Dear Bucknellians,
The Dominguez Center for Data Science is two years old and continues to grow its impact on Bucknell and the local community. One exciting data point is that in June our summer research students surveyed 444 community members at 14 local food pantries! In this edition of the newsletter, you can learn more about that food insecurity project, along with our other summer projects, see what our 2025 alumni are up to, meet our new faculty and staff fellows, check out our summer workshops, and read about AI initiatives.
Keep reading to see how we’re turning data into real-world impact at DCDS.
Warmest regards,
Kelly McConville, Director
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| Kelly with summer research students Bella Luzak (left) and Lilli Davis (right)
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This summer, we supported three data-oriented summer research opportunities for nine student researchers representing nine different majors. These summer research projects are a great way for students to develop data science skills, practice communicating with data, and strengthen their sense of belonging in the field of data science.
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Mapping food insecurity in Union, Snyder, and Northumberland counties |
Cynthia Pintado '28, Jordan Acquaro '28, Seth Preap '29, Lilli Davis '28, and Bella Luzak '28
In collaboration with the Union-Synder Community Action Agency Food Hub and the Center for Community Engaged Leadership, Learning & Research, this research team studied food insecurity in our local communities. The student researchers conducted surveys at local food pantries and then explored the data to better the distribution and experience of food insecurity in the area. This work will support local efforts to increase food security in the central Susquehanna Valley.
Check out the dashboard they created here:
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Trends in data science & statistics at small liberal arts colleges |
Connor Thurston '27 and Devon Berkove '28
In collaboration with Vassar College, this research team explored the landscape of statistics & data science education at liberal arts colleges in the U.S. They compiled and created an open access dataset to share with the data science education community with the goal of giving faculty at colleges across the country useful data stories that will help them advocate for greater support of their statistics and data science programs.
Check out the dashboard they created here:
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Undergraduate Forestry Data Science |
Sam Schroeder '29 and Christian West-McCauley '27
The Undergraduate Forestry Data Science (UFDS) lab is a joint collaboration between Bucknell University, Reed College, and the Forest Inventory and Analysis Program (FIA) of the US Forest Service. UFDS engages undergraduate students with authentically motivated research questions in data science and forestry. This summer, the program was hosted at Reed College in Portland, Oregon.
Check out the R package they are updating here:
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Special thanks to Claire Cahoon (Data Scientist, DCDS), Rachel Herman (Food Security Manager for the Union-Snyder Community Action Agency), Sarah Farbo (Associate Director, Community Engaged Leadership, Learning & Research), Shelly Sholley (Food Programs Coordinator), Ming-Wen An (Professor of Mathematics and Statistics at Vassar College), Grayson White (Visiting Assistant Professor of Statistics at Reed College) for mentoring these summer projects.
These summer research programs would not be possible without generous support from our donors, including a grant from the US Forest Service and donations from Jim Bolognese ‘74 and another donor.
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Software Development Engineer, Amazon
"I believe that with the skills developed through DCDS, you can succeed in any career."
Major: Computer Science, Business Analytics
Data Science Student Fellows Project: Engineering Camp Survey Data, 2010-2024
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Biology Graduate Student at Bucknell University
"This program is an invaluable asset to Bucknell... DCDS showed me that you don't need to be a mathematician to both do and enjoy stats. There is far more to data analysis than math, there is an underlying story to decipher and convey and countless methods to go about doing just that."
Major: Biology, Environmental Science
Data Science Student Fellows Project: Exploration of Veterans in the Survey of Prison Inmates
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| Lissandro Jose Alvarado ’25
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Associate Software Engineer, Optum
"DCDS helped me build a strong foundation for approaching real-world data problems and understanding how technical work connects to business needs."
Major: Business Analytics
Data Science Student Fellows Project: Using Data Science and Exploratory Statistics to Predict the Presence of Invasive Species
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Read more alumni stories on the DCDS website:
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NEW FACULTY & STAFF FELLOWS |
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The DCDS welcomed three incoming faculty and staff fellows! The faculty and staff fellows are instrumental in DCDS achieving its mission of data for all of Bucknell. The new fellows will serve in these roles for two years.
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| Faculty Fellow for the College of Engineering
Rajesh joined Bucknell University in Fall 2022 as an Assistant Professor of Computer Science. He has mentored more than 36 undergraduate researchers, many of whom have co-authored peer-reviewed publications and received national recognition and awards. His research lab focuses on behavioral biometrics, with applications in identity authentication, academic integrity, and online trust. As a DCDS Faculty Fellow, he is committed to fostering interdisciplinary collaborations among faculty and expanding opportunities for engineering students to engage in data science. Outside of work, Rajesh enjoys playing tennis, badminton, and billiards, as well as exploring new places and cultures.
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| Staff Fellow
Rita is the Director of Institutional Research and has worked in the Bucknell Office of Institutional Research and Analytics since 2012. Her work focuses on data analytics, institutional reporting, survey research, and applying machine learning, natural language processing (NLP), and large language models (LLMs) to support data informed decision-making and student success. Outside of work, she enjoys traveling, photography, walking, and cooking.
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| Staff Fellow
Janine has been at Bucknell since July 2009 when she was hired to take on the newly created role of GIS Specialist - a job created to integrate GIS & spatial thinking across the curriculum in teaching, research and scholarship. In her role as DCDS staff fellow Janine will focus on mentoring students, teaching workshops and furthering efforts to deeply integrate the application of data science across campus. Janine enjoys swimming, rowing, yoga and spending time with her kids, dogs & cat.
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The Dominguez Center for Data Science offers a workshop series covering a range of useful topics for student researchers staying over the summer at Bucknell.
Topics this summer included Github, R, Python, Excel, LaTex, data visualization, and more!
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Created by Matt Bailey for "Data Visualizations in Excel"
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| | Created by Kellan Guinn-Bailey '27 in "Creating Art with Code"
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AI AT BUCKNELL AND BEYOND |
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At Reunion, DCDS hosted an interactive session where we explored AI through both a campus and industry lens. Kelly and Claire shared updates on current AI projects happening at Bucknell and then JM Schapiro '91 and Peter Troost '91 discussed how AI is shaping and transforming their industries.
From left to right: Kelly McConville, Peter Troost, and JM Schapiro
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DATA/HUMN 101: Foundations of AI |
This fall, Bucknell is offering a new course titled, "Foundations of AI" taught by Dr. John Hunter. This course is cross-listed between Data Science and Digital and Comparative Humanities, and will be open to all majors. This course will offer a hands-on opportunity to explore AI's foundations, historical development and how it mirrors and diverges from human cognition and learning.
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Your support makes this work possible! Please consider making a gift, which will allow us to provide more students with high-impact data science experiences. These opportunities are essential to preparing our students to be data leaders.
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| Follow the Dominguez Center for Data Science on LinkedIn |
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Bucknell University
One Dent Drive | Lewisburg, PA 17837 US
You've received this as a result of your affiliation with Bucknell University.
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