Shobita Parthasarathy
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Shobita Parthasarathy
@shobitap.org
4.7K followers 150 following 980 posts
Science & tech politics/policy incl patents. Author: next book on politics of inclusive innovation/tech for equity. #STS scholar. Prof & Director, Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program, U of Michigan. Expert Voices columnist, Science. shobitap.org
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DTW airport’s response to Kristi N@em:
Sign that says: “The views expressed in this TSA controlled video do not represent the views of the Wayne County Airport Authority. The Wayne County Airport Authority does not engage in partisan politics. Thank you.
October 29, 2025 at 6:27 PM
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My apologies!
From Wikipedia: Hutchins served as President of the University of Chicago until 1945, and as the University's Chancellor until 1951. During his Chancellorship, he recruited a commission to inquire into the proper function of the media. By 1947, the Hutchins Commission issued their report on the "social responsibility" of the press. Hutchins was notable as a defender of academic freedom. When the University was accused of fostering communism in 1935 (by Charles Rudolph Walgreen, who claimed his niece had been indoctrinated with communist ideas whilst studying there) and again in 1949, Hutchins defended the right of the University's faculty to teach as they wished, arguing that the best way to defeat communism was through open debate and scrutiny, rather than suppression. "Hutchins stood behind his faculty and their right to teach and believe as they wished, insisting that communism could not withstand the scrutiny of public analysis and debate."
August 13, 2025 at 8:58 PM
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Also, this dean (and the current president) should familiarize themselves with previous University of Chicago leaders like Robert Maynard Hutchins and Mortimer Adler.
August 13, 2025 at 7:03 PM
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Looks like the Washington Post is promoting more than "personal liberty" and "free markets"...
Washington Post Opinion headline. Jeanine Pirro: The fight to make D.C. safe and beautiful. Washington Post opinion headline. Jay Bhattacharya NIH Director: Why we are pivoting away from mRNA vaccines
August 13, 2025 at 12:14 AM
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I mean...I suppose it's like a “team of Ph.D. level experts in your pocket” in the sense that they disagree with one another on pretty basic questions.
August 8, 2025 at 8:02 PM
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Don’t forget to vote (for the library) today, Ann Arbor!!!
August 5, 2025 at 2:07 PM
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Great piece on the Prasad affair and its implications. It's likely to erode FDA authority further, enabling access to more dubious drugs and devices in the name of "patient choice" and economic competitiveness. gooznews.substack.com/p/hope-and-h...
July 30, 2025 at 8:39 PM
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Green card holder and Texas A&M PhD student who has been in the US *since he was 5* has been detained for a week so far, probably bc of a 2011 minor marijuana possession charge.

Just bc we aren't talking about these detentions as much doesn't mean they're not happening. Gift link: wapo.st/4lPELyy
July 29, 2025 at 2:12 PM
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We need to talk about how AI (and media coverage of it) is distorting definitions of "friendship". These stories about AI friendships seem to define it as something unidirectional and self-centered, without attention to *mutual* connection and support.

AI may be your friend, but are you its?
July 20, 2025 at 2:48 PM
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My student saw this in San Francisco. Where can I buy one?
Cement pole on a San Francisco street, bearing a sticker that reads, “Using A.I. is Loser Behavior.”
July 18, 2025 at 6:41 PM
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Also from the NYT...
July 5, 2025 at 8:42 PM
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What did @nytimes.com (or should I say, AI?!) do to Lisa Murkowski's hands in this photo that accompanies a profile of her? www.nytimes.com/2025/06/14/m...
Black and white posed picture of Alaska senator Lisa Murkowski. Her hands look unusually glassy.
June 14, 2025 at 3:11 PM
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TODAY is the deadline for submitting public comments on the proposed rule to take away protections for civil servants, enabling them to be fired at will (when they don't fit the ruling party's interests). Here's my comment. I hope you'll submit too! #SaveNSF www.federalregister.gov/documents/20...
May 23, 2025 at 5:46 PM
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How can technologists better serve civil society? What kinds of training do they need, and how can they serve respectfully? How can civil society organizations benefit from technologists and critical tech perspectives? Join us for our May 20th webinar! stpp.fordschool.umich.edu/event/2025/w...
