Erin Yenawine is participating in a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program called “Data Science for the Social Good.” Photo courtesy of Erin Yenawine.
A University of Tennessee at Chattanooga rising junior is making beneficial change in Dallas neighborhoods.
Erin Yenawine, a double major in political science and economics and Brock Scholar in the UTC Honors College, is participating in an eight-week Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program called “Data Science for the Social Good” at Southern Methodist University in University Park, Texas.
The program has brought together a team of 12 undergraduate researchers from across the country to use data to address economic and environmental issues in Dallas.
“I had been really interested in economics but didn’t quite see the broader application in a lot of my earlier classes,” said Yenawine, a native of Hopkinton, Massachusetts. “Then I took Economics of Gender, Race and Inequality with Dr. (Sheena) Murray at UTC and kind of fell in love with social economics.”
Yenawine decided to meet with Dr. Trey Straussberger, the director of the UTC Office of National Scholarships, to discuss potential REU opportunities. Keeping her interests in social science in mind, he found the SMU REU program and helped her apply.
During the first two weeks of the program, Yenawine participated in a “boot camp” that taught students about Python—a high-level, interpreted programming language designed for general-purpose programming.
“I hadn’t ever really had coding experience prior to this,” she said. “Jumping in headfirst is super new.
“At the end of the two weeks, I produced visualizations and I used a data set from the wild. I was able to do it, which was exciting.”
For the remainder of the program, Yenawine said she will meet with two faculty mentors—one whose expertise is in economics and the other in data science—to conduct a literature review.
Yenawine’s assigned topic is anti-human trafficking, a field of study she said is notorious for its minimal data because of privacy concerns within law enforcement and non-profit organizations.
“Southern Methodist University received a grant to have a data warehouse specifically for human trafficking,” she said. “It’s super private and protected, and they’re kind of at the hub of making data for this area of research to better inform policy.
“The policy that currently exists for human trafficking isn’t really backed by any kind of data because we don’t have it.”
The goal, she said, is to produce a research paper that can be published by the end of the summer.
“That would be really cool to have my name on something and to have contributed to actual research that could help people,” she said.
Yenawine is also excited about the connections she’s made with SMU faculty.
“I’m hoping to get a master’s degree—maybe in public policy—and having those connections and being surrounded by people who are also interested in grad school is really great,” she said.
When she returns, she hopes to extend the research as part of her honors thesis.
“I want to use the methods that I’ve learned here because I’m really hoping to do more of a quantitative research project,” she said, “so transferable skills will be awesome.”
Next fall, she will study abroad in the Netherlands. Until then, Yenawine said she will apply to more scholarships and REU programs with Straussberger’s help.
“I think this is another step in her progression of becoming an influencer in the public policy space,” Straussberger said. “This is setting her up to apply to other awards like the Truman, Rangel or the Payne fellowships, all of which fund students who want to pursue a career in public policy.
“I think this is a great start to what I hope to be two years of many more awards and amazing scholarships.”
Learn More
The Office of National Scholarships
Political Science and Public Service
University Park, Texas, through the lens of Erin Yenawine
