Millions more in grants pour in for U-M studies

Seven figures worth of research grants poured into the University of Michigan. This time the money is going toward studies examining U.S. elections and the impact of the recession on southeast Michigan.U-M’s Institute for Social Research and Stanford University Institute for Research in the Social Sciences will split $10 million from the National Science Foundation. That money will go toward the American National Election Studies.The study will measure voter participation and decision-making in this year’s mid-term elections and again in the 2012 U.S. presidential race. U-M has participated in this survey since its founding in 1948.The American National Election Studies is the longest political timeline series in the world, dating back to Pres. Harry Truman’s surprise victory in 1948. The study measures the ebb and flow of public opinion, electoral behavior and the overall state of U.S. politics. It’s information is accessible here. Also under U-M’s microscope is the effect the current recession is having on southeast Michigan, which is often considered ground zero for these hard times. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has given a $750,000 grant to the National Poverty Center at U-M’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.University researchers will study the effects of various housing problems (foreclosures and evictions) and how the economic crisis is impacting vulnerable workers and families in the region.The three-year survey is expected to help policymakers and researchers better understand the effects of a severe recession, housing crisis, and federal stimulus funding on families living in the Metro Detroit area.Source: University of MichiganWriter: Jon Zemke