There’s no shortage of creativity at the University of Michigan School of Information. Throughout the 2021-22 school year, students flexed their skills and imagination, creating innovative projects that influence all sectors of society. 

In April, UMSI students presented their projects at the 2022 student exposition. Community members, employers and faculty came together to celebrate the array of projects, surveying initiatives that take data, entrepreneurship and civic engagement to the next level. 

“The idea that the work we are doing as students for a class could potentially impact 100+ million people is hard to wrap my head around,” says Courtney Fortin, a senior in the Bachelor of Science in Information program.

Fortin’s project, titled “Microsoft AMC” sought to redesign, drive awareness and increase engagement of Microsoft’s account page. She worked on the project with Brenna Doyle, Kelvin Chang and Kyungrim Kim, who are also U-M students.  

Collaboration with Microsoft and fellow students was key to a successful renovation. Over the course of a year, the students met with employees at Microsoft, analyzing the current site for usability and conducting competitor analyses to create a fully functioning prototype. 

“UMSI is composed of the most talented, intelligent and hardworking students I’ve ever met,” she says. “Everyone is so willing to collaborate with one another and it’s an amazing community to be part of.”

For student Tamara Qawasmeh, teamwork is the heart of her social justice oriented project. Qawasmeh, a Master of Applied Data Science (MADS) student, worked with MADS students Jacqueline Skunda and Malini Varadarajan to study conservation issues in Nintendo’s Animal Crossing game. 

As data scientists, their goal was to highlight the real-world ethical concerns of the game and drive awareness of the game’s features, which rewards users for catching and selling endangered species. 

“We are at the peak of an animal conservation crisis,” Qawasmeh says. “To shed light on game features that highlight these ethical dilemmas was a great discovery.” 

Throughout the year, this team pored over game data, which Qawasmeh describes as an “exciting change of pace.” 

“Seeing the analysis come together in the end after all our hard work was very rewarding,” she says. “We worked well together as a group and genuinely enjoyed the journey together.”

While Qawasmeh’s team worked on data from Animal Crossings and Fortin’s team collaborated with Microsoft, other students took a more local approach, using their data skills for social good. For example, students Mingyu Li and Ziqin Tian, both first year Master of Science in Information students,  partnered with Environmental Health Action-to-Research to construct an interactive dashboard that visualizes Dearborn air and water quality. 

The dashboard will empower Dearborn residents to “have easy access to the air pollution conditions in their community,” the team says.  

“We enjoyed creating a project all on our own,” they said. “Visualizing data and building an interactive dashboard was a fresh and interesting experience to all of us. Since we were given the opportunity to freely design our visualizations, we came up with many ideas and finally we were able to put our ideas into practice.”

BSI student John Roselli’s project sought to redesign the home page of the Frances Willson Thompson Library at the University of Michigan-Flint, creating an easier way for people to access the library's free resources. Roselli worked with U-M students Austin Williams, Kavitha Ajithkumar Panicker and Sydne Eden Kasle. 

“It’s a dream scenario for somebody working in UX,” Roselli says. “The library was really awesome to work with and our interactions and brainstorming sessions were very organic.” 

Whether solving a UX issue that impacts hundreds of thousands of people, or using data and design to help citizens access critical information, UMSI students are motivated to solve real-world issues that serve the communities they deeply care about. 

Master of Science in Information student Rebekah Yonghee Lim describes herself as someone who “tries to empower people through technology and UX design.” An entrepreneur, Lim presented her mobile application, ToGro(GachiSaja), which “enables single-living households to buy things together with their neighbors.” 

Launching in South Korea in May, the application helps residents feel connected to their communities while splitting grocery store costs and reducing grocery trips. 

The application will eventually launch in Ann Arbor. 

“It’s going to enable users to be economic, sustainable and sociable consumers,” she says. “We are so excited to launch it and solve the existing problems of single living households.”

Lim credits the support of the UMSI community for encouraging her to pursue her dream of being an entrepreneur while completing her MSI degree. 

“I love how we support each other,” she says. “ I always seek help from alumni and current students for advice for my career as a product designer and entrepreneur. I am grateful to get connected with them and grow as a better individual. Also, I am so happy to see how diverse people are at UMSI bringing interdisciplinary domains and solving problems together for a better society.”