The STIET program brings together faculty and doctoral students from the University of Michigan and Wayne State University in research, training, and outreach, through an incentive-centered design (ICD) approach to modern information systems. System performance depends on the strategic behavior of autonomous, self-interested humans; therefore we draw on theories of rational decision making, game-theoretic models of strategic interaction, and economic, psychological and other social science theories of motivation to form a principled grounding for system design. We apply ICD methods to, for example, the design of user-contributed open-access content in social computing environments and to distributed allocation problems facing cyberinfrastructure development.

STIET has a comprehensive program that begins at doctoral matriculation, and provides activities and support until graduation. PhD trainees pursue a degree in their home department; our program provides curriculum, research training and a collaborative research community. STIET provides a strong multidisciplinary, cross-school community of scholars within and across UM and WSU through joint and collaborative activities. We offer an IGERT-funded fellowship program for the first two years of graduate study for U.S. citizens and permanent residents but all program activities are available to anyone interested. STIET provides a curriculum of two STIET core courses and three advanced STIET elective courses selected from an extensive list. One of the most successful elements of the STIET program is the weekly multidisciplinary research seminar and the twice-annual day-long workshops.

We also have a new summer research training program for undergraduates and masters students, called STIET-Summer Research Opportunity Program (S-SROP). S-SROP will serve double (synergistic) duty: fun and exciting team research projects for undergraduates, and a training practicum for our PhD students. S-SROP offers summer stipends and housing for undergraduates who receive--in the context of team projects--research training, mentoring and encouragement to pursue graduate studies, together with a program of workshops to help them prepare for graduate school applications and studies. Our summer activities and funding are offered in conjunction with partner organizations, SI Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU): Incentive-Centered Design for Cyberinfrastructure, the Michigan-Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (Mi-LSAMP), Michigan AGEP Alliance (MAA), UM Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP), and the Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) Marian Sarah Parker Scholars Program (MSP).