diff --git a/_portfolio/01-carceral-ecologies.md b/_portfolio/01-carceral-ecologies.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dcbf8fb --- /dev/null +++ b/_portfolio/01-carceral-ecologies.md @@ -0,0 +1,28 @@ +--- +title: "Carceral Ecologies: LAPD Surveillance Flight Data" +image: assets/img/lapd-helio.jpg +alt: LAPD helicopter in flight over Los Angeles + +caption: + title: "Carceral Ecologies: LAPD Flight Data" + subtitle: "R, Data Engineering" + thumbnail: assets/img/lapd-helio.jpg +--- + +Dr. Nicholas Shapiro and the [Carceral Ecologies Lab](https://carceralecologies.com/) came to the Data Science Center needing to work with large datasets tracking LAPD helicopter surveillance flights. The data was too large to load and analyze efficiently — initial load times ran around 318 minutes. + +DataSquad members Lawrence Lee and Madeline Kim collaborated with DSC staff to engineer a solution in R that brought load times down to roughly 2 minutes. That's a 99% reduction. + +The faster, cleaner pipeline made the research actually usable. With the DSC's support — hosting the R server, cleaning the data, and mentoring one of Dr. Shapiro's students — the Carceral Ecologies Lab went on to receive national media attention and secure a **$5 million grant**. + +> "This work wouldn't have happened without [the DSC] team. You supported us through technical assistance, helped one of my students grow her R skills, and hosted the R server that made this research possible." +> +> "This project became one of the crown jewels of South Campus' community-engaged work." +> +> — Dr. Nicholas Shapiro, UCLA Institute for Society and Genetics + +{:.list-inline} + +- Year: 2023–24 +- Team: Lawrence Lee, Madeline Kim +- Category: Data Engineering, Research Support diff --git a/_portfolio/02-refugee-artifacts.md b/_portfolio/02-refugee-artifacts.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..de793b4 --- /dev/null +++ b/_portfolio/02-refugee-artifacts.md @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ +--- +title: "Preserving Vietnamese Refugee Heritage Through 3D Technology" +image: assets/img/vietnamese-refugees-boat.jpg +alt: Vietnamese refugee boat on the ocean + +caption: + title: "Refugee Heritage: 3D Digitization" + subtitle: "3D Scanning, Digital Exhibits" + thumbnail: assets/img/vietnamese-refugees-boat.jpg +--- + +Working with Professor Kelly Nguyen and the [Refugee Material Cultural Initiative](https://humanities.ucla.edu/), the Data Science Center helped digitize and preserve physical artifacts from Vietnamese refugees — making cultural memory publicly accessible for the first time. + +Led by Emerging Technologies Librarian Doug Daniels with DataSquad members Bianca Badajos and Connor Lim, the team processed multiple artifacts and helped curate several digital exhibits. The centerpiece is a 7-day narrative tracing one refugee family's maritime escape across the Pacific Ocean. + +Animated visualization of a Vietnamese refugee family's maritime journey across the Pacific Ocean + +The project uses state-of-the-art 3D scanning technology to document fragile objects that could not otherwise be shared at scale. The resulting exhibits are open to the public. + +> The DSC's 3D resources allow researchers and faculty to document and preserve important cultural heritage — and make it available to everyone. + +{:.list-inline} + +- Year: 2023–24 +- Team: Doug Daniels, Bianca Badajos, Connor Lim +- Category: Digital Humanities, 3D Digitization, Cultural Heritage diff --git a/_portfolio/03-keel-injustice.md b/_portfolio/03-keel-injustice.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..91fd570 --- /dev/null +++ b/_portfolio/03-keel-injustice.md @@ -0,0 +1,51 @@ +--- +title: Shedding Light on Injustice +image: assets/img/portfolio/keel-coroners-silence.jpg +alt: Book cover of The Coroner’s Silence by Terence Keel + +caption: + title: Shedding Light on Injustice + subtitle: R, Python, OpenRefine, Tableau + thumbnail: assets/img/portfolio/keel-coroners-silence.jpg +--- + +Professor Terence Keel and the [Biocritical Studies Lab](https://www.terencekeel.com/research) have been building a comprehensive dataset of deaths in custody across the United States from 2000–2020 — integrating records from Fatal Encounters, The Guardian, Reuters, the LA Times Homicide Report, and the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The UCLA DataSquad supported this work continuously from 2021 through 2025, across four cohorts of consultants. + +The core challenge: law enforcement and medical examiners routinely undercount and misclassify deaths at the hands of police. The dataset exists to recover those hidden names. + +**2021 — First cohort (Julia Wood, Ethan Allavarpu)** + +Julia and Ethan merged four datasets, cleaned the data, and built Tableau dashboards visualizing fatal encounters by weapon, location, race, and ethnicity — including LA-specific views. Ethan ran chi-square tests to identify localities with statistically anomalous undercounts, helping researchers pinpoint where to look for hidden cases. + +”Tableau + +See Julia’s full [Tableau visualizations](https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/julia2053) and the [animation of the hidden](https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/julia2053/viz/AnimationoftheHiddenFatalEncounters/HiddenAnimation). + +**2023 — Second cohort (Tristan Dewing)** + +Tristan continued the data integration work — tracing hidden names back through the original source data, updating summary statistics, and calculating rates of death against census population figures across six counties. + +**2024–2025 — Third cohort (Lawrence Lee)** + +Lawrence did the most extensive normalization work: standardizing names with OpenRefine, resolving duplicate records, flagging newly surfaced entries that appeared when source data was updated, and building a reproducible pipeline that subsequent analysts could maintain. The dataset shrank by roughly 30% after deduplication — and became far more reliable. + + + +The results of this multi-year collaboration are now part of Professor Keel’s published book: + +”Cover + +*The Coroner’s Silence: Death Records and the Hidden Victims of Police Violence* (Beacon Press, 2025) — which Keel has been presenting at talks and conferences. He was also one of six recipients of UCLA’s **2024 Public Impact Research Award**. + +[Check it out at the UCLA Library](https://search.library.ucla.edu/permalink/01UCS_LAL/tk6osu/alma9997265754106533) · [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-coroner-s-silence-death-records-and-the-hidden-victims-of-police-violence-terence-keel/176e80a41aa79205?ean=9780807017517) + +> “[The UCLA DataSquad] is one of the most impactful resources I’ve engaged with at UCLA.” +> +> — Grace Sosa, Biocritical Lab manager + +{:.list-inline} + +- Years: 2021–2025 +- Team: Julia Wood, Ethan Allavarpu, Tristan Dewing, Lawrence Lee +- Tools: R, Python, OpenRefine, Tableau +- Category: Data Integration, Social Justice Research diff --git a/_portfolio/04-voter-file.md b/_portfolio/04-voter-file.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..51c46e6 --- /dev/null +++ b/_portfolio/04-voter-file.md @@ -0,0 +1,30 @@ +--- +title: "Making Voter Data Usable for Research — at Scale" +image: assets/img/voting-picture.jpg +alt: Hand touching a voting machine screen showing presidential candidates + +caption: + title: "10TB Voter File: Making Data Research-Ready" + subtitle: "Redivis, Data Engineering" + thumbnail: assets/img/voting-picture.jpg +--- + +When UCLA acquired a 10TB national voter file from L2, it arrived as thousands of fragmented, state-level files — too large and inconsistent to use locally. + +The Data Science Center chose [Redivis](https://redivis.com/) to manage the challenge. With Redivis, the DSC integrated the data into a single, analysis-ready dataset with secure, flexible researcher access and full version control for reproducibility. + +The dataset now supports interdisciplinary research across UCLA: + +- **Political Science**: Election administration (Joshua Ferrer), gentrification (Alexandria Davis) +- **Economics**: Population behavior and public policy +- **UCLA Health**: Health and voting studies (Straus, Thompson, Vavreck, Naeim) + +By simplifying access and strengthening reproducibility, the project ensures the data keeps delivering value — for researchers, and for democracy. + +L2 voter data loaded