The Department of Informatics, the Institute for Money, Technology & Financial Inclusion (IMTFI), and the Department of Anthropology present:

2019-2020 NSF-REU on Community Organizations, Data Justice, and Law
Findings, Experiences, and Reflections of Undergraduate Researchers

 

Encouraging critical multidisciplinary collaboration, learning, and mentorship duly grounded in community engagement, this National Science Foundation Undergraduate Research Experience (NSF-REU) brought together faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate researchers in anthropology, computer science, and informatics to understand how organizations that serve minoritized communities conceptualize and utilize data in pursuing justice across various domains. The research aimed to uncover assumptions built into data infrastructures and how they shape the relationships between community organizations, the communities they serve, and the issues they engage with.

Five undergraduate students participated in this 25-week learning, mentorship, and research experience aimed to critically expose them to methods and issues surrounding data and computing practices. They read and discussed literature across disciplines, designed and populated a database of case studies, interviewed and engaged with community organizers, and wrote & presented scholarly output, all the while critically reflecting on their experiences as students, researchers, and future computing professionals.

This presentation shares the findings and deliverables of the undergraduates together with their experiences and reflections on their research, the program, and more broadly, the role of ethics in computing education and practice.

Presented by:

Undergraduate researchers: Sion Avakian, Stuti Rana, Manasi Shingane, Kevin Vasques;
 
Graduate Student Researchers: Benedict (Bono) Salazar Olgado and Lucy Pei.
 
Principal Investigators for the 2019-2020 NSF REU: Professor Roderic Crooks, Dean Bill Maurer

*NOTE: This event will be recorded.