ASU Library’s Data Science and Analytics Unit relaunched Volunteer Open Projects in a hybrid kickoff. In-person seats were limited, and a Zoom option made the program accessible to students across campuses.
The fall program, which started on Friday, invites students to join volunteer teams working with authentic datasets. No experience is required to join a team, and it’s open to all majors and levels.
As part of the enterprise, the groups will tackle health, finance and data regarding conflicts.
There are four main tracks the volunteers work on: machine-learning models for breast cancer and chronice kidney disease, pneumonia prediction and outcome modeling, credit card fraud detection, and conflict data analysis to distinguish violent from nonviolent events.
Kerri Rittschof, director of the Unit for Data Science & Analytics at ASU Libraries, said success looks like students gaining new skills, creating portfolio work and presenting their results.
“It doesn’t matter what their level or discipline is,” Rittschof said. “We have something for every learner.”
The program is designed to be hands-on from day one. Students practice collaboration skills used in professional research labs like reproducible workflows, documentation and peer review.
“They (students) have the opportunity to build off of what they’ve already known,” Rittschof said. “(They) do something outside of their classrooms that they’re passionate about, and they find value and add to their portfolio.”
Shreyas Ramani, a graduate student studying data science, analytics and engineering, said he’s worked on past projects involving U.N. climate data and LGBTQ+ global acceptance trends.
“Data science is a multidisciplinary field where it’s not just to know the math and statistics and the coding part, but you also have to understand the problem you’re solving,” Ramani said.
Other workshops include a “SpaceHack for Sustainability,” which is a recurring “hackathon led by the ASU Library Unit for Data Science and Analytics & ASU Interplanetary Initiative,” according to its website. The two-day event allows students to focus on topics in environmentalism and sustainability.
Beyond the skill of solving data science problems, students in the program must create a coherent message explaining their results that people respond to. Ramani said this aspect of the program is “underappreciated.”
“You’ve done a lot of things, but how do you explain that to a general audience?” Ramani said. “The person coming in might be an expert in social sciences and climate change, but might not know much about statistics.”
Namig Abbasov, a digital humanities data analyst with the University, described a data-oriented system that keeps answers grounded in trusted sources. He emphasized code and database skills students practice together, while also encouraging interest in the projects.
“Someone can do a database, or someone can do the collecting data part, and so on,” Abbasov said. “There is a real possibility that a powerful product comes out.”
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Abimelec Mercado Rivera, a data science specialist, emphasized the program’s inclusive entry points for both beginners and advanced students. Mercado Rivera said the mentors are willing to meet up with students outside traditional project hours to help them catch up and get on board.
“We believe strongly that any contribution in this, in any of these projects, is very important,” Mercado Rivera said. “It’s something that goes beyond your classroom, or something that goes beyond the things that you’re learning.”
By semester’s end, participants have presentation-ready results, public portfolio entries and connections with faculty mentors that can open new doors.
“We’re allowed to fail here in a safe space, and that’s how we learn,” Rittschof said.
Edited by Kate Gore, George Headley and Ellis Preston.
Reach the reporter at afrahma1@asu.edu and follow @statepress on X.
Ariana RahmanSci-Tech Reporter
Ariana is a sophomore studying Biomedical Informatics. This is her first semester with The State Press.
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