into the Redivis platform at UCLA + +{:.list-inline} + +- Year: 2023–present +- Tools: Redivis, Python +- Category: Research Infrastructure, Data Engineering diff --git a/_portfolio/project4.md b/_portfolio/05-como-q.md similarity index 100% rename from _portfolio/project4.md rename to _portfolio/05-como-q.md diff --git a/_portfolio/project6.md b/_portfolio/06-datasquad-international.md similarity index 100% rename from _portfolio/project6.md rename to _portfolio/06-datasquad-international.md diff --git a/_portfolio/project7.md b/_portfolio/07-first-datasquad.md similarity index 100% rename from _portfolio/project7.md rename to _portfolio/07-first-datasquad.md diff --git a/_portfolio/project1.md b/_portfolio/08-ant-nests.md similarity index 100% rename from _portfolio/project1.md rename to _portfolio/08-ant-nests.md diff --git a/_portfolio/project2.md b/_portfolio/09-squirrels.md similarity index 100% rename from _portfolio/project2.md rename to _portfolio/09-squirrels.md diff --git a/_portfolio/project3.md b/_portfolio/10-buddhist-text.md similarity index 100% rename from _portfolio/project3.md rename to _portfolio/10-buddhist-text.md diff --git a/_portfolio/project5.md b/_portfolio/project5.md deleted file mode 100644 index 4995fcf..0000000 --- a/_portfolio/project5.md +++ /dev/null @@ -1,46 +0,0 @@ ---- -title: Civilian Deaths at Hand of Police -# subtitle: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur. -image: assets/img/portfolio/policedeaththumbnail.png -alt: Animation of “the hidden’s” fatal encounters with police in the US Photo by Julia Wood. - -caption: - title: Civilian Deaths at Hand of Police - # subtitle: Graphic Design - thumbnail: assets/img/portfolio/policedeaththumbnail.png ---- - -By William Foote on Fri, 2022-05-20 - -Some projects require multiple sets of eyes and a couple pairs of hands to get the job done. - -That was the case when Dr. Terrence Keel brought his project to the UCLA Datasquad from the UCLA Biocritical Studies Lab. Julia Wood, a Norman Powell Data Science Consultant on the UCLA Datasquad, took the lead on the consultation, which analyzed numerous data sources to quantify civilian deaths at the hands of police in the US. The project looked at data across different times and spaces to quantify and visualize these fatal encounters. - -Ethan Allavarpu joined the project’s efforts shortly after being hired as the Datasquad’s second Norman Powell Data Science Consultant. The research tasks touched on many ends of the data science process: from merging four different datasets to the end goal of visualizing the data across the country. - -Sometimes challenges arose in keeping lines of communication open and efficient with the multiple different stakeholders and consultants working on the project. When Julia and Ethan were able to get past these obstacles, “the project flowed well,” Ethan said. - -It was off to the races once the ball kept rolling. Julia handled tasks including data cleaning and data visualization. Specifically, Julia was responsible for creating Tableau dashboards that allowed researchers to visualize fatal encounters with police by weapon and location. Not only did she recreate Tableau-versions of graphs that Dr. Keel had worked on earlier, but she was tasked with creating Los-Angeles-specific dashboards as well. - -Visualization of fatal encounters with police in Los Angeles by race/ethnicity. Photo by Julia Wood. - -The plethora of plots Julia created can be viewed on [her public Tableau account](https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/julia2053). - -Ethan joined the project while Julia was readying for graduation in Winter 2021. One of the biggest challenges was identifying discrepancies between two datasets and highlighting names that were previously hidden in the datasets. Dr. Keel’s team called these individuals “the hidden.” - -Ethan’s data cleansing and Julia’s data visualization skills allowed the team to uncover “the hidden” and [visualize their fatal encounters with police across the country](https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/julia2053/viz/AnimationoftheHiddenFatalEncounters/HiddenAnimation). - -Animation of “the hidden’s” fatal encounters with