & Computer Engineering), College of Literature, Science & the Arts (Departments of Mathematics, Statistics)
    
    This proposal is focused on advancing and diversifying artificial intelligence (AI) foundations and is a joint effort between the College of Engineering, with participating departments Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) and Computer Science and Engineering (CSE), and the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, with participating departments Mathematics and Statistics.A primary motivation for this cluster hiring initiative is the fact that the current state of AI research is dominated by a monolithic learning architecture that requires enormous resources (both data and energy). We believe some attention is urgently needed in alternative learning paradigms, including “small” models that are less data/energy intensive, less prone to biases embedded in the data, and more amenable to interpretation. In addition, such (small and diversified) models are far easier to democratize, allowing many more individuals and entities to own, develop, use, and innovate. This type of pursuit requires expertise in the very foundations of machine learning and AI. As U-M looks to make substantial institutional investment in AI, it is uniquely positioned to take on this challenge and emerge as a leader. There is also a unique opportunity for some of these paradigms to emerge as the choice of the next generation of AI applications.
  • Generative AI-based Cognitive Science – College of Literature, Science & the Arts (Departments of Linguistics, Psychology, Philosophy; Weinberg Institute for Cognitive Science), Michigan Medicine (Department of Psychiatry)The University of Michigan plans to launch an interdisciplinary cluster hire targeting the explosive field of generative AI-based computational cognitive science. Recognizing the transformative potential of generative AI for understanding the mind and brain, this initiative aims to establish Michigan as a leader in this interdisciplinary arena. Under the aegis of the Weinberg Center for Cognitive Science and harnessing the energies of the departments of Linguistics, Psychology, Philosophy (all in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts) and Psychiatry (in the Medical School), the new cluster will form a dynamic interdisciplinary team. The Linguistics department seeks to explore human language acquisition using AI methodologies, while the Psychology department aims to decode reasoning and thinking through generative AI. Psychiatry will focus on applying AI to unravel the complexities of mental disorders. Philosophy will confront the ethical implications of these advancements.This initiative promises not only groundbreaking theoretical and practical developments; it aims to expand Michigan’s tradition of innovation in cognitive neuroscience through an enhanced collaborative research environment. By strategically positioning itself at the forefront of this rapidly advancing field, Michigan seeks to accompany its peer institutions in leading the future of cognitive science research.
  • Human-centered Artificial Intelligence – School of Information, College of Engineering (Department of Robotics), School of Social Work, School for Environment and Sustainability, Law School, Michigan Institute for Data & AI in Society
    
    Human-centered AI (HCAI) is an interdisciplinary approach to AI research that prioritizes human needs, values, and societal impact. It is essential for unlocking AI’s transformative potential in ways that meaningfully benefit humanity. The University of Michigan is uniquely positioned to lead in this field and strengthen its role at the forefront of world-changing AI research. To advance this vision, the School of Information, the College of Engineering’s Department of Robotics, the School of Social Work, the School for Environment and Sustainability, and the Law School—working in collaboration with the Michigan Institute for Data & AI in Society (MIDAS)—are pursuing a strategic cluster hire. This initiative will bring four world-class scholars to Michigan, expanding expertise in AI ethics and privacy, embodied AI-human collaboration, AI for social good, and AI for the health of the planet. By building on the strengths of these diverse and interconnected units, this cluster will further cultivate a vibrant, intellectually diverse HCAI research community, bolstering Michigan’s position as a global leader in responsible and impactful AI innovation.
  • Human Health & Well-Being – School of KinesiologyThe School of Kinesiology proposes hiring a faculty member who focuses on human motivation and developing behavioral interventions that promote health behavior change, helping people engage in ordinary behaviors that can have extraordinary impacts. An example of this is physical activity, a domain in which creative strategies to engage motivational processes must be employed to make behavior change less effortful and more enjoyable, and thus more lasting. This focus converges with the School’s aim to “challenge the idle state,” and is clearly aligned with the health and well-being impact area of the Look to Michigan framework.