Gerrymandering - Representatives in the United States are elected from local regions called "districts," which are drawn by state legislators every 10 years as part of the census process. The idea behind these localized districts is that voters who live physically near each other (as defined by being part of the same district drawn on a map) will likely share problems and issues, and should therefore be represented by the same elected official. Gerrymandering is the manipulation of this redistricting process to advantage or disadvantage a particular group, class, or race of people. Broadly, the issues in identifying Gerrymandering involve deciding how to measure what a "fair" redistricting would be, how to measure the actual redistricting against this theoretical fair process, and then making meaningful conclusions about the conformance of the actual redistricting to the theoretical fair redistricting. This project will be a continuation of work related to identifying and quantifying Gerrymandering across the country. Prerequisites: CSC 151. Preference may be given to students who have completed CSC 161 and/or CSC 208 (or Math equivalent). Some research I helped author is here:
Iowa Racial Traffic Data Analysis - One of the biggest civil rights issues in Iowa right now involves the rate at which traffic stops, citations, and arrests disproportionately affects people of color within the state. Part of the problem with addressing this concern is acquiring the necessary police data for analysis. Recent attempts to mandate data collection in the Iowa General Assembly have been unsuccessful. I am currently a member of the NAACP Legal Redress Committee for Iowa and Nebraska, and a former member has provided us with traffic data for the Des Moines Metro Area. He painstakingly collected this information from individual police departments and other government organizations over the past few years. This data is currently the only data available on the Des Moines Police, and is in need of analysis. The goal of this summer project is to continue to analyze the data and provide a clear summary for the committee as a tool to pursue remedies through official or legal channels. Prerequisites: Completed coursework through CSC 207, CSC 208 (or MAT 218), and STA 209. Extra coursework in CS, Math, or Stats may be substituted for some of these prerequisites. Here is the abstract for the presentation at the 2024 Joint Mathematics Meeting in San Francisco. News about the project: Computer Science Students Track Biased Policing, Inform NAACP Advocacy Some reports from the Des Moines police are found here: April 2022 - Law Enforcement Data Report April 2022 - Code Enforcement Data Report |
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“You've got to jump off cliffs and build your wings on the way down.”
-- Ray Bradbury
“Alcuin was my name. Learning I loved.”
-- Epitaph, Alcuin of York
-- Ray Bradbury
“Alcuin was my name. Learning I loved.”
-- Epitaph, Alcuin of York