Special Event - How Data Shapes the World Around You

Join Northwest Public Broadcasting for a special event May 21 at 6:30 pm on the WSU Tri-Cities campus for an exploration of data and our lives. Learn about how your data is collected, how it is used, who is controlling the algorithm and how it shapes your life, your vote, and the world around you. Watch clips from the new NOVA documentary, Secrets in Your Data, and see NWPB’s digital video, Washington’s Data Race.

Enjoy presentations by guest speakers Dr. Nairanjana Dasgupta, Boeing Distinguished Professor and Director of Data Analytics at Washington State University, and Dr. Daryl Robert DeFord, assistant professor at WSU’s Department of Mathematics and Statistics, who will provide insight into data-centered topics of inequities and opportunity gaps and the call for data literacy, as well as fairness in data and elections.

Keynote Speakers

Nairanjana (Jan) Dasgupta
Director of Data Analytics, WSU

Nairanjana (Jan) Dasgupta is a Boeing Distinguished Professor and Regents Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics and leads the Program in Data Analytics at Washington State University, Pullman. Her research focuses on looking at testing in large data sets and tackling the problem of large-scale multiplicity of false positives. In her 27 years at WSU, Dr. Dasgupta has worked with eighty-five graduate students and is a passionate teacher. She received her MS and PhD at University of South Carolina and her BS from Presidency College, Kolkata, India. She has been funded by NSF, NIH, NIST and various state agencies for her research. Besides her research she is passionate about data literacy and eliminating algorithmic bias. She has organized data Playshops around the state to increase awareness around this topic.

Daryl DeFord
Assistant Professor of Data Analytics, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, WSU

Daryl DeFord is an assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Washington State University, Pullman. His research program focuses on applying algebraic and combinatorial methods to the analysis of social data with an emphasis on applications of discrete sampling techniques to political redistricting and social network models. Prior to joining the faculty at WSU, he completed a postdoctoral position at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Geometric Data Processing Group while collaborating with the Metric Geometry and Gerrymandering Group on mathematical modeling of political geography and developing open-source software for detecting and combating gerrymandering. Dr. DeFord completed his Ph.D. at Dartmouth College with a thesis evaluating dynamical models for complex networks. In addition to his academic work he has served as an expert in court cases about redistricting and has supervised student research projects through the Data Science for Social Good Program and the Voting Rights Data Institute.

Event Information

East Auditorium, Washington State University Tri-Cities
2710 Crimson Way, Richland
Tuesday, May 21 | 6:30 – 7:30 PM
Doors open at 6:15 PM
FREE

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Learn More

NOVA’s Secrets in Your Data premieres May 15 on your local PBS channel and can be streamed through the NWPB Watch Portal and through your PBS Passport account. Whether you’re on social media or just surfing the web, you’re probably sharing more personal data than you realize. That can pose a risk to your privacy–even your safety. But at the same time, big data sets could lead to huge advances in health, transportation, climate science, and more. Host Alok Patel leads a quest to understand what happens to all the data we’re leaking out and explores the latest efforts to maximize benefits–without compromising personal privacy.

NWPB’s Washington’s Data Race examines research on voter data by the University of Washington Evans School of Public Policy and the Washington Secretary of State’s office. What does the data tell us about who gets their ballots rejected in Washington’s elections and why? Can this data be used to create solutions to ensure that every vote is counted?

This event is made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.