Media and Information at Michigan State University

Our own Jean Hardy was interviewed by WLNS News, where he discusses the legal limitations and concerns faced by those with incoming data centers.

Expert: Some data center concerns valid, others overblown Data centers have become a hot topic of public discussion, but experts say that while some concerns surrounding data centers are valid, others may be exaggerated.

We're looking for a two-year postdoctoral research associate to work on an NSF-funded project titled, "Understanding and Supporting Rural Community Adaptation to Workplace Automation." The postdoc will be the primary researcher for the ethnographic fieldwork component of a multi-year study examining how rural Michigan communities adapted to decades of workplace automation in manufacturing and agriculture. Working across case sites, the postdoc will conduct sustained observational fieldwork and interviews with current and former workers, business owners and managers, families, and community leaders, documenting how the impact of automation in the workplace unfolds and how communities respond. The postdoc will be embedded in each community for extended periods, working alongside Jean Hardy and co-PI Tara Behrend, plus a team of graduate student researchers to capture both workplace-level dynamics and broader community-level adaptation.

See more details and apply for the position here:

careers.msu.edu

Gabriel Hales' article, “Screen time guidelines for kids and adolescents have shifted as research paints a more nuanced picture” has been published in The Conversation.

Dr. Hales is a Research Fellow with the Quello Center, Michigan State University, recent Media and Information Ph.D. alumnus, and upcoming Postdoc at University of Zurich in the fall of 2026.

Read on:

Screen time guidelines for kids and adolescents have shifted as research paints a more nuanced picture Studies increasingly show that how kids are using screens is more important than the exact amount of time they’re spending on them – and parents and caregivers tend to know what’s best for their families.

Congratulations to Jean Hardy, who, along with Tara Behrend, the John Richard Butler II Endowed Professor in the School of Human Resources and Labor Relations, received a $914,904 grant from the National Science Foundation to lead the four-year project, Understanding and Supporting Rural Community Adaptation to Workplace Automation.

Read more:

NSF awards MSU researcher Jean Hardy grant to study how rural communities adapt to workplace automation As artificial intelligence and robotics continue to reshape industries across the country, Michigan State University researcher Jean Hardy is leading a new effort to better understand how rural communities experience and respond to technological change.

Ricardo Guimaraes was invited to review and submit suggestions for the “The New Munsell Student Color Set" 7th edition to help prepare it for the next, updated edition. This is one of the most highly-regarded books on color in the industry. The book explains a color notation system developed by Albert Munsell in 1905 and it is the global standard for scientific, industrial, and geological color classification.

This year, the Meaningful Play conference will be hosted at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA, from October 13-15. That doesn't mean the MSU GameDev folks aren't involved, however! We're reviewing some of the games submitted to the conference.

From left: Amanda Cote, Valeta Wensloff, Peter Guenther, Brian Winn, Casey O'Donnell, and Ryan Thompson

Congratulations to three of our faculty for their promotions!

Dr. Susan Wyche was promoted to Full Professor, Dr. Jean Hardy to Associate Professor with Tenure, and Dr. Ryan Thompson to Associate Professor!

Researchers at the Quello Center, Michigan State University developed a new resource to help Michigan's municipal leaders proactively think about data center development in their communities: the “How Likely is a Data Center Developer Interested in My Community?” self-assessment. It can be found at https://tinyurl.com/datacenterassessment

This simple, five-question self-assessment is designed for Michigan local governments to consider whether or not their communities are likely of interest to prospective data center development. The self-assessment is meant to be a sort of “temperature check” that local officials can use to gauge how urgently they need to address data center development in their work, especially as it pertains to planning. More information about the Quello's work in this space can be seen at: https://quello.msu.edu/emerging-digital-infrastructures

This resource was created in response to the work of the Michigan Data Center Planning & Development Working Group, convened by the Quello Center. If you are interested in learning more or have any questions, please reach out to Dr. Jean Hardy ([email protected]). This assessment is designed for communities in Michigan. If you want to remix or build on it for your own state, feel free to do so with attribution.

Dr. Jean Hardy, who studies rural computing and technology development, was quoted in a recent Detroit News story about the effect data centers have on rural areas. Dr. Hardy discussed the pros and cons a data center that size can have on the surrounding areas.

OpenAI's Sam Altman says Michigan data center a 'huge bet' on AI Tech billionaire Sam Altman visited the site of a multi-billion-dollar data center his OpenAI is constructing with Oracle near Ann Arbor.