Ph.D. student José Carlos Díaz first merged his knack for engineering and science by repairing microscopes for use in his sixth-grade class. He was 11 years old. He’s now an ion-diffusion researcher at one of the top chemical engineering programs in the U.S.

As its demographics evolve and numbers decline, researchers ask: Is the structure of China’s population, with imbalances of both age and gender, the country’s real problem? Plus: The economic impacts of anti-Asian bias in the U.S.

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.

University of Michigan experts explore multiple angles regarding Russia’s full-scale attack on Ukraine and weigh its implications on global politics, economics, and the human scale.

The fellowship has become one of the most prestigious self-designed, independent study-abroad projects for students. From Kenya and India to South Africa and Peru, nine U-M graduating seniors — one each year since 2013 — have immersed in a new culture and academic experience.

U-M sociologist Silvia Pedraza says Cuban unrest is the result of a perfect storm that includes the coronavirus pandemic, the lack of a charismatic leader, the deep financial crisis unleashed by changes in the currency, and greater access to the internet in recent years.

In the weeks before COVID-19 struck the East African country, 30 U-M students from dentistry, medicine, pharmacy, and engineering set out to improve overall well-being in underserved communities. They tackled everything from harvesting organic coffee to providing sex education.

U-M’s Juan Cole and Michael Traugott address the repercussions and long-term implications of the killing of Iran’s Qassem Soleimani.

While still a U-M student, Nicole Khamis, BA ’17, responded to an international crisis by founding a refugee assistance program.