{"608094":{"#nid":"608094","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Fifth Summer of Civic Data Science Program Presents Community-Focused Solutions","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EStudents presented data-oriented solutions for civic problems, from public health to environmentalism, at the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/civicdatascience.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ECivic Data Science\u003C\/a\u003E (CDS) finale on July 19.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe 10-week summer program brings college students from across the country to Georgia Tech to use data science research and applications for direct civic and social impact. The National Science Foundation\u0026ndash;funded program is now in its fifth year, previously under the name Data Science for Social Good.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThis year\u0026rsquo;s projects addressed gentrification, sustainable transportation, pest control, and environmental monitoring. Each project pairs with local organizations, such as the City of Atlanta and neighborhood planning units, to ensure the work can help the community.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Community organizations help make sure the kind of problems we\u0026rsquo;re working on are grounded in reality,\u0026rdquo; said School of Computer Science (SCS) Professor and program co-director \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.scs.gatech.edu\/people\/11077\/ellen-zeguras\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EEllen Zegura\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E. \u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s public problem solving.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIt also lets students see how their data skills can be used outside the classroom.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;The CDS program is unique in that it provides the perfect balance between research and application,\u0026rdquo; said \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/michael-koohang-5611ba14a\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMichael Koohang\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, a rising fourth-year student at Middle Georgia State University. \u0026ldquo;While we conducted formal research during the program, we were also applying our discoveries to tangible pieces of work that had almost immediate impact on local communities.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EFor many students, who often come from smaller liberal arts colleges, this was their first opportunity in an environment as large and well-resourced as Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;I knew I was interested in attending graduate school before I came to Tech, but working full-time in a lab, with a mentor and team, has given me invaluable insight about the day-to-day of research,\u0026rdquo; said Wellesley College rising third-year student \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/annabel-rothschild-488327124\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAnnabel Rothschild\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETech\u0026rsquo;s focus on interdisciplinary research also showed students the potential fields they could go into.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Prior to coming to CDS, I had a lot of difficulty trying to figure out how to combine both my majors, statistical and data sciences and government, into something that excited me,\u0026rdquo; said \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/arielle-dror-8a488215b\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EArielle Dror\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, a rising third-year student at Smith College. \u0026nbsp;\u0026ldquo;Spending time in a bigger university than my own home institution showed me the exciting world of interdisciplinary research.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EZegura co-runs the program with \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.lmc.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ELiterature, Media, and Communication\u003C\/a\u003E (LCM) Associate Professor \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ledantec.net\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EChristopher Le Dantec\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E. They also use the support of faculty mentors: \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/spp.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Public Policy\u003C\/a\u003E Assistant Professor \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/spp.gatech.edu\/people\/person\/omar-isaac-asensio\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EOmar Asensio\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, LCM Associate Professor \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.iac.gatech.edu\/people\/faculty\/disalvo\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECarl DiSalvo\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E,\u003C\/strong\u003E LCM Assistant Professor \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.iac.gatech.edu\/people\/faculty\/loukissas\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EYanni Loukissas\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E, \u003C\/em\u003ESCS research scientist \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/people\/amanda-meng\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAmanda Meng\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E, \u003C\/em\u003Eand \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.ce.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Civil and Environmental Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E Associate Professor\u003Cem\u003E \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ce.gatech.edu\/people\/faculty\/5861\/overview\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EKari Watkins\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe four projects included:\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch2\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EProject:\u003C\/strong\u003E Rat Watch by \u003Cstrong\u003EWinne Luo\u003C\/strong\u003E and Michael Koohang\u003C\/h2\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMentors: \u003C\/strong\u003ECarl DiSalvo, Amanda Meng, Ellen Zegura\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EProblem:\u003C\/strong\u003E Rats are everywhere, but no reliable public data is kept because rat control is outside city jurisdiction and only homeowners can report rats. Without oversight, rats can increase disease, asthma, stress, and cause infrastructure damage.