On Wednesday, December 10, 2025, the Massive Data Institute of the McCourt School of Public Policy will host the MDI Scholars Research Showcase Fall 2025. MDI Scholars will present their research in the Healey Family Student Center Social Room at Georgetown University from 1:00-2:30pm, followed by a reception.
The event begins with formal remarks by Massive Data Institute Director Lisa Singh followed by student project teams presenting “flash talks” — a 60-second summary of their research. After the flash talks, MDI Scholars project teams will present their research posters.
To learn more about the research projects that the MDI Scholars contributed to this semester, please check out: https://mdi.georgetown.edu/announcements/mdiresearch-fall2025/
Accommodations: This event is wheelchair accessible. Accommodation requests related to a disability should be made by December 3, 2025 to mdiresearch@georgetown.edu. A good faith effort will be made to fulfill requests made after December 3rd.
Transportation: Georgetown University is accessible for faculty, staff, students and visitors through many convenient transportation options, including our free university shuttle, public transportation, bicycling, carsharing and other means. Learn more about transportation options here. (new window)
See here (new window) (Interactive map) or here (new window) (PDF) for a Georgetown University campus map.
Taxi / Ridesharing: The recommended drop-off location is at the front gates of campus. Please inform your driver that your destination is Georgetown University or use the address 3700 O St. NW, Washington, DC 20057. Additional information on taxi / ride sharing is available here. (new window)
Visitor Parking: If you decide to drive to campus, please note there is construction happening on campus on the north side of campus. Visitor parking is available at Southwest Garage (Use 3611 Canal Road as the address for directions using GPS). Additional information on visitor parking is available here (new window).
About the MDI Scholars Program: The MDI Scholars program is an experiential learning opportunity for undergraduate and Master’s students to work on interdisciplinary research projects with professors and practitioners. These projects connect new forms of data and/or large-scale computing infrastructure to different public policy questions.
About the Massive Data Institute (MDI): At Georgetown’s McCourt School of Public Policy, the Massive Data Institute (MDI) is an interdisciplinary research institute that connects experts across computer science, data science, public health, public policy, and social science to tackle societal scale issues and impact public policy in ways that improves people’s lives through responsible evidence-based research. For more information on MDI, please visit https://mdi.georgetown.edu/
MDI Scholar Research Showcase Poster Titles
(poster titles subject to change; titles updated as of November 3, 2025)
Using Big Data to Better Inform Our Understanding of Forced Migration
Izzy Coddington, Master of Science in Mathematics & Statistics, ’26; Haiqa Sarosh Fatima, Master of Arts in International Migration & Refugees, ’25 (Fall); Adrian David Frauca, Bachelor of Science in Computer Science & Mathematics, ’27; Oliver Hannagan, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Collaborator(s): Ali Arab, Ph.D., Lisa Singh, Ph.D., Katharine Donato, Ph.D.,
Building Dynamic AI-Fueled Meta-Analysis Tool for Research Studies
Ihsan Alaeddin, Master of Science in Data Science & Analytics, ’26; Kexin “Cindy” Lyu, Master of Science in Data Science & Analytics, ’26
Collaborator(s): Nejla Asimovic, Ph.D.
Mapping Congressional Candidate Positions with LLMs
Marie Vaughan, Master of Science in Data Science & Analytics, ’26
Collaborator(s): Michael Bailey, Ph.D.
Converting Open-Ended Survey Responses into Structured Data
Marie Vaughan, Master of Science in Data Science & Analytics, ’26
Collaborator(s): Michael Bailey, Ph.D.
Assessing Primary Election Systems and Polarization
Gabriel Wasserman, Bachelor of Arts in Government, ’28
Collaborator(s): Michael Bailey, Ph.D.
Concept Immunization of Generative AI Models
Maggie Shen, Bachelor of Science in Mathematics & Computer Science, ’26
Collaborator(s): Sarah Bargal, Ph.D., Bogdan Raita, Ph.D., Amr Abdalla
Using LLMs to Identify Near Misses in Incident Datasets
Ashiesh Mathews, Master of Science in Management, ’26
Collaborator(s): Robin L. Dillon-Merrill, Ph.D.
No Notes Needed
Siyu Hu, Master of Science in Data Science & Analytics, ’26
Collaborator(s): Renée DiResta, Alexios Mantzarlis
Examining Validation Measures on Self-Reported Efforts
Yuxi Shen, Master of Science in Data Science & Analytics, ’26
Collaborator(s): Qiwei (Britt) He, Ph.D., David Pepper, Ph.D.
U.S. Establishment Locations of Subsidized and Non-Subsidized Firms
Sazan Khalid, Master of Science in Data Science & Analytics, ’26
Collaborator(s): Allison Koester, Ph.D.
Algorithmic Assessment of Toolkit Integration in U.S. Election Officials’ Social Media
Qingyang Wang, Master of Science in Data Science & Analytics, ’26
Collaborator(s): Thessalia Merivaki, Ph.D., Ioannis Ziogas, Ph.D.
Building Robust Algorithmic Tools to Advance the Study of Information Integrity in Digital Ecosystems
Ibadat Jarg, Master of Science in Data Science for Public Policy, ’26, Marilyn Rutecki, Master of Science in Data Science for Public Policy, ’26
Collaborator(s): Thessalia Merivaki, Ph.D., Renée DiResta, Ioannis Ziogas, Ph.D.
Guiding Educators on Sharing and Protecting Student Data through Privacy Enhancing Technologies
Victor Chen ’27, Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Bachelor of Arts in Economics; William Lowthert ’26, Master of Public Policy; Yiming Wu ’26, Master of Public Policy
Collaborator(s): Amy O’Hara, Ph.D., Stephanie Straus, M.Ed.
Assessing the Risk of Synthetic Explicit Image Creation Using Computer Vision Models
Alessandra Garcia Guevara, Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, ’26
Collaborator(s): Elissa Redmiles, Ph.D., Sarah Bargal, Ph.D., Eric Zeng, Ph.D., Rupayan Mallick, Ph.D.
Which Schools and Districts Are Leveraging Their Dollars to Maximize Student Learning?
Alexa Nakanishi, Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics & Justice and Peace Studies, accelerated track for Master of Science in Data Science & Analytics, ’26
Collaborator(s): Marguerite Roza, Ph.D., Maggie Cicco, Ph.D.
Helping the Public Identify Fake, Altered, and False Information
Camden Baucom, Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Government, minor in Philosophy, ‘26; Amy Li, Bachelor of Science in Business and Global Affairs, minors in Statistics and French, ‘25 (Fall)
Collaborator(s): Lisa Singh, Ph.D., Sejin Paik, Ph.D., Renée DiResta, Rupayan Mallick, Ph.D.
AI Readiness
Henry Deng, Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Mathematics, minor in Economics, ‘26; Saanvi Shashikiran, Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Psychology, minor in Mathematics, ‘27
Collaborator(s): Lisa Singh, Ph.D., Andrea Headley, Ph.D.
Using Online Comments to Understand Public Sentiment
Kate Arkin, Bachelor of Science in Mathematics, minor in Computer Science, ‘26; Sophia Dorr, Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science and American Musical Culture, minor in Mathematics, ‘27; Jay Kakani, Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Government, ‘28; Gui Lima, Bachelor of Science in Science, Technology and International Affairs, minor in Computer Science, ‘28
Collaborator(s): Lisa Singh, Ph.D.
Integrating Lexicogrammatical Information in RAG for Low Resource Machine Translation
Alexia Guo, Master of Science in Mathematics & Statistics, ’26
Collaborator(s): Amir Zeldes, Ph.D.