Image of participants in the webinar, Making Tech Work for Everyone. How can technologists better serve civil society? What kinds of training do they need, and how can they serve respectfully? How can civil society organizations benefit from technologists and critical tech perspectives? Join University of Michigan's Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program on May 20th for a webinar addressing these questions, featuring alumni Trevor Odelberg, Divya Ramesh, Melvin Washington II, and Annabella Vidrio as well as Managing Director Molly Kleinman, and myself! We'll feature short presentations, audience Q&A, and breakout rooms to ensure robust conversation with participants.
May 9, 2025 at 12:45 PM
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Proud of you @embermcc.bsky.social! Gift link to NYT article on NSF terminations here: www.nytimes.com/2025/04/22/s...
Text from NYT article: Ember McCoy, a doctoral student at the University of Michigan who studies the politics of air pollution, found out on Monday that her N.S.F. grant was canceled. She did not receive an official reason for the cancellation. But she sensed it was coming, she said, because in the United States, the places with the highest rates of air pollution are low-income neighborhoods and communities of color. Ms. McCoy was planning to use the rest of her grant money to pay community partners in southwest Detroit, with whom she collaborates to conduct research. She also hoped to use the funds to host a public presentation about her research for the community she studies. There is also a picture of homes in River Rouge, Michigan.
April 22, 2025 at 9:48 PM
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How cool is it that one my students (an Olympian herself!!!) gave me India’s Olympic pin from #France2024? Not trading this one!!
April 22, 2025 at 2:49 PM
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Aaaah yes, just the thing online dating needs: more dumping.
Washington Post headline: Tinder lets you flirt with AI characters. Three of them dumped me. Lede: We tested the dating site’s new AI bot, which purportedly helps improve your flirting skills. Here’s how it went. Picture of a robot in a kissing booth.
April 4, 2025 at 1:08 AM
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Short on time but care about the future of STEM-in-Society training programs? Let our experts break down the new U-M STPP report and its key insights. Register now for April 10th at 4 pm ET: myumi.ch/pVZgd
April 2, 2025 at 9:28 PM
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A new @stpp-um.bsky.social report analyzes "STEM-in-Society" educational programs, which train the next generations of scholars, innovators, and leaders about the ethical, social, political, policy dimensions of S&T & offers recommendations on cultivating these programs. Read it here: myumi.ch/5kWq8
April 2, 2025 at 7:04 PM
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"Now, the racism is coming from inside the [Big] house". Information on contacting the alumni office below.
When I attended the University of Michigan, I *was* the poster child for DEI. Literally. Photos of me were used without my consent and plastered all over campus - on bus ads, banners, tv screens taller than I am. At the time it made me angry - not only did I look terrible, to me, the ads represented a shiny bright version of campus that was diverse, equitable, and inclusive that did not align with my experience there. My face was being used to sell a lie. My UMich experience wasn’t just bright and happy memories. It involved being harassed by strangers walking to and from campus, scrubbing anti Muslim graffiti off of the diag (the center of our campus), and watching my friends on the board of the Muslim Student Association deal with their org email being bombarded with death threats and racist hate speech from strangers (and also alumni!) telling us all to go back to where we came from so the US could bomb us. At the time, our biggest problem wasn’t that admin was too racist to want to help us. This was when people still thought Trump couldn’t possibly win & they just couldn’t really comprehend the level of racism we were dealing with. Now, the racism is coming from inside the house. Ono and the regents have *chosen* to capitulate to the DEI EO because they clearly do not care to fight. Even the illusion of DEI is no longer worth preserving. As a student, I finallly found my intellectual home at Michigan in the ethnic studies departments, the multicultural center, and organizations for students of color. It was there that I learned how to organize and fight for initiatives to counter anti-Muslim racism (and racism generally) on campus. These initiatives gave me a place to process my experiences on campus, give me a reprieve from the isolation I felt, and gave me a little peace of mind so I could focus on the real reason I was at Michigan - to get good grades so I could go to law school. I didn’t know then - and I understand now - that DEI funded all of those…
March 31, 2025 at 4:49 PM
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"By continuing to commit to a space with the widest possible freedom of speech, we can ensure that all subjectivities, all backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives can coexist and be debated through the most generative and healthy way possible, our work."
