ANN ARBOR—The University of Michigan and Wayne State University have launched a multi-disciplinary research-and-education program to help make the Internet less like the Wild West by making online transactions safer and more secure.

Harnessing the latest technologies to make participants at different universities feel like they are in the same room, the program, STIET (Socio-Technical Infrastructure for Electronic Transactions), is supported by industry-leaders Google, Yahoo and IBM, and backed by more than $6.2 million from the National Science Foundation and $3 million in institutional support.

“This project is about the organization of the Internet, and how we know someone is who they say they are online,” said Thomas Finholt, associate dean for research and innovation at the U-M School of Information. “That’s the biggest question surrounding the Internet.”

STIET addresses the extraordinary changes in communications and computing technology. Researchers use an incentive-centered design approach to tackle problems, focusing on the motives and behavior of the people using Internet systems and providing them with effective incentives to be honest, and to behave productively.

“We’re really excited about the cross-campus collaboration,” said STIET Director Jeff MacKie-Mason, U-M’s Arthur W. Burks Professor of Information and Computer Science, and professor of economics and public policy. “We are bringing together the social sciences and the engineering sciences to help us address the question that really matters: how people behave and interact online.”

Projects are inspired by a practical problem, move into the realm of abstract theorizing, and end by influencing the design of fielded systems.

“I believe that STIET has a tremendous potential for insightful and worthwhile research by creating a unique critical mass of individuals working in the emerging multi-disciplinary field of incentive-centered design,” said Daniel Grosu, the WSU computer sciences assistant professor heading up Wayne State’s part of the project. “I am very excited to be part of this important endeavor.”

The presidents of U-M, Wayne and Michigan State University announced the effort Monday, as an example of how they are using their jointly produced Michigan Lambda Rail (MiLR) project to create an ultra high speed broadband connection to tie research universities together.

The universities deployed technology that can easily connect classes and researchers making it seem like colleagues are in the same room. The STIET program uses a high performance videoconferencing link providing interactive, studio-quality high definition video instantly between the sites.

U-M researchers are already working on ways to improve the system including using banks of current “off the shelf” computer equipment and monitors to allow users to collaborate in ways they never could before using large, high resolution displays. The system makes it possible to bring multiple experts from many locations together to study data, compare notes and even jointly zoom in on the slightest details otherwise un-noticed by the naked eye.

The network is also being used in the ATLAS Great Lakes Tier 2 center, a joint U-M/MSU project providing advanced computing resources to physicists exploring the origins of the universe.

STIET involves U-M’s School of Information, Department of Economics and Department of Computer Science and Engineering and Wayne State’s Department of Computer Science and the Business School, Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering and Department of Economics and offers NSF-funded fellowships.

The STIET Summer Research Opportunity Program is a new undergraduate summer research training and mentoring program to prepare and encourage promising undergraduates to pursue a graduate degree, and will provide a training ground in research leadership and mentoring for PhD students.

Wayne State, U-M and Michigan State University formed the University Research Corridor to transform, strengthen and diversify the state’s economy. The universities are working together to leverage their collective assets and encourage collaboration with business, government and communities to help accelerate economic growth.

Related Links:

• More on STIET
• University Research Corridor
• URC presidents outline actions to aid Michigan’s economy