Education & Coursework
When I began my journey at NC State University, I majored in Pure Mathematics due to my lifelong love for mathematics and the desire to learn about what a career in math could look like outside of being a teacher or professor. However, I went into my freshman year with the goal of working hard in my classes to set up a firm academic foundation that would allow me to be a competitive student for adding on the statistics degree, despite the interference COVID-19 played in pushing the University online. In my second year, I was officially a mathematics and statistics double major; however, my Foundations of Advanced Mathematics class showed me that my original plan for a double major would likely change. Despite the course's challenge, I continued to pursue the double major for another year. However, as I took more statistics courses, I fell more in love with the math behind statistics and data science rather than mathematical theory. In my third year, I had a conversation with my advisors regarding my degree plan, academic passions, and shift in career goals that ultimately led to the decision to drop the mathematics major to a minor. Since then, I have added a second minor in global health as an avenue for gaining more interdisciplinary education and a way to combine my love for statistics and passion for helping communities.
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Included within this section is a sample of courses I have taken during my undergraduate career that have had some of my favorite projects I have gotten to work on.
HON 290: Arts in Dissent During the Civil Rights Movement
Fall 2021
In this class we will examine the visual arts, literature, and music made by Black artists which documented, interpreted, and contributed to the Civil Rights Movement. These artists and their artworks formed a culture of dissent that motivated activists and informed their actions during the Civil Rights movement from the mid-1950s until the mid-1970s. Throughout the class we also examined the similarities of modern day arts in dissent created during the height of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) Movement. For our final project, we were tasked with contextualizing and analyzing a work of art that was created during the Civil Rights Movement or BLM Movement that was not discussed during class. As an avid Angie Thomas fan, I choose to analyze the historical accuracy of The Hate U Give, specifically in relation to the nonviolent and violent protests depicted in the film. I drew further parallels to modern day history with the death of George Floyd in 2020 which further ignited the BLM movement in American media.
HON 398-008: Women in the Workforce
Spring 2022
This course will explore strategies that successful women have used to advance their careers. Women get paid less than men to do the same job. Learning to advocate for your worth is essential. Women face unique challenges related to integrating work and personal life into a formula that allows them to juggle all the balls in the air without dropping any. Students will learn a new vocabulary necessary to seek out meaningful careers that align with their life's vision and career goals. This innovative tool challenges students to reflect on their professional and personal needs in tandem through exposure to common dilemmas at all stages of their careers. Within this class, students had the opportunity to learn from a variety of women across industries as well as create a Wolfpack Career Chat podcast with a woman of their choice in an industry they are interested in pursuing during their career.
Podcast Description: “It’s nice to be able to be like yeah, I’m doing research, but I’m doing research and can see what path it would take to help people’s lives be healthier,” said Kristen Rappazzo, today’s podcast guest joined by special host student Amanda Baright. Kristen is an environmental epidemiologist at the US EPA, currently studying environmental factors and how the ecological system can help or reconnect with human health. Check out today’s podcast as we discuss Kristen’s journey from med school rejection to a successful career, the surprising connection between sociology and epidemiology, and how to tackle systemic and direct gender discrimination through a strong support system.
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ST 432: Survey Sampling
Spring 2022
In this course, students will be introduced to issues in survey sampling, including design principles for planning and executing a sample survey and statistical considerations in the analysis of sample survey data. In addition to a sit-down midterm exam, our class was assigned a two-part midterm project that assessed how much we retained the information covered and if we could accurately apply the fundamental concepts. Part one tasked us with finding a survey that was carried out and writing a brief critique of the survey. Part two focused on the perspective of us being survey statisticians and identifying 3-4 research questions that we would like to answer should we have the resources to conduct a survey. Additionally, we needed to include a written survey that could be used to answer those questions. For these two parts, I choose to focus on the National Survey of College Graduates and examine interest in the four key program areas within Girl Scouts for the respective parts.
DSC 295: Data Science for Social Good
Spring 2023
Data science offers powerful tools for addressing a multitude of societal challenges, yet it is no panacea and will require collaboration and commitment from across society to fulfill its promise. Data Science for Social Good will introduce students to the growing use of data science in the social impact space, drawing from real-world examples aligned with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. These examples will span practice areas and approaches, including machine learning, natural language processing, and image recognition. Students will discuss the challenges of implementing data science for social good solutions, including considerations of community involvement, bias, and equity, and identify best practices.
Throughout the course, students applied the data science concepts learned in class to a social good research project of our choice. During the Spring 2023 semester, I also took the special topic Research Methods for Global Environmental Health which assigned us a similar project, and combined these two assignments into a larger research project on the fashion industries problems with wastewater.
DSC 202: Introduction to Data Visualization
Fall 2023
Visualizations can be one of the most effective means to communicate quantitative information. In this course, students will cover the principles of effective visualization and how to interpret data displays. Students will evaluate current examples in the media and learn tools for creating static, interactive, and dynamic data displays that will be used to create a Final Project Infographic on a data set of their choice. During this fall 2023 semester, I also took SOC 381: Sociology of Medicine. In this course, I read the book The Death Gap: How Inequality Kills By Dr. David A. Ansell and learned about the inequalities that American people and hospitals experience that ultimately lead to death in marginalized communities. For my Data Visualization Final Project, I choose to focus on a CORGIS dataset on hospitals as a way to explore these systemic inequalities further.