School of Information MHI student Joel Adu-Brimpong
University of Michigan School of Information student Terrence Green, a senior in the Bachelor of Science in Information program, pictured at Angell Hall. During his years at UMSI, Green has worked along with Associate Professor Kevyn Collins-Thompson to help develop an advanced tutoring system that helps children learn to read from context rather than direct meaning, worked as a data analyst at the National Center for Institutional Diversity, volunteered with Project Outreach to work with special needs children, and traveled to Peru to work with with Incan archeologists and firefighters. Green aspires to use technology and data to make a difference. ÒMy dream job doesn’t need to be a certain
company, but it needs to be an organization that wants to make people’s lives better through
tech.Ó He also hopes to work in politics one day. ÒI’d really love to use technology or social
media to make an impact, but a lot of these issues really won’t change unless there’s really
change coming from the top down, and where better to start than the government?Ó
MSI student Allison Thorsen.
University of Michigan School of Information PhD student Jeff Huang pictured with Jibo, a social robot, inside a workspace at the school. Huang, who interned with Jibo, Inc., worked as a character AI developer for Jibo, which was chosen as Time Magazine’s invention of the year. Jibo can recognize your face, interact with you, answer your questions, offer information proactively, and dazzle you with cute dance moves, among many other features. ÒJibo is designed to be a companion, an assistant at home,Ó he said. ÒJibo is also proactive. When you come home, Alexa doesn’t talk to you. Jibo can see you and greet you. For example, he might say ‘Happy New Year.’ This proactive quality can create delightful moments in your everyday life.” While Jibo has limitations and is far from sci-fi idealizations of AI, Huang is excited about future of social robots. ÒI’m excited about robots as limited but useful companions at home. They’ll have limited capabilities but provide you with important and meaningful benefits. I think in five to ten years, robots like Jibo will be much more prevalent and can create a positive impact on our everyday lives.Ó
School of Information MSI student Corey Schmidt
PhD student Linfeng Li
BSI student Sierre Wolfkostin pictured at the Domino’s headquarters.
School of Information Clinical Professor Charles Severance with his Sakai race car.
University of Michigan School of Information Master of Health Informatics student Nithya Rajendran.
