REU Site: Spatial Models and Electoral Districting

该项目由社会、行为和经济科学局(SBE)的本科生研究经验(REU)站点计划资助。它兼具科学和社会效益，它将研究和教育融为一体。在普吉特湾大学和华盛顿大学塔科马分校的支持下，REU网站项目“空间模型和选举选区划分”产生了前沿研究成果和下一代关于选举选区划分这一社会和政治紧迫问题的专家。REU网站汇集了地理、数学、数据科学和计算机科学方面的工作，既提高了科学知识，又促进了国家利益。REU网站在十年一度的重新划分选区之前的几年里，对重新划分选区进行了独特、及时和重要的研究。它强调在学院和STEM领域中，来自传统上代表不足的性别、经济和种族身份的学生的参与。这一区域大学通过研究驱动的方法让这些学生参与公民参与，并产生跨学科的研究议程和与政策相关的结果。此外，通过对不太可能参与研究机会的学生的支持，REU的影响不仅仅是对那些参与研究的人，而且还对参与者在整个职业生涯中多样化和改进的学科和职业道路产生了影响。通过对选举重新划分的计算、地理和政治方面采取协同方法，REU网站鼓励在一个重要的、及时的社会问题的中心出现独特和新的想法。每年夏天，该项目支持两个研究团队，每个团队由两名研究导师和六名学生组成，为期八周。培训将包括地理信息系统、Python编程语言和其他技术技能。在最初的三周里，REU参与者将与政治学和公共政策等领域的特邀专家互动，帮助他们的项目立足于现有的学术和公众关注的问题。REU网站的主要目标是：(1)向非传统REU学生提供高质量的研究体验，特别是关注未被充分代表的性别、经济和种族认同，以及来自研究机会较少的较小学院的学生；(2)培训学生和研究人员采用具有广泛现实影响的跨学科方法，为学生在围绕数据科学和地理空间技术的新兴领域进行潜在的研究生研究或职业生涯做准备；(3)帮助研究人员获得与本科生合作进行相关研究的经验。参与者使用了许多高影响力的教学技术进行培训，这些技术有助于增强新一代从事社区知情研究和公共政策创建的不同学者的能力。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project is funded from the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Sites program in the Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE). It has both scientific and societal benefits, and it integrates research and education. This REU Site Program, "Spatial Models and Electoral Districting", supported by the University of Puget Sound and the University of Washington Tacoma, produces cutting-edge research and the next generation of experts on the socially and politically urgent issue of electoral districting. Bringing together work in geography, mathematics, data science, and computer science, the REU Site both advances scientific knowledge and furthers the national interest. The REU Site produces unique, timely, and important research on redistricting in the years immediately prior to decennial redistricting. It emphasizes the participation of students from traditionally underrepresented gender, economic, and racial identities within the academy and STEM fields. This REU engages these students through research-driven approaches to civic participation and produces both an interdisciplinary research agenda and policy-relevant results. Further, through the support of students less likely to otherwise participate in research opportunities, the REU's impact is not simply on those who participate, but also on the disciplines and career paths the participants diversify and improve throughout their careers. By taking a synergistic approach to the computational, geographic, and political aspects of electoral redistricting, the REU Site encourages unique and new ideas to emerge at the center of an important, timely societal question. Each summer the program supports two research teams, each consisting of two research mentors and six students over an eight week program. Training will include GIS, the python programming language, and other technical skills. During the first three weeks, REU participants will interact with invited experts from political science and public policy, among other fields, to help ground their projects in existing scholarship and public concerns. The REU Site's primary goals are to: (1) provide a high-quality research experience to non-traditional REU students, specifically focusing on underrepresented gender, economic, and racial identities as well as students from smaller colleges with fewer research opportunities; (2) train students and researchers in interdisciplinary approaches with broad real-world implications, preparing students for potential graduate research or careers in the burgeoning fields surrounding data science and geospatial technologies; (3) help researchers gain experience in producing collaborative, pertinent research with undergraduate students. Participants are trained using a number of high-impact pedagogical techniques that help empower a new generation of diverse scholars engaged in community-informed research and public policy creation.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.