On Wednesday, April 29, 2026, the Massive Data Institute of the McCourt School of Public Policy will host the MDI Scholars Research Showcase Spring 2026. MDI Scholars will present their research in the Healey Family Student Center Social Room at Georgetown University from 1:00-2:30 pm, followed by a reception.
The event begins with formal remarks by Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation Executive Director, Lynn Overmann and 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 Scholar project teams will present their research posters. The program will be followed by a reception.
Accommodations: This event is wheelchair accessible. Accommodation requests related to a disability should be made by April 24, 2026 to mdiresearch@georgetown.edu. A good faith effort will be made to fulfill requests made after April 24.
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 (titles subject to change; as of 29 April 2026)
Topic Modeling and Narrative Analysis of Autonomous Vehicle Crash Reports
Ashiesh Mathews, McDonough School of Business, Business Management, MS ’26
Collaborator(s): Robin Dillon-Merrill, Ph.D.
Perceptions of AI Generated Art
Hexuan “Judy” Wang, Georgetown College, Political Economics and Art ’27
Collaborator(s): Toni-Lee Sangastiano, Ph.D., Kristelia García, J.D., Elissa Redmiles, Ph.D., Wisdom Obinna, Vivienne Reed
Partner Organization(s) and Collaborator(s): Fritz Family Fellowship
Algorithmic Assessment of Toolkit Integration in U.S. Election Officials’ Social Media
Qingyang Wang, Georgetown School of Arts & Sciences, Data Science and Analytics ’26
Collaborator(s): Thessalia Merivaki, Ph.D., Ioannis Ziogas
Recognizability of Synthetic Likenesses in AI-Generated Images
Alessandra Garcia Guevara, Georgetown College, Computer Science ’26
Collaborator(s): Elissa Redmiles, Ph.D. Sarah Adel Bargal, Ph.D., Rupayan Mallick, Ph.D., Eric Zeng, Ph.D.
Partner Organization(s) and Collaborator(s): Fritz Family Fellowship
Inequality in Public Service Experience: Evidence from DMV Office Ratings
Stacy Che, Georgetown School of Arts & Sciences, Data Science and Analytics ’26
Collaborator(s): Nejla Asmovic, Ph.D., Ziyu Zhu, MS-DSPP 27’
Partner Organization(s) and Collaborator(s): Better Government Lab
Measuring Spread of False Information on Social Media Platforms
Jay Kakani, Georgetown College, Math and Government ’28
Camden Baucom, Georgetown College, Computer Science and Government, minor in Philosophy ’26
Saanvi Shashikiran, Georgetown College, Computer Science and Psychology, minor in Mathematics ’27
Zizheng Wang, Georgetown School of Arts & Sciences, Data Science and Analytics ’27
Collaborator(s): Lisa Singh, Ph.D., Sejin Paik, Ph.D., Mohamed Ahmed
Designing a Synchronized Architecture for a Private Set Intersection Tool for Privacy-Preserving Record Linkage
Victor Chen, Georgetown College, Computer Science and Economics ’27
Collaborator(s): Vincent Dorie, Ph.D., Amy O’Hara, Ph.D.
Immunization Against Malicious Image Editing
Maggie Shen, Georgetown College, Computer Science and Mathematics ’26
Collaborator(s): Sarah Adel Bargal, Ph.D., Amro Abdalla
Re-engineering Legal Reasoning for AI: A Structured Ontology Approach
Elizabeth Atori, Georgetown Law, Technology, Law and Policy, LAWA Fellow ’26
Collaborator(s): Jacob Pasner, Ph.D., Sejin Paik, Ph.D., Christine Task, Brandon Waldon, Ph.D.
