Data Science

U of Washington Summer Program Projects Impact Transportation, Food Industries

• By Sri Ravipati
• 09/01/16

The eScience Institute at the University of Washington wrapped up its second annual, 10-week summer fellowship program for students to explore the impact that data science can have on society. This year, the theme for the Data Science for Social Good (DSSG) program was urban science and analytics. Students sought to tackle urban issues, like overcrowded buses and food contamination, that could be improved with data analysis of existing systems.  

The  DSSG program works in collaboration with Urban@UW and Microsoft. The program is modeled after similar ones at the University of Chicago and Georgia Tech, and combines elements from UW’s Data Science Incubator, according to the DSSG website. Teams of students from around the country applied to take part in the program and four teams of four were chosen to become DSSG Student Fellows.

The students worked on their projects at UW’s campus, alongside data and domain scientists from the eScience Institute. Two of the four projects focused on enhancing aspects of transportation, like monitoring traffic on public buses in real-time and creating open sidewalks. Another focused on early detection of unsafe food products, while the last project developed a tool for estimating poverty. Final projects were presented at Demo Day, held on Aug. 18.

To learn more about the four projects, visit the DSSG project site.