Students in UMSI's Citizen Interaction Design course have a long history of partnering with Michigan communities to foster civic engagement. The result of those partnerships is implementable designs for information tools that fundamentally improve how citizens engage with their local governments and non-profit organizations. 

This year, Citizen Interaction Design students collaborated with the City of Dearborn, working across the classroom and the community to enhance the city’s public works, economic development and community relations. 

UMSI students help Michigan cities innovate 

Putting information projects in the hands of UMSI students provides an opportunity for collaboration to move the City of Dearborn forward, Mayor Abdullah Hammoud told a crowd gathered at the students’ final project exposition.  

By leveraging the skills of UMSI students, said Hammoud, the City of Dearborn is “trying to become cutting-edge.” 

“Oftentimes we think of innovation as happening in the private sector, and we in the public sector are left to catch up,” Hammoud said. “We want to set the standard in the private sector and have the public sector try and do what we’re doing.” 

In 2023, UMSI students partnered with the City of Dearborn on:

Neighbors Helping Neighbors
Participating students: Ying Wang, Phil Mendez, Rena Shen, Xi Zhang, Whitney Speck, Ushio Wang 
The project: The City of Dearborn is offering a new program called the Mayor’s Service Corp for volunteers seeking to help out their neighbors or respond at the community level during a disaster. Students created a digital interface where volunteers can browse available tasks, track their hours, complete training modules, and share experiences. The project earned second prize in the collaboration/teamwork category at the 2023 UMSI Student Project Exposition. 

Who’s in the Pool?
Participating students: Kartik Sundaram, Michelle Karls, Judah Pemble, Katie Weilin Zhao, Yiwen Deng 
The project: Dearborn’s Ford Community & Performing Arts Center faced difficulty identifying guests in the pool area, which becomes a critical concern if there is a medical emergency. Students worked out a patron identification system that tracks people currently using the pool, promoting safety while prioritizing privacy, speed and efficiency.  

Dearborn Connect
Participating students: Vaidehi Mahida, Cynthia Augustine, Douglas Tsui, Shruti Chhajed 
The project: Residents of Dearborn call the Dearborn Resource Center to get answers on everything from trash pickup to disputing a water bill. However, Resource Center operators reference a binder of documents to answer these questions and struggle to locate new and updated information. Students designed a digital, internal knowledge system that brings information, updates, contacts and resources together, resulting in faster and more accurate responses to residents’ questions. 

Transparency for Public Services
Participating students: Tiana Huang, Alyssa Sklar, Minyu Li, Mengyun Liu, Krithika Balaji
The project:The City of Dearborn Department of Public Works manages critical residential services like plowing snow, mitigating vermin, and collecting leaves in fall. Residents have many questions and concerns about these services — more than public works staff can respond to. Students came up with a system for residents to report issues via phone call, text message or online form, allowing residents to track their issue and receive updates from staff. 

Improving your permit application experience [Schrödinger’s permit] 
Participating students: Xinran Cao, Xilei Liu, Orville Mo-He, Emilia Schneider, Yian Gong, Sreelakshmi Surabiyil Bindu
The project: The City of Dearborn’s Economic and Community Development Department receives more than 5,000 permit applications per year, and they needed a tool to help applicants inquiring about the status of their application. Students redesigned the permit website and offered a brand new online service platform, seeking to make it as easy to find an application, fill it out, track its status and follow up as it is to order and track food on a delivery app. 

O.A.T.S. [Open Door Tracking Application System] 
Participating students: Anantika Sethi, Omi Rege, Kat Curran, Sicong Zhang, Zehan Ge 
The project: The Dearborn Downtown Development Authorities (DDDA) award Open Door Dearborn grants to help start-ups and local businesses improve their buildings and business operations. Students digitized the program’s paper-based grant application system to help DDDA work through applications more effectively and analyze program spending. 
 

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