A group of Michigan State University students developed a healthcare app that works like a dating platform, helping users find the right doctor instead of the right date.
Users enter information about their medical needs, such as knee pain or back issues, and browse recommendations for physicians who accept their insurance, are located nearby or can offer timely appointments. The app, Pass for Patient, was one of several projects created by MSU students and recent graduates during Advancing AI Literacy and Workforce Readiness, a weeklong immersive experience at the Apple Developer Academy with MSU and the Gilbert Family Foundation in Detroit.
With support from an AI-Ready Spartans: Education Innovation Grant, the pilot program combined the Apple Developer Academy’s approach to app development, design and business with artificial intelligence. Approximately 25 students from a range of majors explored AI-assisted coding and app development, working in teams to create app solutions for real-world issues.
“Students are able to have an immersive experience at the Apple Developer Academy, where they learn AI-assisted coding and AI-assisted app development to explore ideas for challenges that they observe in their community or around themselves and create tech solutions to address those challenges,” said Apple Developer Academy Director Sarah Gretter.
An interdisciplinary review committee composed of more than 20 faculty and staff members reviewed 38 proposals. Funding recommendations were then approved by Marcio Oliveira, vice provost for academic innovation, and Sanjay Gupta, co-chair of the Green and White Council. They selected 18 proposals amounting to more than $506,000 building on existing initiatives or creating new curricula and learning innovations focused on effective, responsible and creative AI use.
The Apple Developer Academy program is one of the first grant-funded projects to launch in 2026.
Students who completed the program and earned a certificate came from a variety of majors, from journalism and communications to experience architecture. For the Apple Developer Academy, it was important to open the program to students from any major as AI touches many careers, not just computer science.
“We really want to prepare learners to be able to use AI, not only in the coding industry, but across all industries,” said Jacob Sock, a 2025 MSU graduate with a degree in computer science engineering and a coding mentor at the Apple Developer Academy.
At the Apple Developer Academy, AI readiness — inspired by Anthropic’s AI Fluency framework — includes:
Delegation: Deciding what work should be done by humans and what work should be done by AI
Description: Effectively communicating with AI systems
Discernment: Thoughtfully and critically evaluating AI outputs
Diligence: Using AI responsibly and ethically
Turning ideas into solutions
With those guidelines in mind, students worked together to develop apps that turned ideas into solutions.
Angel Noakes, who graduated from MSU last spring with a bachelor’s degree in marketing, worked with her team to develop the Pass for Patient app, which addresses a healthcare accessibility challenge by connecting patients with doctors using AI-assisted research and development.
“I didn’t realize how simple it was to type in a prompt and have AI code it entirely for you,” said Noakes, who came into the program with little coding and AI experience. “I didn’t even know that was an option.”
Other groups developed apps aimed at strengthening human connection, while another sought to connect clinics with nonprofits to redistribute unused medication and reduce waste.
In the process of working with their teams and developing these apps, students gained skills and experience that will be valuable to their educational and professional careers. Charisma Holly, a sophomore studying communication leadership and strategy in the College of Communication Arts and Sciences, said students gained hard skills in coding and AI platforms and professional skills, like collaboration.
“It gave me a lot of technical skills that I can actually apply right now, today,” she said. “It gave me more than just information, it gave me projects that I can put into a portfolio and skillsets that I can put on a resume and use to create projects right now.”
Anny Staten, assistant director at the Apple Developer Academy, hopes students left feeling ready to enter a workforce increasingly shaped by AI.
“Jobs are moving toward AI models and they’re actually looking for young adults that know how to AI engineer in their workforce development and in their jobs,” she said. “If we can embrace it now and get ahead of it and really learn the tools, we can only grow from there.”
Ultimately, the experience was aimed at helping students gain the confidence, curiosity and experience needed to navigate the developing workforce influenced by AI.
“The technology is not the end-all, be-all; it becomes a vehicle for human collaboration, creativity, design and so forth,” Gretter said. “That’s advancing how we want MSU graduates to show up in the workforce, as leaders and as collaborators.”
