REU Site: Spatial Models and Electoral Districting

该项目由社会，行为和经济科学理事会（SBE）本科生研究经验（REU）站点计划资助。它既具有科学效益，又具有社会效益，它将研究和教育结合在一起。这个REU网站项目，“空间模型和选区”，由普吉特海湾大学和华盛顿塔科马大学支持，产生了关于选区的社会和政治紧迫问题的前沿研究和下一代专家。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，既推进了科学知识，又促进了国家利益。REU网站在十年一次的选区重新划分之前的几年里对重新划分进行了独特、及时和重要的研究。它强调传统上未被充分代表的性别、经济和种族身份的学生在学术和STEM领域的参与。这个REU通过研究驱动的公民参与方法来吸引这些学生，并产生跨学科的研究议程和政策相关的结果。此外，通过对不太可能参与研究机会的学生的支持，REU的影响不仅仅是对参与者的影响，而且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的影响。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网站鼓励独特的新想法出现在重要的、及时的社会问题的中心。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GIS、python编程语言和其他技术技能。在前三周，REU的参与者将与受邀的政治学和公共政策等领域的专家进行互动，以帮助他们的项目立足于现有的学术研究和公众关注。REU网站的主要目标是：(1)为非传统REU学生提供高质量的研究体验，特别关注代表性不足的性别，经济和种族身份，以及来自研究机会较少的小型学院的学生；(2)培养具有广泛现实意义的跨学科方法的学生和研究人员，为学生在数据科学和地理空间技术等新兴领域的潜在研究生研究或职业生涯做好准备；(3)帮助研究人员获得与本科生合作进行相关研究的经验。学员将接受一系列高影响力教学技术的培训，这些技术有助于培养新一代从事社区知情研究和公共政策制定的多元化学者。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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.