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Grinnell Research Projects Summer 2025
Remember you must also submit a MAP application and a Science Division Application I will be selecting no more than two projects for this summer based on interest, and qualifications of applicants. I will choose among the following topics: (1) examining quantitative measures and algorithms for the detection of gerrymandering and/or exploring topics of community identification and preservation in redistricting, (2) analyzing policing and judicial practices for the presence of bias, (3) starting to create digital tools to help analyze fairness in jury selection, that is, a fair demographic cross section of potential jurors.
Gerrymandering - Gerrymandering is the manipulation of this redistricting process to advantage or disadvantage a particular group, class, or race of people. This project will be a continuation of work related to identifying and quantifying Gerrymandering across the country. Issues of focus this summer may include exploring topics of community identification and preservation, which are critical under the law. Here is the abstract for a presentation at the 2025 Joint Mathematics Meeting in San Francisco. 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. 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. My goal is to build a team to use times and geolocations to identify specific policing practices to target for reform and address biased outcome. Here is the abstract for the presentation at the 2025 Joint Mathematics Meeting in San Francisco. Iowa Fair Jury Selection - There have been recent reforms to the jury system in Iowa due to the lack of demographic representation in jury panels, and we would like to formalize this work and expand its impact to a national scale. This project hopes to be a real start on development of getting the necessary digital tools that can be utilized by those who make the promise of fair trial a reality: jury managers, judges, lawyers, and interested members of the public. |
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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