The BLI Social Transformations Fellowship started in the Fall of 2024 by taking ALA 170 (a LEARN Experience) that helped teams discover and research their project topic, make connections with stakeholders, and prototype/test their ideas. The fellowship theme is Using Technology for Social Good.
Six teams participated in ALA 170 and five of the teams took the LEAP to participate in the 2024 Social Transformations Fellowship, and were granted funds up to $7,500 to implement their projects. Each team will display their posters and pitch their projects at the 2025 BLI Graduation on April 11, 2025.
Virtual Educational Resource Geared toward Shedding Light on Rare GI Illnesses
Christine Samantha Dutt
This project aims to develop a website that will serve as an interactive, educational resource for clinicians, students, and patients to learn about rare gastrointestinal disorders and the importance of taking care of their gastrointestinal health. Another goal is to provide further insight into the importance of expanding research and education on the cause of rare gastrointestinal diseases, advocating for increased grant funding for researching these diseases to develop new therapeutic interventions.
SoC ML (Skin of Color, Machine Learning)
Aarti Sridhar, Pranav Desurkar, Tianyu (Darrin) Zhou, Atishay Kumar
A 2024 study conducted by MIT found that general practitioners and dermatologists both misdiagnosed skin diseases more on darker skin tones than on lighter skin tones. Skin conditions and conditions with skin-based symptoms greatly affect the quality of life of patients, but often go undiagnosed or misdiagnosed.
This team is working to counteract inequities by creating a machine-learning-powered support tool to classify skin conditions often misdiagnosed on Skin of Color to mitigate the resulting negative effects of biases, which could be applied up and down within the healthcare system. They currently have two implementation pathways for the model. One version would be a diagnostic tool to support practicing physicians in making accurate and timely decisions/diagnoses. The second version would be an educational aid for medical school students and medical professionals to practice diagnosing skin conditions on Skin of Color.
Creating Transparency in the Numbers: The MMIP Crisis
Ellis Brehme
This project targets two causes and finding solutions to the unknown number of missing Native men, women, and children: a lack of a standardized national database and a lack of trust from Native communities in law enforcement due to a continued history of systemic racism.
This database seeks to bring more missing Indigenous person cases to the public. It also intends to give activists and tribal communities the real numbers of missing person cases and give loved ones of missing persons an alternative way to make their cases known to the public. It also seeks to create a long-term tool for the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Movement (MMIP).
Technique
Abhi Iyer, Saarang Suryavanshi, Maxwell Wen
The job market today is both technology-centric and technology-driven. While tech innovations
have boosted work efficiency, these constant shifts often leave those without a natural
inclination for digital work behind, lacking hard skills to market themselves as job candidates.
Technique is building a web platform that redefines how students navigate their careers in a tech-driven economy. The tool will help students create an innovative resume format that showcases their comprehensive skill set—not just previous job roles or education, but also their unique knowledge, personality, and interests. Their platform will connect students to tech skills tailored to their specific career goals, making technology a complementary tool for all disciplines rather than a separate field.
Ditching the Disability Dongle: A Workshop and Case Competition Event for U-M Students
Pooja Kannappan
People with disabilities (PWD) are often not meaningfully included in the design process when creating assistive technology. This often leads to “the disability dongle effect,” a phenomenon where extravagant accessibility “solutions” do not meet the needs of their target users.
This project hopes to serve as a workshop and case-competition style event, aiming to educate students on the importance of involving People With Disabilities (PWD) in creating assistive technology and mindful practices when designing technology to help PWD. The goals of the event are to foster collaboration in a safe, respectful, and judgment-free environment, bring awareness to the disability dongle effect, and encourage the mindful creation of technology with disabled people.
