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19– Data collection on city dwellers and students; an undergrad research story, with Erik Dickamore | Day 83

June 02, 2020 Utah State University Office of Research Episode 19
Instead
19– Data collection on city dwellers and students; an undergrad research story, with Erik Dickamore | Day 83
Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

Wyatt speaks with Erik Dickamore, a senior studying statistics at USU. Erik dives into the numerous projects he is working on involving data collection and the future of smart cities around the world. Erik also shares his experience as an undergraduate researcher, and the path he took to kick off his journey as a researcher at USU.

Wyatt: [00:00:00] Recently I've started to understand the value that participating in research can add to somebody's education. Utah state university has the second oldest undergraduate research program in the nation. I didn't even consider participating in the research process when I was a USU student. I didn't want to take time between classes and work to bother a professor and into letting me do some Scot work.

But now I know better. That's not what undergraduate research is. So to help you understand what it is, here's the first student researcher mini episode today you'll hear Eric tikka Moore. He's an undergraduate research assistant and the center for student analytics. He looks at data points that contribute to student success.

Eric, Dickamore is also in the anticipatory research minor, where he looks at data collection in cities and the policy surrounding how cities, track citizens and how that information is compiled. A quick note later in the week, I'll be posting my interview with Dr. Jack Schmidt. He's the guy in charge of USU center for Colorado river studies.

I know. So little about the role of the Colorado river plays. So Jack fills me in on the history of the rivers management, the current state of the river and things that keep him optimistic about the future of the Colorado river. Keep an eye out for that episode in a few days. Today is Tuesday, June 2nd, 2020.

My name is Wyatt. You could be wrestling that old air conditioning unit into your window, but you are listening to this instead. Here's my conversation with undergraduate researcher. Eric

So what does anticipatory research or anticipate or you knowledge? I already forgot what that word is, but does that mean that minor you're working on? 

Erik Dikamore: [00:01:45] Um, so anticipatory intelligence really coined by the intelligence community in the national security realm, um, and the miners through the political science department.

But a lot of what it is, is understanding the geopolitical climate, uh, what's going on in technology, um, kind of a cutting edge of what's happening in the world. And then looking beyond that, kind of over the horizon and anticipate. Anticipating a lot of what can happen. And so when we understand what can happen, we can prepare in ways like building resilience into systems.

Wyatt: [00:02:24] Give me any examples of how or why anticipatory thinking about what's next in technology is important. 

Erik Dikamore: [00:02:32] I think we're living in, in one. Uh, right now, uh, especially with the pandemic that's going on. I remember last semester we spent probably two or three weeks talking about all of the biological advancements that were happening in a lot of the new research that was going into kind of the biology.

Realm. And one student actually did his like research project on, uh, zoonotic diseases that can jump from animals to humans. And then three months later we see this global pandemic happening. Uh, and so when we. Kind of foresee and understand these things. We can better prepare for instances. 

Wyatt: [00:03:17] So are you thinking about all types of things we should be anticipating?

Or are you mostly in like the technology, computer apps, smartphone world 

Erik Dikamore: [00:03:25] of it? Me personally, uh, I. So my emphasis is statistics and my research, uh, with the program has been about smart cities. So understanding how data can be captured on citizens, uh, kind of what we do with that data. And some of the insights that can come from it.

And then on the flip side, right, how collection of data can be kind of scary sometimes infringe on the rights of humans. So I know 

Wyatt: [00:03:55] that in the past year or so, San Francisco has put in legislation stopping like face ID, scanning and stuff there. And then on the flip side of that, China has done a lot of, um, kind of.

Collecting information about citizens, um, and their country. What kind of things are you seeing? What kind of pictures? The data you're gathering? 

Erik Dikamore: [00:04:16] I know there's definitely a wide spectrum going on right now. And I think, um, outside of the U S we see countries like China and cities, like Dubai, really pushing forward.

On this collection of data as a public. Good. So rather than having individual citizens own their data, the data that is collected in a public space belong to the government and they use it in a way that they see fit, um, without any kind of signature or kind of terms of views, uh, and in the U S. We're far more focused on how humans are, like how we as citizens, like our rights are being infringed upon.

And so we're more conscious of things like face identification or tracking individuals in public spaces. Or linking everything together that you do in a city, such as like a ride share, uh, and a bus pass. And then also maybe taking out a bike that can also be tied into things such as joining a municipal soccer team and creating profiles.

On citizens' lives. Right? So we see that happening in countries outside of the U S inside the U S have we're a little more trepidatious. Um, even Canada, they had this really big sidewalk program and it got shut down because of kind of these Western ideals. There's, there's some benefits and some, some things that you give up with that, right.

Some really big upsides is that we. Understand what goes on in a city more granularly. Right. So rather than a top view of kind of like, Oh, things are happening, for example, um, salt Lake city, just put in some, I forget the company name, but you get a bite. Yeah. Like city bike or not 

Wyatt: [00:06:11] city bike, or like the bird scooters things maybe are similar bird lime.

