REU Site: Full Data Science Pipeline

Projects

Summer 2025

Project 20: ScottGPT by Gianna Del Rosario Nicomedes and Gwyneth Ann Horzempa; report, presentation, poster

Project 19: Unlearning on Tabular Data Leveraging the Nullspace by Alec Peter Blevins, Yuvaraj Vagula, and Marina Wild; report, presentation, poster

Project 18: Efficient and Interpretable Modeling for High Dimensional Data by Grace Carol Koepke Nelson; report, presentation, poster

Project 17: Tabular Data Condensation with Tensor Methods by Isabela Sforcin Alves and Ryan Kenyon Chung; report, presentation, poster

Project 16: Transcriptomic Age Acceleration in Alzheimer’s Disease: A Predictive Modeling Approach Using Age-Responsive Genes from GTEx by Harley Evelyn Nguyen and John Michael Seibert; report, presentation, poster

Summer 2024

Project 15: Advancing Advancement by Emma Markle, Andrew Haro, and Cash Bowman; report, presentation, poster

Project 14: Interpretable Modeling for High-Dimensional Data by Kaelan MacInnes Anderson; report, presentation, poster

Project 12: Enhancing Data Science Education with ChatGPT: A Study Using TCGA Data by Sweta Balaji, Jordan Nguyen, and Kya Lechen Olive; report, presentation, poster

Project 12: Automating Data Science Pipelines with Tensor Completion by Shaan Pakala, Tam Dinh, and Bryce Graw; report, presentation, poster, paper

Summer 2023

Project 11: Cloud Removal by Prisha Bhattacharyya; presentation

Project 10: BSR: Benchmarks for Spatial Regionalization by Dallas Carlson; presentation

Project 9: Statistical Modeling using LASSO and CNN for High-dimensional data with Binary Outcome variable by Daniel Barbosa; presentation

Project 8: Use and Compare LASSO, SCAD/MCP for High-dimensional data with continuous Outcome variable by Kaustubh Harnoor; presentation

Project 7: Statistical Modeling using LASSO, SCAD/MCP for High-dimensional data with Binary Outcome variable by Alexander Nichols; presentation

Project 6: Integration methods for joint analysis of single-cell gene expression data by Anika Singh; presentation

Project 5: Simulating single-cell Hi-C contact maps by deep learning methods by Saul Cubillo; presentation

Project 4: Adjusting for population differences between real world data and clinical trial data using machine learning methods when evaluating medical treatments by Emma Hoza-Frederick; presentation

Project 3: Detecting AI-generated text by Angelina Chen; presentation

Project 2: Learning Medical Concept Embeddings by Ivan Neto; presentation

Project 1: Knowledge-infused interpretable embeddings for misinformation detection by Michael Chen; presentation

Intellectual Merit

The intellectual contributions of the program are highlighted by substantial scientific dissemination and the creation of open-source resources:

1) High-Impact Peer-Reviewed Publications: Three REU participants co-authored a paper stemming from their summer project, titled “Automating data science pipelines with tensor completion.” This work was published in the proceedings of the 2024 IEEE International Conference on Big Data, a highly selective venue with an ~19% acceptance rate. Propelled by their summer experience, seven participants with little to no prior research experience went on to publish at least 17 conference or journal papers post-program.

2) Methodological Contributions & Public Artifacts: The featured undergraduate-led research introduced novel, automated methods for optimizing data science pipelines using tensor completion techniques. This work resulted in publicly available software and benchmark datasets that directly support and accelerate future research in the scientific community.

3) National Research Dissemination: Students presented their REU project findings at leading professional conferences, including the IEEE International Conference on Data Science and Advanced Analytics and IEEE Big Data, as well as regional symposia such as the Southern California REU Symposium, Women in Mathematics New England, and the Eastern Pennsylvania and Delaware Section of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA).

Broader Impacts

The program achieved its educational and societal goals through a comprehensive support structure:

1) Rigorous Technical & Professional Training: Students completed intensive boot camps in Python, R, SQL, statistics, machine learning, deep learning, data visualization, data ethics, reproducible research, and scientific writing. Professional development workshops focused on graduate school applications, scientific communication, and career readiness

2) Inclusive Mentoring Community: The site fostered an inclusive environment featuring individualized mentoring, weekly research meetings, faculty office hours, and networking panels with industry professionals and graduate students. This structure significantly enhanced participants' research confidence and expanded their professional networks.

3) Academic Advancement & Graduate Pathways: Out of the 31 participants, 20 have graduated with a Bachelor's degree (while 11 are actively pursuing their degrees). Of the graduates, eight are enrolled in or entering advanced degrees, including 5 Master's students (at UC Santa Cruz, UC Riverside, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Ohio State University, and Georgia Tech) and 3 PhD students (at UC Riverside, UCLA, and the University of Maryland). An additional 10 students have applied to graduate schools. [updated in July 2026]

4) Workforce & Educational Placement: Ten graduates secured full-time employment at prominent organizations, including Boeing, Capital One, Kaiser Permanente, Huntington National Bank, MN IT Services, ZipRecruiter, Emendata, Intertek, Hive Financial Systems, and the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON). Furthermore, 24 out of the 31 total participants went on to secure highly competitive internships at institutions such as Apple, Caltech, Princeton, USC, Southern Methodist University, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Emory University, Amherst College, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Qualcomm, Bosch, Nike, Cadence Design Systems, Cleveland Clinic, Zoom, Walmart Tech, Geisinger Medical Center, PMAT, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Strativis, Stealth, Kaiser Permanente, US Department of Energy, the US Census Bureau, and the US Army Research Lab (DEVCOM ARL). [updated in July 2026]