REU SITE: DATA SCIENCE RESEARCH FOR HEALTHY COMMUNITIES IN THE DIGITAL AGE

Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester MA

Investigators

Abstract

Critical applications are emerging in the interdisciplinary field of Data Science in the area of community health analytics. Yet despite the high potential impacts of data science on the community, not enough opportunities for undergraduate education and research immersion in data science are available. Supporting communities in the digital age rests on comprehensive data science solutions from machine learning, artificial intelligence to big data technologies. With an interdisciplinary team, participants in this project improve the state-of-art in data science to solve real-world problems from personalized health and well-being, public health by mental health screening tools, early alerts for infection spread, to environmental and transportation improvements. This Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site helps to sustain our community's innovation-based economy by training students to acquire data science skills. This site provides access to data science research opportunities otherwise extremely limited. A goal is to boost retention of female students and underrepresented groups such as African Americans in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) professions. Undergraduate research programs are known to improve students' interpersonal communication, professional networking, and research skills that they would not encounter in the classroom, and to encourage students to find their interest and seriously consider graduate studies. This REU site is a continuation of an REU site in Data Science successfully operated by the Worcester Polytechnic Institute Data Science program since 2016. This new site offers 30 additional students from a range of geographically diverse locations around the country access to vibrant scientific research projects and undergraduate mentorship. Comprehensive support for the REU participants, from close research mentoring to professional development, are provided. Students have the opportunity to network with professionals from the data science advisory board, alumni and industrial partners from companies and organizations as diverse as Google, MathWorks, and MITRE Corporation, thereby encouraging them to pursue Data Science in their careers. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.