Erik Dikamore: [00:06:16] So when, uh, when someone checks out a bike or a scooter. Then that data point on who they are and how long they road stays with the company. Um, rather than traveling to the city it's shared in aggregate, but not who like the individual is. And so it's a lot of like protections for sure. But then it also, I think some downsides are that we don't understand or, uh, more clearly what's happening in the city and maybe how we can.

Improve. 

Wyatt: [00:06:51] So you're a statistics major, which means that you're just processing and looking at numbers. And I don't know, I don't understand a lot of it. I mean, I understand it, but like, I just let somebody else, I let people like you do it for me. What kind of data are you going through? And where's it coming from?

Erik Dikamore: [00:07:06] The research that I do with the center for student analytics, where we understand the influence of student activities on persistence. Uh, that's where I get to work with some, some really big data stuff. 

Wyatt: [00:07:20] And what are, tell me about those data sets. Is that like grade point averages, enrollments? Like what kind of factors are you looking at 

Erik Dikamore: [00:07:27] metrics?

Uh, yeah, so for, for these ones are for these models that I use or that I get to use. Right. Uh, our grade point average is, um, Every time that you swipe your card at the university, there's a data point created. So when you go to the, how or a code into a football game or use the arc, uh, all of those data points come together in a model that can predict.

Uh, whether or not you participate in any given activity 

Wyatt: [00:08:00] and what kind of things are you looking at when it comes to like, Oh, if somebody goes to the arc a lot, it reflects these things. Like what kind of themes are you starting to 

Erik Dikamore: [00:08:09] notice? A lot of things that the university does that really helps students stay enrolled.

And I think. That for each student, it's going to be a different mixture. Right? I like to think of it as vitamins where, you know, some, you know, some people need more than others. And so things like the arc really help. Some students persist. Um, we just finished up a project where we partnered with fraternity and sorority life, and we saw some really cool things with fraternity and sorority life in regards to students.

That. So I guess some context on this is we break students into four persistence core tiles. Uh, the model does, so those in the top persistence core tile are more likely to persist. And those in the bottom core tile are less likely to persist and fraternity and sorority life had a really big impact for those in the bottom two core tiles.

So students who. Participate in fraternity and sorority life, uh, who would have left actually stay because of their participation in that program. 

Wyatt: [00:09:20] Now, what kind of factors kind of indicate that somebody is more or less likely to persist 

Erik Dikamore: [00:09:25] individual? Right? It breaks down at the individual level. And so everyone is a little bit different, but in general, there's some really big indicators for success.

And one of the largest is integration into the, uh, university community. So. The biggest one is having interactions with, but good interactions with your professors in your programs. So academically, but then outside of that, the next one is having. Uh, just meeting with your academic advisor. So, uh, and that's a really good indicator of, you know, a student who is kind of planning ahead, right?

They're engaged in the community. They kind of know where they're going and they're also getting help from someone who's a professional, right. Who's there to help. 

Wyatt: [00:10:14] What kind of things, land people in like the bottom or the top, like when they're first, like a freshmen student who you don't have a lot of data on, is it like their existing grade point average?

Like whether their parents had degrees 

Erik Dikamore: [00:10:26] yeah. Anything and everything from, uh, your high school grade point average, your, um, zip code, your first-generation status, um, and things like that. Uh, go into it. Your. Completion of orientation. So students that complete all of the orientation modules online, um, and then actually, uh, one indicator that we found that was interesting is that students who register on time are more likely to persist in those that.

Don't so registering on time, all kind of play into this model that predicts. Yeah. Yeah. 

Wyatt: [00:11:08] So I've gotten really used to the fact, there's just a ton of information about me out there. And I have an Alexa which may or may not be the best idea in the world, but like my lights on, on and off from bed, which is really, really nice.

What practices do you have in place? And that student analytics. Slabs keep people's data safe because I went to a really small high school. And like, you could just walk into the secretary's office, look at a binder of everybody's class schedule and like that wasn't a big deal there. But I imagine that that kind of information at USU is shouldn't be accessed by 

Erik Dikamore: [00:11:43] everyone.

Right. Right. And, and I think this, uh, this idea of data protection is, is. Um, important and intersects with a lot of what I do with both the center for, um, anticipatory intelligence or a disciplinary intelligence minor. And then also the center for student analytics at USU we have some data protection guidelines that protect student data such as the first one being FERPA.

But then also on top of that student data that we use that has ever shared, um, is always in aggregate. And what that means is that any. Uh, identifiable data. There's never any individuals that are shared or, um, it's always an aggregate. In addition to that, there's also some like human protocol protocols, right?

Where every, all the student data that is used is it must be accessed on certain computers within the office behind some walls of like password walls. Uh, and this is. Like really important, especially in the policy area. And if we consider things such as smart cities, where we collect data on citizens without discrimination, where we say, all right, everyone that drives past this stoplight, we're going to film or everyone that, uh, this police officer walks by with a body cam we're going to film or, uh, everyone that uses this service.

