Charlie Engelman, BS ‘14, counts 1.6M followers at ‘oddanimalspecimens,’ his wildly entertaining take on the slimy and sublime. Fun facts abound at U-M’s research collections as Engelman tweezes and teaches his way around spiny lumpsuckers, blood-sucking sea lampreys, and more.

When this seasoned epidemiologist launched his unconventional career in 1969, he fit the bill as the ‘hippie doctor’ with a penchant for Ram Dass and Wavy Gravy. Since then, this aptly named frontline worker has won public health victories over smallpox, blindness, Ebola, and COVID-19. Next? Monkeypox.

As academic research in Ukraine ceased due to the Russian invasion in February 2022, U-M created a 12-month fellowship that offers a life-saving and intellectual home to Ukrainian scholars. Research areas vary from human rights to cyber warfare.

Total research volume at the University increased by 8.4% in FY ’22, fueling innovations in global health, Great Lakes water quality, firearm violence, and driverless vehicle technologies. FY ’22 also marked a record high of $973M in federally sponsored research expenditures.

As chief nameplate engineer for the F-150 Lightning, Linda Zhang, BSE EE ’96/MSE CE ’98/MBA ’11, has impacted the design, development, and delivery of the electric vehicle, as well as the creation of its new manufacturing plant and Ford’s marketing campaign.

David Carter is one of the lucky ones: As U-M’s video game archivist for the Computer and Video Game Archive and comics librarian, he has combined his two childhood loves into a fulfilling career.

Culinary historian and adjunct curator Janice Bluestein Longone passed away in August 2022 at the age of 89. She was the principal donor and driving force behind the formation of the Janice Bluestein Longone Culinary Archive, which supports numerous courses at U-M.

The new faculty represent multiple disciplines, from social sciences and the arts to engineering and public health. They will join institute researchers who have collectively secured more federal funding to study firearm injury prevention than any other academic institution nationwide.

‘Depths of Wikipedia’ host Annie Rauwerda, BS ’22, only posts something to her 1.5 million social media followers ‘if it’s really zany.’ The comedian’s fans rely on her wiki-mining skills to unearth weird-but-true facts about trout tickling, Greek philosophers, and ancient Sumerian humor.