2022 UMSI Student Project Exposition award recipients announced

On April 8, more than 150 students and nearly 200 guests came together for the spring Student Project Exposition, which celebrated student work at the University of Michigan School of Information during the 2021-22 academic year. 

For the second year in a row, the conference was hosted virtually on Gather.Town, an immersive digital platform. Guests had the opportunity to explore more than 60 student projects. 

“Our students are truly doing some incredible work, and it encompasses so much,” says Tim Williams, student engagement administrative coordinator. “It's heartwarming to see the diverse implementations of information and how student engagement can help a large community seem a little smaller by showing the similarities that undergird the work being done at UMSI.”

Ten projects received awards and recognition for their exemplary impact. Read about the award winners below and click the links to view their projects. Each award team received $1000, and the honorable mention winners received $200. 

Best Project Award

Winner: What Robots Can Teach Us About Neuroscience
Design Clinic
Mingqin (Milly) Dai, Tianchi Fu, Fan Xu, Bahar Shahmammadova, Emma West

The team created an online prototype of a brain to help students discover complex neuroscience principles. The prototype helps students better experiment with building unique neural networks and design more complex structures. 

Honorable Mention: Real-World Conservation Issues for Endangered Animals Simulated in the Animal Crossing: New Horizon Video Game
SIADS 591/592 Milestone
Tamara Qawasmeh, Jacqueline Skunda, Malini Varadarajan

The team examined the real-world simulation of the game Animal Crossing, a social simulation video game that gained massive popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Students studied the buying and selling of endangered species in the game, which unintentionally created a system that perpetuates the catching and profiting of high conservation status species. 

Comerica Best BSI Final Project Award 

Winner: Reimagining Polaris 3D Ranger Vehicle Customization Tool for New-to-Market
SI 407/487: User Experience Design
Sophie Loesberg, Chai Karim, Ashley Thompson, Alex Balmaceda

Student partnered with Polaris, a manufacturer of off-road vehicles, to redesign the company’s build and price tool, a 3D configurator that allows users to customize their vehicle. 

Honorable Mention: Kroger Post Order Error Resolution
SI 487: User Experience Design
Jessica Zhang, Sydney Bruce, Hope Mao, Natalie Sangkagalo

Students improved Kroger’s online customer shopping experience by developing a more reliable online error resolution process for buyers. 

Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award 

Winner: InPACT at Home
SI 487: User Experience Design
Insun Kim, Michelle Xie, Dhiraj Tadikamalla, Alaa Shahin

Students completed a heuristic evaluation of Monterey, Apple’s latest operating system using Jakob Nielsen’s 10 heuristics. 

Honorable Mention: How to be a Product Designer with an Entrepreneur Mindset
SI 582: Introduction to Interaction Design
Rebekah Yonghee Lim

Rebekah Yonghee Lim presented on the topic of entrepreneurship and UX design and introduced her app, ToGro, which allows users to share groceries, saving them time, money and trips. 

Community Engagement Award 

Winner: MM Clinical Homepage Redesign
SI 487: User Experience Design
Jack Pakela, Chloe Minieri, Preetam Shokar, Ruma Deb

Students partnered with Michigan Medicine to redesign their homepage, making it more patient-friendly, organized and quicker to use. 

Honorable Mention: Creating a New Interactive Video Markup Tool in Snagit
Design Clinic
Kadence Tang, Moira Yu, Yeonji Kim, Zhihui Zhu

Students redesigned Snagit’s video markup tool, creating a fun, entertaining and easy-to-use tool for user groups who are new to video editing. 

UMSI Office of DEI Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award 

Winner: BankBlackUSA: Black Banking Map Redesign
SI 487: User Experience Design
Joshua Mollison, Angela Young, Summer Nguyen, Elijah Ecanow

Students created a friendlier and clearer user interface experience for BankBlack USA, an independent, grassroots organization with the goal of connecting people with Black-owned banks and credit unions in their area. 

Honorable Mention: Digital Accessibility of Low-Income Housing Aid for Marginalized User Groups
SI 487: User Experience Design
Julia Couch, Ben Kozlowski, Shannon Li, Madeleine Singh

By working with the Ferndale Housing Commission, students created a website that is accessible and easy to use for users with disabilities, low literacy skills and English language challenges.