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESolution: \u003C\/strong\u003ELuo and Koohang created an SMS chat bot where residents could report rat sightings via text. They created an interactive map with this data that lets users toggle between layers of code violations to see where rats are. The map can help city officials direct mitigation efforts and provide citizens with a tool to engage the government into action.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch2\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EProject:\u003C\/strong\u003E Atlanta Map Room by Annabel Rothschild and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/muniba-khan-bb1883b4\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMuniba Khan\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/h2\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMentors:\u003C\/strong\u003E Yanni Loukissas\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EProblem: \u003C\/strong\u003EMaps often depict an idealized environment created by the population in power and not everyone\u0026rsquo;s reality. This team wanted to document and reflect upon the connections and disjunctions between civic data and lived experience in Atlanta.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESolution\u003C\/strong\u003E: They created the Atlanta Map Room in Technology Square Research Building, where everyone can collaborate on large-scale, interpretive maps. Using an app that allows users to select an area of the city to focus on and project it on a piece of paper, users can write their experiences on the map and bring their narrative back to the data. The map allows users to critique data and recognize it may not always tell the full story.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch2\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EProject: \u003C\/strong\u003EPopular Sentiment of U.S. Electric Vehicle Drivers by Arielle Dror, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/emerson-wenzel\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EEmerson Wenzel\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, and \u003Cstrong\u003EKevin Alvarez\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h2\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMentors: \u003C\/strong\u003EOmar Asensio\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EProblem:\u003C\/strong\u003E Although electric vehicles make up just 2 percent of car sales today, they will be 55 percent in 2050. Despite this boom, charging station experiences are less than accessible.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESolution\u003C\/strong\u003E: This group pulled data from the app Plugshare, where users rate electric vehicle charging stations, to determine how well the current electric vehicle structure serves drivers. They used machine learning to automatically classify all the reviews as having a negative or positive sentiment. Overall roughly 40 percent of drivers have a poor experience at charging stations, a problem that needs to be fixed as the market expands.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch2\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EProject:\u003C\/strong\u003E Seeing Like A Bike by Nic Alton and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/saumik-narayanan-533b1b132\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESaumik Naraynan\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/h2\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMentors: \u003C\/strong\u003EChristopher Le Dantec and Kari Watkins\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EProblem: \u003C\/strong\u003ETraffic in Atlanta grows worse every year, but better bike infrastructure can alleviate congestion. Yet the heaviest trafficked routes often have higher pollution, which adversely affects cyclists\u0026rsquo; health.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESolution: \u003C\/strong\u003EStudents attached low-cost air quality sensors to bikes and ran a series of calibration tests against high-precision sensing equipment. The data will enable a large-scale deployment of bikes to collect air quality data from around the city, determining \u0026nbsp;which routes are too unhealthy for cyclists.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Students worked on environmental, public health, and civic-minded projects for the fifth annual Civic Data Science program."}],"uid":"34541","created_gmt":"2018-07-26 14:28:23","changed_gmt":"2018-07-31 14:30:00","author":"Tess Malone","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2018-07-26T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2018-07-26T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"608096":{"id":"608096","type":"image","title":"CDS group","body":null,"created":"1532615454","gmt_created":"2018-07-26 14:30:54","changed":"1532615454","gmt_changed":"2018-07-26 14:30:54","alt":"CDS group photo","file":{"fid":"231942","name":"29744050898_e54ef5b162_k.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/29744050898_e54ef5b162_k.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/29744050898_e54ef5b162_k.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":858101,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/29744050898_e54ef5b162_k.jpg?itok=Vl6Ue2Lv"}}},"media_ids":["608096"],"groups":[{"id":"47223","name":"College of Computing"},{"id":"50875","name":"School of Computer Science"},{"id":"1299","name":"GVU Center"},{"id":"545781","name":"Institute for Data Engineering and Science"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39431","name":"Data Engineering and Science"},{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"},{"id":"39511","name":"Public Service, Leadership, and Policy"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ETess Malone, Communications Officer\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:tess.malone@cc.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Etess.malone@cc.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["tess.malone@cc.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}