Over the past quarter century the University at Albany research institute CTG UAlbany, has brought together a diverse array of current and future policy, management, technology experts with the goal of transforming public services.
This semester five graduate students from three different UAlbany colleges are working together in a way that exemplifies this tradition.
Yongjin Choi, Sarah Peter, Pranav Doshi, Shivika Malik, and Sunil Joshi are working together and with CTG researchers to design a suite of data analytical tools, methodologies and technologies to help state government agencies better manage and analyze information for decision making.
Choi is studying Public Administration and Policy in the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy. Peter is working on a Communications degree in the College of Arts and Sciences. Doshi, Malik, and Joshi are all from the Computer Science Department in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
“Engaging students in our projects here at CTG is very important to us and one of our greatest responsibilities,” said CTG UAlbany Research Director J. Ramon Gil-Garcia. “We work hard to ensure that each one of our students plays a crucial role in any project they are a part of.”
The trio of computer scientists is getting hands-on experience with industry standard technologies such as Python, ArcGIS, Jupyter Notebook, R Studio, scikit-learn, Tableau, and SAS BI.
The social science duo is designing and implementing interview protocols for data collection in terms of data use and needs. At the same time, they are also conducting current practice research and literature reviews to support the design of the analytical tools and data management and governance policies.
In true CTG tradition, the work of the future social and computer scientists is integrated in a way that helps ensure that the program and policy needs of government researchers, program managers, and agency decision and policymakers are addressed in the development of any data analytics tools and policies.
“In the future, these students will be the ones answering critical questions about new public problems and multiple generations of emerging technologies; we need to prepare them as fully as possible to meet those challenges,” said CTG UAlbany Director of Technology Innovation and Services Derek Werthmuller. He has been working with the students on a day-to-day basis. “Being able to provide hands-on experience for students is something that we are proud to do here at CTG.”
UAlbany students interested in getting hands-on experience working with CTG are encouraged to visit ctg.albany.edu.