police in the US. Photo by Julia Wood. -Ethan also applied statistical methods to the data on top of helping clean the data. He ran chi-square tests to determine which states/localities had a statistically different number of previously unreported deaths. Using these findings, researchers hoped to be able to identify outlier locations – ones having significantly more/less deaths compared to other areas – to give researchers a sense of which places might need to be investigated further. - -Through their joint efforts, Ethan and Julia’s work gave the researchers at the Biocritical Studies Lab a better understanding of the problem numerically and visually. Julia spoke to the heightened stakes that come with consulting a client versus doing a course-related project in the classroom. - -“In class, the end goal is presenting something at the end of the quarter,” Julia said. “Working with a client, you really have to take the right steps to make sure you don’t mess up. We’re responsible for making sure the work we produce is reputable, reproducible, and ready to be published.” - -Overall, she believes the Datasquad has delivered on that task. - -{:.list-inline} - -- Date: May 2022 -- Author: William Foote -- Category: UCLA DataSquad diff --git a/_sass/layout/_portfolio.scss b/_sass/layout/_portfolio.scss index 0d70198..e08e740 100644 --- a/_sass/layout/_portfolio.scss +++ b/_sass/layout/_portfolio.scss @@ -9,6 +9,12 @@ max-width: 400px; margin: 0 auto; cursor: pointer; + img { + width: 100%; + height: 220px; + object-fit: cover; + display: block; + } .portfolio-hover { position: absolute; width: 100%; diff --git a/assets/img/carceral-ecologies-logo.jpg b/assets/img/carceral-ecologies-logo.jpg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..54f7929 Binary files /dev/null and b/assets/img/carceral-ecologies-logo.jpg differ diff --git a/assets/img/jail.jpg b/assets/img/jail.jpg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c62df7c Binary files /dev/null and b/assets/img/jail.jpg differ diff --git a/assets/img/keel-coroners-silence.jpg b/assets/img/keel-coroners-silence.jpg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c01bb09 Binary files /dev/null and b/assets/img/keel-coroners-silence.jpg differ diff --git a/assets/img/l2-ucla-redivis-800.png b/assets/img/l2-ucla-redivis-800.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..731b6c6 Binary files /dev/null and b/assets/img/l2-ucla-redivis-800.png differ diff --git a/assets/img/l2-ucla-redivis.png b/assets/img/l2-ucla-redivis.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..71838ae Binary files /dev/null and b/assets/img/l2-ucla-redivis.png differ diff --git a/assets/img/lapd-helio.jpg b/assets/img/lapd-helio.jpg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0c3bc74 Binary files /dev/null and b/assets/img/lapd-helio.jpg differ diff --git a/assets/img/portfolio/keel-coroners-silence.jpg b/assets/img/portfolio/keel-coroners-silence.jpg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c01bb09 Binary files /dev/null and b/assets/img/portfolio/keel-coroners-silence.jpg differ diff --git a/assets/img/portfolio/l2-ucla-redivis-thumb.png b/assets/img/portfolio/l2-ucla-redivis-thumb.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..964ba7e Binary files /dev/null and b/assets/img/portfolio/l2-ucla-redivis-thumb.png differ diff --git a/assets/img/portfolio/lapd_helicopter.jpg b/assets/img/portfolio/lapd_helicopter.jpg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f863e7f Binary files /dev/null and b/assets/img/portfolio/lapd_helicopter.jpg differ diff --git a/assets/img/vietnamese-animated.gif b/assets/img/vietnamese-animated.gif new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e9982e3 Binary files /dev/null and b/assets/img/vietnamese-animated.gif differ diff --git a/assets/img/vietnamese-refugees-boat.jpg b/assets/img/vietnamese-refugees-boat.jpg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e0dcbac Binary files /dev/null and b/assets/img/vietnamese-refugees-boat.jpg differ diff --git a/assets/img/voting-picture.jpg b/assets/img/voting-picture.jpg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6c9a7bb Binary files /dev/null and b/assets/img/voting-picture.jpg differ