Testing Private Set Intersection Techniques with Synthetic Data
Dana Kim, Georgetown School of Arts & Sciences, Data Science and Analytics, ’28
Collaborator(s): Amy O’Hara, Ph.D., Jacob Pasner, Ph.D., Stephanie Straus, M.Ed., Kangheng Liu
Latent Spaces for Generalizable Deepfake Audio Detection
Camden Baucom, Georgetown College, Computer Science and Government, minor in Philosophy ’26
Collaborator(s): Lisa Singh, Ph.D., Rupayan Mallick, Ph.D., Mohamed Ahmed
PublicDebtIsPublic – Automating Sovereign Debt Contract Classification and Entity Tagging Using LLMs
Henry Deng, Georgetown College, Computer Science and Mathematics, minor in Economics ’26
Sophia Dorr, Georgetown College, Computer Science and American Musical Culture ’27
Gui Lima, Walsh School of Foreign Service, Science, Technology & International Affairs, minor in Computer Science, BS ’28
Collaborator(s): Lisa Singh, Ph.D., Rebecca Ansell
Partner Organization(s) and Collaborator(s): Georgetown Law
Building transparent, reproducible, and open source infrastructures to study digital ecosystem health
Ibadat Jarg, McCourt School of Public Policy, Data Science for Public Policy ’26
Marilyn Rutecki, McCourt School of Public Policy, Data Science for Public Policy ’26
Collaborator(s): Renee DiResta, Ph.D., Thessalia Merivaki, Ph.D., Ioannis Ziogas, Ph.D., Maddisen Murrell
Partner Organization(s) and Collaborator(s): National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC)
Examining Nonresponse Patterns in High-Stakes Exam Registration Data and Associations with Test Performance
Yuxi Shen, Georgetown School of Arts & Sciences, Data Science and Analytics ’26
Collaborator(s): Qiwei (Britt) He, Ph.D., Chris Han
Partner Organization(s) and Collaborator(s): The Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC)
Post-Covid Student Outcomes: Analyzing School Recovery From the Pandemic
Alexa Nakanishi, Georgetown College, Mathematics & Justice and Peace Studies ’26, Georgetown School of Arts & Sciences, Data Science and Analytics ’27
Collaborator(s): Maggie Cicco
Analyzing world language teacher shortages
Isabel Liu, Georgetown College, Computer Science, Ethics, and Society, minors in Philosophy and Journalism ’26
Stacy Che, Georgetown School of Arts & Sciences, Data Science and Analytics ’26
Collaborator(s): Meg Montee, Ph.D., Nicole Casin De Los Reyes, Ph.D.
Assessing the State-level AI Adoption Readiness
Bhumika Nebhnani, McCourt School of Public Policy, Master of Public Policy (MPP) ’27
Saanvi Shashikiran, Georgetown College, Computer Science and Psychology, minor in Mathematics ’27
Henry Deng, Georgetown College, Computer Science and Mathematics, minor in Economics ’26
Collaborator(s): Lisa Singh, Ph.D., Andrea Headley, Ph.D., Vinuri Dissanayake, Aditi Bhardwaj
Partner Organization(s) and Collaborator(s): Evidence for Justice Lab
StudyLens: AI-Powered Research Comparison and Synthesis
Cindy Lyu, Georgetown School of Arts & Sciences, Data Science and Analytics ’26
Ihsan Alaeddin, Georgetown School of Arts & Sciences, Data Science and Analytics ’26
Collaborator(s): Nejla Asmovic, Ph.D.
Partner Organization(s) and Collaborator(s): Center for Privacy and Technology, Fritz Family Fellowship
Predicting Environmental Migration in Southwest Bangladesh
Adrian David Frauca, Georgetown College, Computer Science and Mathematics ’27
Izzy Coddington, Georgetown School of Arts & Sciences, Mathematics and Statistics ’26
Collaborator(s): Lisa Singh, Ph.D., Katharine Donato, Ph.D., Ali Arab, Ph.D.
Linking Archival Records to the U.S. Census Using AI
Katherine Arkin, Georgetown College, Mathematics, minor in Computer Science ’26
Izzy Coddington, Georgetown School of Arts & Sciences, Mathematics and Statistics ’26
Collaborator(s): Adam Rothman, Ph.D., Mohamed Ahmed, Tiara Haggins, Madison Kim
Can AI Predict Your Politics? Evaluating Conversational Survey Methods for Political Attitude Assessment
Marie Vaughan, Georgetown School of Arts & Sciences, Data Science and Analytics ’26
Collaborator(s): Michael Bailey, Ph.D.
No Note Needed? Understanding “Not Misleading” (NNN) Notes in X Community Notes: Contributors, Targets, Networks, and Rhetoric
Siyu Hu, Georgetown School of Arts & Sciences, Data Science and Analytics ’26
Collaborator(s): Renee DiResta, Ph.D.
Do Firms Follow Firms? Agglomeration, Geographic Footprints, and COVID Retreat Among U.S. Public Firms
Sazan Khalid, Georgetown School of Arts & Sciences, Data Science and Analytics ’27
Collaborator(s): Allison Koester, Ph.D.
An Interactive Shiny App for Exploring SNAP Error Patterns and Quality Control Data
Xiao Xu, McCourt School of Public Policy, Data Science for Public Policy ’26
Collaborator(s): Jeremy Barofsky, Ph.D., Eric Giannella, Ph.D.