Hello! I am a PhD student in Quantitative Psychology at UNC Chapel Hill. My research focuses on time series data, particularly, solutions for problems that arise in daily survey data. My current work deals with creating a method for detecting low variability in daily survey data and determining when low variability will influence inferential statistics.

As a fellow at DSSG, I am part of the Vital Signs team, where we will be modeling data from a wide range of sources to better understand the relationships between agricultural development, sustainability, and human well-being. My personal goals include learning techniques for analyzing geospatial data and combining these techniques with my knowledge of time series analyses to effectively model spatio-temporal data. I also hope to learn the process of how our work as data scientists and methodologists can be used to inform and influence policy for the well-being of people and our planet.

It has only been one week, and the DSSG Fellowship has already become of great value for my educational and professional development. This first week has been packed with tutorials and workshops on everything from data science in python to the ethics of data science and the collaboration process. It is also a great environment for understanding how to approach interdiscplinary projects, where the vocabulary and approach to problem solving may differ. I highly recommend that grad students seek out these opportunities. These skills are applicable to any field!