Image that states: "University leaders must affirm the institutional values they claimed to have held. University leaders must maintain and protect academic freedom. University leaders must protect students, faculty, and staff. University leaders must not remain silent to the attacks on and destruction of higher education. University leaders must lead." "What I have offered informally and formally in the past two years remains: we are living through a historically difficult moment, perhaps unprecedented. Difficulty defines our era. And yet difficulty must be confronted. Difficulty is at the center of our methods as artists and..." "designers, which seeks to materialize new knowledge, ideas, and interventions to heal ourselves, our society, and its relation to the land. The path ahead will continue to be difficult, regardless of presidential, national, or university politics. By continuing to commit to a space with the widest possible freedom of speech, we can ensure that all subjectivities, all backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives can coexist and be debated through the most generative and healthy way possible, our work. Our work in the studios, our work in the community, our work together in supporting students, our work generating new knowledge and ways of being...our work is what will see us through. I call upon each of us to reaffirm our work, which includes a commitment to building healthier futures, which requires generating communities that are diverse, equitable, and inclusive. Yours, Carlos F. Jackson, Dean and Professor.
March 30, 2025 at 10:32 PM
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"The forces...want to ignore these difficult truths that our country was formed on very unequal and discriminatory terms...These are difficult truths that our own University of Michigan's Inclusive History Project articulates through the most profound scholarly rigor and peer review."
"...continue to work to build a community that is comprised of faculty, staff, and students who come to U-M with a wide range of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. This diversity contributes to the excellence and dynamism of the University's learning environment." I assure you, the Stamps School's academic program and inititives to support faculty, students, and staff are fully legal and ethical. Secondly, the central claim in the "Dear Colleague" letter is erroneous, which attempts to argue that the United States wasn't founded upon structural racism. Despite efforts to rewrite history, the fact remains that the United States was founded upon systemic and structural racism. Chattel slavery, African Americans designated as 3/5ths a person, broken treaties and forced relocation, and Jim Crow laws are just a few examples of racism that is structural and systemic. A further example that systemic and structural discrimination existed in the country's formation is the fact that women did not have the right to vote until 1920, as suffrage has existed for only 105 years. The forces behind the "Dear Colleague" letter want to ignore these difficult truths that our country was formed on very unequal and discriminatory terms. Wealth that was generated through the formation of the United States came from land-taking and greatest form of dehumanization, enslavement. These are difficult truths that our own University of Michigan's Inclusive History Project articulates through the most profound scholarly rigor and peer review. We must reckon with these difficult truths and figure out how to co-build the future together. This mandate of reckoning with history is the imperative that the civil rights movement and generation gave us, and we must now steward onward. Rather than reaffirming that we are operating academic programs that are legally compliant and affirming the value and prestige of the peer-reviewed knowledge production produced by the University of Michigan's 100 academic programs that are ranked in the national top 10 within their respective fields, yesterday, the university chose to eliminate the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. This is an attempt to pre-empt federal action against the... ...institution, federal action that is itself discriminatory and antithetical to academic freedom and freedom of speech. The rationale offered for cutting ODEI in the March 27, 2025 letter from President Ono, Provost McCauley, CFO Chatas, and VP for Medical Affairs Runge was vague, speaking to potential federal action and amplifying "some in our campus community" who "have voiced frustration that they did not feel included in DEI initiatives". Institutional efforts to create greater equity, diversity, and inclusion are difficult because they engage a wide range of constituents who all have their own free speech rights and operate within a context of academic freedom. This work was never easy. Yet, while the university has chosen to amplify "some" voices, many are also being marginalized, censored, and undermined at this moment. Eliminating ODEI cuts the jobs and livelihoods of individuals who have committed themselves to assisting our university in building more equitable, diverse, and inclusive communities. Their work was in alignment with the university's stated values. I abhor the elimination of ODEI, most especially the... ...elimination of the staff positions in the office, staff who have been betrayed by the university. As I state this, I am thinking of a recent print made by our colleague, Senior Associate Dean for Research Creative Practice, and Graduate Education, Dylan Miner. The print calls for university leadership to protect our students, faculty, and staff. I commit to you to continue to protect our faculty, staff, and students so that they can do their work, live, and build creative lives in alignment with the imperatives of academic freedom and artistic freedom of speech. Print that states, "University Leaders must affirm the institutional values they claimed to have held. University leaders must maintain and protect academic freedom. University leaders must protect students, faculty, and staff. University leaders must not remain silent to the attacks on and...."
