On Wednesday, May 1, 2024, the Massive Data Institute of the McCourt School of Public Policy will host the MDI Scholars Research Showcase Spring 2024. 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 McCourt School of Public Policy Dean Maria Cancian 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 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/announcing-the-spring-2024-mdi-scholars/
Accommodations: This event is wheelchair accessible. Accommodation requests related to a disability should be made by April 24, 2024 to mdiresearch@georgetown.edu. A good faith effort will be made to fulfill requests made after April 24th.
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; draft titles as of April 29, 2024)
DistrictView: Exploring Methods for Isolating Public Comments in School Board Meetings
Corrina Calanoc (She/Her), Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, Data Science and Analytics ’24
Maggie Sullivan (She/Her), McCourt School of Public Policy, Data Science for Public Policy ’24
Collaborator(s): Rebecca Johnson, Ph.D.
Leveraging LLMs in Incident Reporting
Brian Holland (He/Him), McCourt School of Public Policy, Data Science for Public Policy ’24
Gabriel Soto (He/Him), McCourt School of Public Policy, Data Science for Public Policy ’25
Collaborator(s): Robin Dillon-Merrill, Ph.D.
Reducing Administrative Burdens with Technological Innovation
Holt Cochran (He/Him), McCourt School of Public Policy, Data Science for Public Policy ’25
Sunaina Bakshi Kathpalia (She/Her), McCourt School of Public Policy, Data Science for Public Policy ’25
Collaborator(s): Sebastian Jilke, Ph.D., Donald Moynihan, Ph.D.
Partner Organization(s): Code for America, Office of Evaluation Sciences (General Services Administration)
Compiling Data Sources to Inform Head Start Programs
Amanda Hao (She/Her), Walsh School of Foreign Service, Science, Technology, International Affairs ’26
Collaborator(s): Amy O’Hara, Ph.D., Gabriel Taylor, Rosemary Rhodes
Partner Organization(s): National Head Start Association
Measuring French Racism and Misrepresentation on Social Media to Better Understand Online Perception
Xinyu Li (She/Her), Georgetown School of Arts & Sciences, Data Science and Analytics ’24
Collaborator(s): Lisa Singh, Ph.D., Andrew Sobanet, Ph.D., Rokhaya Diallo, Noah Aire, Amy Li
Partner Organization(s): Gender+ Justice Initiative
Optimizing Data Usage in Federal Government
Aastha Jha (She/Her), McCourt School of Public Policy, Data Science for Public Policy ’25
Katharyn Loweth (She/Her), McCourt School of Public Policy, Data Science for Public Policy ’25
Collaborator(s): Michael Bailey, Ph.D.
Partner Organization(s): U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Community Services (OCS)
Democratizing Access to the IRS 990 Database, An Automated Script for Simplified, Universal Retrieval
Yunhan Zhang (He/Him), Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, Data Science and Analytics ’24
Collaborator(s): Sandeep Dahiya, Ph.D.
A Data Collection Protocol that Protects Individual Privacy for Distributed and Sensitive Data Sources
Sophia (Alivia) Castor (She/Her), Georgetown College, Computer Science & Government ’25
Jason Yi (He/Him), Georgetown College, Computer Science ’26
Collaborator(s): Micah Sherr, Ph.D., Lisa Singh, Ph.D., Harel Berger, Ph.D., Jianan Su
Analyzing Behavioral Patterns for Immigrant Respondents
Kefan Yu (He/Him), Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, Data Science and Analytics ’24
Collaborator(s): Qiwei Britt He, Ph.D., Katharine Donato, Ph.D.
Federal Spending: Bipartisan Infrastructure Law — Evaluating the Impact of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law across Disadvantaged Communities under Justice 40
Madhvi Malhotra (She/Her), McCourt School of Public Policy, Data Science for Public Policy ’24
Collaborator(s): Michael Bailey, Ph.D.
Analyzing Carceral Ideology : Metadata Database Construction on Public and Private School Handbooks
JaeHo Bahng (He/Him), Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, Data Science and Analytics ’25
Collaborator(s): NaLette Brodnax, Ph.D.
Predicting Forced Migration: A Comparative Analysis of Organic and Traditional Indicators
Kate Liggio (She/Her), Georgetown College, Computer Science ’24
Bernardo Medeiros (He/Him), Georgetown College, Computer Science & Government ’24
Jenny Park (She/Her), Georgetown College, Computer Science and Justice and Peace Studies ’24
Rich Pihlstrom (He/Him), Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Data Science and Analytics ’25 and Computer Science ’24
Collaborator(s): Lisa Singh, Ph.D., Katharine Donato, Ph.D., Ali Arab, Ph.D., Helge Marahrens, Ph.D.
A Federal Workforce Data Commons
Haiyang Chen (He/Him), McCourt School of Public Policy, Data Science for Public Policy ’24
Linlin Wang (She/Her), Georgetown School of Arts & Sciences, Data Science and Analytics ’24
Collaborator(s): Mark Richardson, Ph.D., Benjamin Reese
Reading Policy Documents using AI: Fine-tuning Open-source LLMs for Custom Tasks using LoRA
Himangshu Kumar (He/Him), McCourt School of Public Policy, Data Science for Public Policy ’24
Collaborator(s): Michael Bailey, Ph.D.
Partner Organization(s): Atlas Public Policy, EPIC, Statt
Examining the Intersection Between Wildfires and Political Representation in Australia
Raunak Advani (He/Him), Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, Data Science and Analytics ’24
Collaborator(s): Le Bao, Ph.D.
Auditing Probabilistic Genotyping Software Used in Forensic DNA Analysis
Roy Hwang (He/Him), Georgetown College, Computer Science ’25
Julia Nonnenkamp (She/Her), Georgetown College, Computer Science & Mathematics ’24
Collaborator(s): Elissa Redmiles, Ph.D., Lisa Singh, Ph.D.,Ioannis Ziogas, Ph.D., Lucy Qin, Ph.D., Christian Schoeberl, Yanchen Wang, Stevie Glaberson J.D., Emily Tucker J.D.
Partner Organization(s): Georgetown Law Center
Harnessing AI to Map Political Ideologies: Challenges and Strategies for Cost-Effective Deployment
Zhiqiang Ji (He/Him), McCourt School of Public Policy, Data Science for Public Policy ’24
Collaborator(s): Michael Bailey, Ph.D.