Problem-Solving with People, Information, and Technology - SI 500

Problem-solving with people, information, and technology. A student pointing at a laptop screen while a child looks on.

Proposal open date: May 8
Proposal close date: August 7
Project timeline: September-December
Project duration: 15 weeks
Number of projects needed: 15

Submit a project idea View our Client Guide

Description

In SI 500, graduate students learn and apply interdisciplinary problem-solving to identify and investigate information problems and design potential solutions. This course seeks organizational or societal-level problems in relation to an annual theme or university-designated impact area. An appropriate project would be framed as a problem, a challenge or a set of insights that require further investigation. Ideally, this is not a small issue, but a challenge or situation that is at an organizational, population-type or societal level and can be investigated from more than one perspective. For the 2026-2027 academic year, the impact area is “Human Health and Well-Being.”

We are seeking organizations that can provide a well-defined information problem statement related to that year’s impact area and can connect students to contacts who are knowledgeable about the topic or have experience with the challenge for interviews as part of students’ qualitative research.

2026 Impact Area: Human Health & Well-Being

Health and well-being is a fundamental human right. With this principle in mind, this year’s theme, Human Health & Well-Being captures the University of Michigan’s aspiration to become a model of excellence for meeting the public health challenges facing our society, as well as addressing the needs within UMSI and broader campus communities.

Issues such as health disparities, high cost and restricted access to care — including mental health support — all raise questions regarding the future models for traditional healthcare delivery institutions. UMSI, and the University of Michigan at large, plans to rise to these challenges using innovative approaches that are both multidisciplinary and holistic.

Who Would Benefit from Working with SI 500?

We are seeking organizations who can provide a well-defined information design challenge related to the topic of Human Health & Well-Being, broadly defined, and connect students to contacts with domain expertise for interviews as part of students’ qualitative research.

Examples of potential projects include:

Patient data fragmentation and interoperability
Information overload and "alert fatigue"
Ethical use of sensitive biometric data
Inequitable access to health technology
Health misinformation and the "infodemic”
Lack of real-time, actionable feedback
Inaccessible design for diverse abilities

We are particularly interested in challenges that operate at the organizational, community or societal level, and that can benefit from being examined from multiple perspectives.

Course Deliverables

Each organizational partner will work with one section of SI 500, consisting of about 30 students who will be divided into teams of 5-7 students. Clients will receive:

5–7 unique, interdisciplinary student proposals
Practical, innovative insights tailored to your context
Final reports, presentations and optionally: prototypes, program designs or data analyses
An opportunity to shape the learning of emerging professionals passionate about education and information equity

Potential outcomes for this course, in relation to the topic, could include:

Recommendations on how to improve or redesign a healthcare service or system, focusing on patient flow, provider communication and the reduction of administrative friction.
Web or application (re)design to make health resources more accessible, particularly for elderly users, those with disabilities or populations with low digital and health literacy.
Analysis of health and wellness data to uncover trends related to social determinants of health, disease prevention or the efficacy of digital health interventions.
Assessment of health programming and its alignment with the needs of diverse patients, caregivers and clinical stakeholders to ensure care is truly holistic and person-centered.
Evaluation of the ethical implications of AI and algorithms in clinical decision support to ensure fairness, transparency and the protection of vulnerable populations.

Client Requirements

(~15-20 hours of commitment, September – December 2026)

Expected client engagement would include:

One to three hours of problem statement development prior to class
Co-developing a project brief with the Client Engagement team (~2–3 hours over the summer)
One hour presentation to the class in early September on the problem statement
Recommendations of subject matter experts to provide deeper context to students on the problem statement topic
The identification of stakeholders and constituencies that can be contacted for interviews
Joining consultations and student team check-ins (October – November)
Supporting stakeholder interviews (5 total)
Attendance at final presentations in early December
Complete project evaluation in January

Contact Us

Engaged Learning Office
[email protected]

Interested in participating in SI 500? Please contact our team with any questions about the course or complete our project idea form for client-based courses or other programs. If you would like your idea submission to be considered for SI 500 specifically, please be sure to mention it in your submission.