March 30, 2025 at 10:25 PM
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"Here, it is important to emphasize two critical points that have not been articulated by university leadership. Firstly, our DEI efforts and our academic program more broadly, are compliant with local, state, federal, and constitutional laws...."
...struck down affirmative action in college admission to areas beyond its scope. The order also includes identifying "up to nine potential civil compliance investigations" of organizations including institutions of higher education with endowments over one billion dollars. The Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing order requires federal agencies to terminate "equity-related" grants or contracts and all DEI or DEIA performance requirements for emploees, contractors, or grantees. On February 21, 2025, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction on the orders. Then, on March 14, a decision from the Fourth Circuit Court of appeals allows the Executive Orders to be enforced while a legal challenge proceeds. In that ruling, Judge Alberto Diaz stated: "And despite hte vitriol now being heaped on DEI, people of good faith who work to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion deserve praise, not opprobrium. For when this country embraces true diversity, it acknowledges and respects the social identity of its people. When it..." ...fosters true equity, it opens opportunities and ensures a level playing field for all. And when its policies are truly inclusive, it creates an environment and culture where everyone is respected and valued. What could be more American than that?" As stated by the American Bar Association, Executive Orders are presidential directives "that manage operations of the federal government." These Executive Orders outline presidential commitment to enforce federal law, but the American Bar Association notes that they "are not legislation". To date and as noted in this email, our school operates in compliance with the law and in sustaining our DEI commitments, we continue to operate in compliance with the law. Looking past the political talking points and disinformation tropes on DEI that circulate online, through cable news, and across social media, the logic behind the national movement to eliminate DEI is most clearly articulated in the Department of Education's "Dear Colleague" Letter, dated February 14, 2024. The "Dear Colleague" letter was issued to all educational institutions in the United States and demanded that all illegal DEI initiatives be immediately eliminated or educational institutions would face legal and fiscal consequences from the Federal Government. To be clear, the federal budget cuts from the National Institutes of Health and other organizations are not about DEI but rather about divesting from the public. The "Dear Colleague" letter makes two major claims that I'd like to highlight here: The first is that DEI is 'illegal' because it discriminates on the basis of race. The second is that DEI is an extension of educational indoctrination "with the false premise that the United States is built upon 'systemic and structural racism'. Related to our work as a school of art and design, within the last 24 hours, another Executive Order aimed at the Smithsonian was issued, directly attacking the American Art Museum, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the American Women's History Museum for their focus on DEI. It is critical in these moments to affirm these histories and cultures that have been... ...and are central to the nation's history and contemporary formation. Here, it is important to emphasize two critical points that have not been articulated by university leadership. Firstly, our DEI efforts and our academic program more broadly, are compliant with local, state, federal, and constitutional laws. Since the state of Michigan voted to ban affirmative action through Proposal 2 in 2006, the university has worked to ensure its programs and activities are compliant. As written specifically on the university website that addresses Proposal 2 FAQs, it states the following answer to the question of "Does Proposal 2 prohibit public institutions from seeking diversity?" No. Proposal 2 precludes discrimination and preferential treatment on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, or national origin in public education, public employment, or public contracting. It does not in any way mean that diversity is no longer a permissible, indeed compelling, interest. The University of Michigan is firmly committed to the goal of creating a diverse educational environment. We...
