Ballard Data science projects
Below are descriptions of a few of our projects
The Mt. Baker Climate Project (MBCP):
In partnership with Lakeside School Outdoor Program and the United States Forest Service, we are monitoring near-surface temperature, soil temperature, and cloud cover on the southern aspect of Mt. Baker. High school students deploy and retrieve the sensors, as well as analyze the data. Most of the analytical work is done through the Earth and Space Research - Summer Institute (ESR-SI), a program Mike runs each summer through Earth and Space Research (esr.org). Some results from the MBCP here in past incarnations of this summer internship (snow extent, cloudiness, temperature trends). COVID19 Transmission Mitigation Design:
When COVID19 hit and education institutions were scrambling to understand how to respond, I saw that my institution was at risk for spreading the disease. I rapidly researched the state-of-the-art models for transmission and drafted a robust ventilation plan. The plan, drafted in Nov 2020, was months ahead its time (a lifetime in the COVID19 world). It was adopted after fierce advocacy - protecting students and colleagues from unnecessary risk. I have since applied this knowledge to other schools, workplaces, and homes. |
Gender Equity in an Honors Physics Classroom:
As a science educator, I try to 'teach like a scientist' - and so I collect data on my classroom, analyzing it for trends. One pattern I have spent a lot of time trying to understand is differences in student performance based on self-identified gender.
While I initially was looking to understand what was happening in my classroom (10th grade, honors physics), one salient result of my efforts was that female-identifying students came in with less 'background' than their male counterparts. This was when the gender biases of the assessments were taken into account. In addition, I initially thought that my classroom was 'closing the achievement gap' based on pre- and post-test data. I realized after a closer look that the test was not difficult enough. Too many male students were getting 100% on the final assessment. I needed a more robust tool. I see this now as a common error in 'achievement gap' studies. Verifying Reflective Cooling Interventions
I work with Reflective Earth (reflectiveearth.org) to verify reflective cooling interventions. I am in favor of many climate change mitigation strategies, most notably those that directly address the cause of climate change (e.g. reducing carbon dioxide input into the atmosphere, or active draw down of atmospheric carbon dioxide). However, even if all human carbon dioxide emissions stopped today, we would still suffer the impacts of warming that is already in the 'pipeline'. As such, we need interventions that have immediate impact. Reflective cooling interventions will have immediate impact. Many surface-based reflective cooling interventions have strong potential to mitigate problems like urban heat island effects. Many surface-based interventions also inherently give space to voices of all stakeholders, permit immediate and continuous observation of intended and unintended impacts of the intervention, and typically are more easily reversible than more remote or wide-spread interventions like stratospheric aerosol injection. |