Create an intuitive tool for public health in Michigan, where everyone who needs vaccines gets them! By obtaining real-time data and visualizations, we can support public health in planning and organizing their vaccination efforts.
Abstract:
In 2020, The University of Michigan partnered with the Michigan Departments of Health and Human Services and Labor and Economic Opportunity to create the MI Safe Start tool. The original tool provided a visual representation of COVID-19 risks and trends in areas across the state of Michigan, delivering vital information about the pandemic status.
The stakeholders want to re-develop a generic tool to effectively communicate a wider range of health information directly to the general public (e.g., flu season outbreaks, rates of recommended immunizations such as measles and pertussis, etc.). Students on the MI Lighthouse team will work with University of Michigan School of Information researchers to better understand preferences for accessing public health information, and to develop a dynamic, interactive tool to communicate it.
Impact:
With access to specific public health information, individuals can more accurately assess public health threats, and make more informed decisions about their level of risk. Example: parents could evaluate risks of sending their children to schools based on rates of immunizations, such as measles and pertussis. This will generate dialogue between community organizations to work with public health on supporting and uplifting their community.
Scope:
Minimum Viable Product Deliverable (Minimum level of success)
- Literature review of all relevant technical information and techniques, including available public health data, similar outreach endeavors in other fields, dynamic data visualization, and GIS. Develop an understanding of prior tools (MI Safe Start Map, MI Lighthouse COVID, MI harbor)
- Develop foundational understanding of epidemiology through approved materials (Gordis online book)
- Compare and differentiate this new tool from the State Government’s Dashboard
- Develop and complete a user interview for general audiences to determine user preferences
- Design and develop a functional end-to-end prototype that allows for basic visualization of a single source of data, and perform user evaluations on the general public. Incorporate best practices for accessibility
- Collect feedback on the prototype from a wide range of stakeholders
Expected Final Deliverable (Expected level of success)
- Delivery of a refined public-centered system based on user feedback that allows for custom segmentation of a full set of data by various criteria, including zip code, school district, census track, etc.
- Verify that the system meets the requirements/needs of the stakeholders
Stretch Goal Opportunities: (High level of success)
- Incorporate additional accessibility features
- Open-source the system for other state governments to utilize
- Tooltips, hover-overs
- Ability to see nearby health resources
- Full suite of user pins (waypoints/per user list to manage their website experience)
Public Health/Health Informatics/Biostatistics (1-2 Students)
Specific Skills: Knowledge and understanding of public health data and best practices. Interest in effective communication of public health data
Experience with communication of public health data, journey mapping, and/or qualitative coding is a plus
Likely Majors: BSPH, MPH, MHI, STATS
Front End/Back End Programming (3-4 Students)
Specific Skills: General Programming skills, good software engineering practice and design. Willingness to quickly develop new tech stack skills
EECS 281 (or equivalent) is required
Likely Majors: CS, DATA
UI/UX (2 Students)
Specific Skills: Craft and conduct user/stakeholder interviews, collect user needs data, develop a range of personas. Develop UI that adheres to best practice in UI/UX design. Design and conduct focus group testing of product.
(Students must have basic coding/prototyping skills and be prepared participate in technical development at times.)
Likely Majors: SI, ARTDES Graphics
Additional Desired Skills/Knowledge/Experience
- Strong interest in public health and effective communication
- Successful team-based project experience
- Understanding of vaccination schedules
- Experience with GIS data
- Experience with Agile/SCRUM project management
- Experience designing and managing focus group testing of stakeholders
- Experience with any of the following technical platforms (please describe your experience in your Experience & Interest Form)
- Node.js
- React
- Next.js
- Google Services + Deployment
- Python
- Django
- MySQL
Sponsor Mentor
Krista Dunger
Project + Product Manager
Manages the development team, stakeholder conversations, and roadmaps. She has experience in public health, development, and policy that targets micro to macro environments. Krista guides the team on building a scalable and modular tool while ensuring that it is built with the user in mind.
Sponsor Mentor
Trevor Harkness
Trevor is a software developer and adjunct lecturer in the University of Michigan School of Information. Trevor holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from The University of Michigan and was a member of the Bosch MDP team in 2020.
Faculty Mentor
Sharon L.R. Kardia, PhD
Dr. Kardia’s main research interests are in the genetic epidemiology of common chronic diseases and their risk factors. She is particularly interested in gene-environment and gene-gene interactions and in developing novel analytical strategies to understand the complex relationship between genetic variation, environmental variation, and risk of common chronic diseases. Her research utilizes genomic, epigenomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic measures on large epidemiological cohorts. Dr. Kardia is the Associate Dean for Education in the University of Michigan School of Public Health and the Millicent W. Higgins Collegiate Professor of Epidemiology.
Weekly Meetings: During the winter 2024 semester, the U-M SI Public Health team will meet in North Quad on Wednesdays from 4:00 – 6:00 PM.
Work Location: Most of the work will take place on campus in Ann Arbor. There may be opportunities to conduct user interviews with a wide, representative group of stakeholders in multiple cities/areas in Michigan. Final results may be presented to the Department of Health and Human Services in their offices. (MDP will provide transportation and lodging as required)
Course Substitutions: CE MDE, ChE Elective, CS Capstone/MDE, EE MDE, CoE Honors, IOE Senior Design, SI Elective/Cognate
Citizenship Requirements: This project is open to all students on campus. International Students: CPT declaration (curricular practical training) is NOT required for this project because the School of Information is part of the University.
IP/NDA: Students will sign standard University of Michigan IP/NDA documents.
Summer Project Activities: All student team members will be guaranteed an interview for a 2024 Summer internship. The interviews will take place before the end of April of 2024.
Learn more about the expectations for this type of MDP project