Impact Institutes, a seed funding initiative launched in May, has awarded its first cycle of funding to 10 new institutes from across the University of Michigan. 

The awards are intended to promote interdisciplinary collaboration and advance high-impact research, positioning the institutes for long-term sustainability and external funding.

The institutes include participants from 17 schools and colleges and more than 20 additional units, including the School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS). Their research aims include developing new materials to meet rising electrical demand from AI and data centers, advancing policy solutions for nutrition insecurity and chronic disease and creating sustainable plant fibers for textiles and building materials. 

Each institute will receive $200,000 over the next two years. Funding is provided by the Strategic Initiative Fund, which supports collaborative initiatives that advance meaningful impact across U-M and beyond.

Below is a summary of projects involving SEAS researchers:

Institute for Advanced Construction Futures

• Co-director: Charlene Zietsma, Max McGraw Professor of Sustainable Enterprise; Erb Institute Director, SEAS

  Goal: The Institute for Advanced Construction Futures at U-M will drive a “Construction 4.0” transformation by integrating advanced manufacturing, automation, AI and digital technologies to address America’s urgent housing and building infrastructure needs more sustainably, efficiently and affordably.

The Global Supply Chain Intelligence Institute

• Director: Joshua Newell, Professor, SEAS
  
  Goal: The Global Supply Chain Intelligence Institute (GSCII) at U-M will address urgent challenges of transparency, sustainability and resilience in supply chains for critical minerals, agriculture products and other vital commodities by integrating interdisciplinary expertise and pioneering federated AI approaches to analyze fragmented and sensitive global data. 

  According to Newell, the GSCII will fill a critical research gap and position U-M to become a national hub and international leader in supply-chain intelligence. While international trade is relatively well-tracked through customs data, within-country “domestic” supply chains remain largely terra incognita. Approximately 90% of this data is privately held or siloed, creating a “blind spot“ that limits the ability to manage systemic risks to economic resilience, national security and the planet. Under Newell's leadership, GSCII will develop AI-native approaches and secure data-governance frameworks to map these opaque networks, beginning with the “first mile” of critical minerals—the flows of ore from mine-to-border.

In addition, SEAS faculty have involvement in two other institutes:

U-M Advanced Manufacturing Institute, with involvement from SEAS Assistant Professor Parth Vaishnav

Goal: The University of Michigan Advanced Manufacturing Institute (UMAMI) will be a national leader in human-centered, resilient and sustainable manufacturing, integrating engineering, behavioral science and organizational design to address automation, supply chain and climate challenges. UMAMI will also build a symbiotic translational ecosystem to ensure that innovations rapidly deliver real-world impact.

THREADS Collaborative for Natural Fiber Futures, with involvement from SEAS Lecturer M’Lis Bartlett

Goal: The Michigan THREADS Collaborative will address the environmental and social harms of society’s dependence on synthetic fiber by developing regionally sourced natural fiber solutions for sustainable textiles, composites and building materials in ways that support local supply chains, uplift material cultures and connect people with the places and systems that sustain them.

Read the full story in the University Record

Impact Institutes website