Michigan Policy Wonk

Problems

• The Inclusion Payoff - The share of patents and new inventions by women and African American people has not matched the increase in the number of science and engineering degrees that those demographics have earned in recent years, MSU Economics Professor Lisa Cook says in an interview with NPR. Cook is an IPPSR affiliate.
• Michigan has over 100,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus - Dr. Peter Gulick, an infectious disease specialist and MSU professor of medicine, predicts the state may see another 100,000 cases by mid-January. Gulick, a speaker at an IPPSR Health Policy Issues group session, was quoted in the Detroit Free Press.
• COVID-19 recession could trigger a surprise tax cut in Michigan - The state is starved for revenue, according to IPPSR’s State of the State Director Charles Ballard. He is an MSU economics professor.

Policy

• What the Botched School Reopenings Taught Us, and How to Do It Better - Research shows students perform well with clear expectations and seamless transitions, concludes Katharine Strunk, professor of education policy and economics. She is co-director of the MSU Education Policy Innovation Collaborative, and frequent IPPSR research collaborator. EPIC most recently worked with IPPSR on a valuable database about K-12 classroom closing and reopening during the pandemic.
• Lack of internet access has become critical for Southern students - A new study from MSU’s Quello Center finds that students in the country’s south with high-speed internet access at home tend to have higher grade point averages than those without high-speed internet access at home. The center’s researchers are winners of an IPPSR Michigan Applied Public Policy Research program grant on Michigan broadband and student classroom performance.

Politics

• Hackel endorses campaign to revoke Whitmer’s emerency powers in coronavirus pandemic - Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel, a Democrat, has endorsed the Unlock Michigan campaign to repeal gubernatorial powers to control the pandemic coronavirus. He is a Michigan Political Leadership Program alum.
• Michigan School Reopening Decisions More Related to Partisan Politics than to COVID-19 Threat – Is there a partisan connection between K-12 schools that are offering classes in person and those that are continuing online education? IPPSR Affiliate Sarah Reckhow, a MSU political scientist, and IPPSR Director Matt Grossmann combine to answer the question in a new Michigan Policy Wonk blog.

Practice

• Generation Work-From-Home May Never Recover - Peter Berg, director of MSU’s School of Human Resources and Labor Relations, is quoted in The Atlantic on the downsides to working from home during Covid-19. One downside: no gossip at the watercooler or as we move through the office from our office.  
• Testing The Waters: MSU Searches For COVID Beneath The Campus - Scientists at Michigan State University are trying to develop an early COVID-19 detection strategy by testing wastewater – sampling larger groups of people without individual tests. Joan Rose is working on the project. She holds MSU’s Homer Nowlin Chair in Water Research and has been a speaker at IPPSR’s specialized training for legislative staff members.