March 30, 2025 at 10:10 PM
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People are no longer able to access the Mailchimp letter, but my friend had the foresight to take screenshots. At this time, I'm not assuming any conspiracy to take down the letter, just that the Mailchimp got overwhelmed. 🧵
Heading: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion will continue at the Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design Dear Colleagues, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) will continue at the Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design because our academic program and DEI initiatives are legally compliant, in alignment with our university values, and an extension of the mission of our school. On Thursday, March 27, 2025 at 3:30pm, President Ono, Provost McCauley, CFO Chatas, and VP for Medical Affairs Runge wrote to the University of Michigan community announcing the elimination of the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ODEI), the discontinuation of the university DEI 2.0 Strategic Plan, university-wide elimination of diversity statements, and legal review of existing programs to ensure they comply with federal law and guidance. Picture of a banner showing University of Michigan's core values: Integrity, Respect, Inclusion, Equity, Diversity, and Innovation Another photo of UM's Core Values Two hours prior to this announcement, I was walking through Pierpont Commons and took a picture of this University of Michigan sign, which explicitly states, "Our Core Values: Integrity, Respect, Inclusion, Equity, Diversity, Innovation." The move to eliminate the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion directly contradicts these institutional values. While I, as Den, and Stamps, as a school did not directly create the University of Michigan's culture Journey or signify these six values, we have collectively worked to honor them. Integrity, Respect, Inclusion, Equity, Diversity, and Innovation are aspirations that establish a benchmark by which to measure our actions, actions that work to build and sustain our community. Throughout the 2024 national election, DEI, immigrants, and trans communities have been targeted as political flashpoints. On January 27, 2025, two DEI-related Executive Orders that potentially impact the university were issued, including the Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity order, which expands the application of the Supreme Court ruling that...
March 30, 2025 at 9:55 PM
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America, a history, told in Presidents' questions to science and tech policy advisors.
1. Roosevelt's questions to Vannevar Bush, triggering the report that led to NSF's creation.
2. Biden's questions to White House OSTP Director Eric Lander.
3. Trump's questions to OSTP Director Michael Kratsios.
First: What can be done, consistent with military security, and with the prior approval of the military authorities, to make known to the world as soon as possible the contributions which have been made during our war effort to scientific knowledge? The diffusion of such knowledge should help us stimulate new enterprises, provide jobs for our returning servicemen and other workers, and make possible great strides for the improvement of the national well-being. Second: With particular reference to the war of science against disease, what can be done now to organize a program for continuing in the future the work which has been done in medicine and related sciences? [2] The fact that the annual deaths in this country from one or two diseases alone are far in excess of the total number of lives lost by us in battle during this war should make us conscious of the duty we owe future generations. Third: What can the Government do now and in the future to aid research activities by public and private organizations? The proper roles of public and of private research, and their interrelation, should be carefully considered. Fourth: Can an effective program be proposed for discovering and developing scientific talent in American youth so that the continuing future of scientific research in this country may be assured on a level comparable to what has been done during the war? 1. What can we learn from the pandemic about what is possible—or what ought to be possible— to address the widest range of needs related to our public health? 2. How can breakthroughs in science and technology create powerful new solutions to address climate change—propelling market-driven change, jump-starting economic growth, improving health, and growing jobs, especially in communities that have been left behind? 3. How can the United States ensure that it is the world leader in the technologies and industries of the future that will be critical to our economic prosperity and national security, especially in competition with China? 4. How can we guarantee that the fruits of science and technology are fully shared across America and among all Americans? 5. How can we ensure the long-term health of science and technology in our nation? First: How can the United States secure its position as the unrivaled world leader in critical and emerging technologies — such as artificial intelligence, quantum information science, and nuclear technology — maintaining our advantage over potential adversaries? We need to accelerate research and development, dismantle regulatory barriers, strengthen domestic supply chains and manufacturing, spur robust private sector investment, and advance American companies in global markets. Rival nations are pushing hard to overtake the United States, and we must blaze a bold path to maintain our technological supremacy. Second: How can we revitalize America’s science and technology enterprise — pursuing truth, reducing administrative burdens, and empowering researchers to achieve groundbreaking discoveries? We need new paradigms for the research enterprise, including innovative models for funding and sharing scientific research, redefining how America conducts the business of discovery. We must build an ecosystem that attracts top talent, celebrates merit, protects our intellectual edge, and enables scientists to focus on meaningful work rather than administrative box checking. Third: How can we ensure that scientific progress and technological innovation fuel economic growth and better the lives of all Americans?
March 28, 2025 at 1:40 PM