Zumpango is a municipality of roughly 500,000 residents 50 kilometers from Mexico City, what might be considered an “exurb” in the United States. Though settlements have existed in the region as far back as 200 BC, the town has recently experienced a population boom, more than doubling in size since 1990 as more Mexicans move [...]
Police departments around the country have been in the spotlight recently because of several controversial, high-profile incidents. Tragic events in Ferguson, New York City, Baltimore, and elsewhere have highlighted the need for police departments to better address the issue of adverse interactions between the police and the public. Many police departments are working hard to [...]
On Monday, Wisconsin governor and 2016 presidential candidate Scott Walker signed into law a bill banning non-emergency abortions past the 19th week of pregnancy. Unsurprisingly, Walker's move garnered support from one side, derision from the other, and media attention from both. However, journalists face a big hurdle when trying to provide context for a story [...]
Last year, in a move opposed by over 90% of Australian citizens, the Australian government under Prime Minister Tony Abbott formally requested the de-listing of the Tasmanian Wilderness as an UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Abbott administration wanted to revoke the status to allow logging within the protected area. If successful, the bid would have [...]
An adverse birth can have devastating personal, financial, and even developmental consequences for both mother and child. Individuals born at shorter gestation and lower weight than average have increased risk of heart disease and diabetes. Low birthweight and preterm birth have also been associated with poor non-health outcomes such as lower educational attainment and labor [...]
In 2005, Florida implemented a new "Stand Your Ground" law, which legally protected the use of deadly force in self-defense. The law, which removes the "duty to retreat" when a person is threatened with serious bodily harm, gained national attention after George Zimmerman fatally shot Trayvon Martin in 2012. Soon after its passage in Florida, [...]
Reducing infant mortality, improving graduation rates for high school and first-generation college students, preventing home abandonment, and identifying legislative plagiarism are just some of the project goals for the 2015 Eric & Wendy Schmidt Data Science for Social Good Summer Fellowship. For fourteen weeks, 42 fellows in Chicago will work with nonprofit and government partners [...]
Every year, the National Day of Civic Hacking unites people across the country for hackathons, meetups, and other events centered around a common goal: using technology to improve communities and government. This year, Chicago celebrated National Day at the Civic Opera House with a hackathon-style Urban Sustainability Apps Competition organized by the Center for Neighborhood [...]
Data Science for Social Good is organized around projects, fixed-length efforts designed to produce a practical solution or product at the end of the summer. For many academics, used to open-ended research that typically makes it mark incrementally or over the long term, this more focused approach can be a jarring shift. But many DSSG [...]
From the beginning, education has been one of the primary focus areas of Data Science for Social Good. In 2013, we helped Mesa Public Schools detect and address “under-matching,” when a graduating student applies to colleges below their qualifications. Last year, we worked with Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland, improving the performance of their [...]