Has to be identified cities, pool, all of that data into a place. And there has to be some protections around it or else we see things like, I think it was a city in North Carolina where hackers came in and, and, and we see ransomware attacks. So they hold all of the data of a city hostage and won't allow the city to access it or understand, you know, get to anything that the city owns.

Unless they pay. 

Wyatt: [00:13:48] So what's your work with the anticipatory intelligence or are you just studying that or are you doing like research with them? And if you're doing research, like what does that look like? Is it just kind of reading articles and thinking about 

Erik Dikamore: [00:14:00] stuff? Yeah. Yeah. It's a lot of article reading, a lot of, um, applying theoretical frameworks to what we see.

So, uh, in addition to articles, there's a lot of. Things happening that haven't been published in academic journals. Right. And so it's a lot of combing through new sources and we spent a lot of time going through information literacy. So understanding sources, where they're coming from, how they're being documented, uh, and going through a lot of, so we have to go through a lot of primary sources to understand what's happening.

Uh, but then also. Interviewing experts. So this last semester got to interview a data scientist and, uh, chat about how cities might use data and how protections can be assessed. And as we work through these frameworks, um, of first understanding what's going on. Why that is important. And then now what is kind of the thesis and, and the culmination of, of the research is now, what do we do?

Um, and that can take the form of policy recommendations or, um, resilience framework points such as like, Hey, we should build resilience into this framework by a, B and C. 

Wyatt: [00:15:28] So, how did you get involved with undergraduate research? Like when I was in college, I didn't even understand what it was and I worked for the office of research and so it just, I didn't get it.

And so how did you get looped into it? 

Erik Dikamore: [00:15:42] Definitely. Uh, I had some really great mentors that kind of led me in the way when I first showed up at university, I had no clue, like what research was or, or what, um, kind of. Even it meant that Utah state was a research university. And my freshman year I had a English teacher where she said, all right, we're going to do a research type paper and you need to like look up things and, and go through.

And I had the topic that we chose. I don't even remember the topic was, uh, I created a survey and sent it out to my classmates. And we, uh, took all of that data and put it into my research paper and that first kind of foray into. Research is really what led me to talk with a lot of, some of the, uh, other mentors that I had.

So one of the deans at the college of science would lecture to all the incoming students about getting involved in research. And so by the time I was an orientation student at the time, and I had to listen to that, uh, him evangelize research. I think it was 27 times that I had gone through this presentation.

And by the end I looked myself in the mirror. I was like, I have to get involved in research. I don't like, I don't know what else I'm going to do. And so that's when I met Mitchell Colver, uh, at the center for student analytics. So, what 

Wyatt: [00:17:19] was the jump between that paper you did for English class and being involved with the professor you worked with?

When you started out research, did you email somebody, did somebody contact you? I feel like that's the important, like tiny connection that a lot of people miss. 

Erik Dikamore: [00:17:36] Um, I had a boss, I was in the orientation office and my boss was one day her name's Lisa Simmons. She looked at me and she said, Eric you're a stats major, right?

I said, yes. And she said, Mitchell Colver over at the center for student analytics is looking for student researchers. You should go and talk to him. And so it was that kind of referral or kind of a push from, um, my boss or mentor Lisa to just go and talk to someone about. Their research. And so I went and made an interview.

I, I emailed, it was an email. She gave me his email, emailed him and said, Hey, I'd love to come talk to you about what's going on, uh, at the center for student analytics. And I didn't know, tons at the time, just, uh, kind of what I had read online. And then. Also what Lisa told me and I went and had an interview with him and got onboarded.

And it's been great ever since, but it was that, that initial, just go and talk to someone about what's what's going on. 

Wyatt: [00:18:42] When you think about like what your plans are for your future, how does this, um, being involved with research help you out in that or make it feel more possible? 

Erik Dikamore: [00:18:52] Oh, I think, uh, the research that I have been doing and get to be a part of as an undergraduate is really a springboard into what I can do as maybe in my master's degree or as a, as a professional.

Uh, and I think it really ties what I'm learning. In my classes to real world application. Uh, and that's really where I thrive is that I learn a lot of theory in my classes. And sometimes it goes over my head, or I'm not really sure how this works in the real life, but then when I go and I'm able to do research at the center or with the anticipatory intelligence minor, I really get to see it in action.

And that gives me like a lot of experience that maybe others might not have and really sets me apart from. From other people. Um, and it's interesting, like I love being a part of discovery and, uh, I think that that's something that I'm going to want to do the rest of my life. 

Wyatt: [00:19:55] That was my conversation with Eric  we learned a little bit about how data can be used by cities and by educators.

And we also learned how participating in research can add to somebody's education. If you want to find out who I'm interviewing next follow at instead podcast on Instagram. And there you can post questions that I might ask that researcher, this episode of instead was edited by Nick Vasquez and me Wyatt robber is part of our work and the office of research at Utah state university.

 

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