Lindenwood University mathematics students Callie Demarest and Melissa Baker were two of 38 students selected to participate in the Graph Inference and Relational Analysis for Frameworks and Feature Extraction (GIRAFFE) Workshop. The five-day event was hosted by Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina. Alongside Mathematics Instructor Mary Silverglate, Lindenwood’s representatives worked with students and faculty from other universities to do real-world research.
The workshop combined undergraduate student research with faculty development. Participants were divided into teams focused on graph theory, statistics, and data science projects. Demarest and Baker worked with students from Winston-Salem State and DeSales University to analyze Amazon review data to predict customer sentiment. Demarest and Baker learned technical skills behind language models and presented their findings to their peers. “It was a fun experience and a low-stakes way to dip my toe into undergraduate research and networking,” said Baker. “The workshop also gave me confidence and inspiration to begin my own research project this fall that I hope to present at the Lindenwood Showcase.”
Silverglate said the workshop also gave her an opportunity to learn new methods for her own teaching. “I was able to learn from a PhD level statistician whose recent research is all about various aspects of natural language processing,” said Silverglate. She is already planning to incorporate these methods into her spring data science class. The workshop also offered Silverglate an opportunity to work with other undergraduate faculty to share ideas about engaging students in research.
For Lindenwood’s attendees, the conference provided a unique opportunity to continue classroom study with students from across the country. Demarest and Baker returned with new skills and confidence for future academic and professional research. Silverglate brought back new methods and perspectives that can strengthen opportunities for future data science students. The workshop created a real experience for the three attendees and is already inspiring future opportunities within Lindenwood’s mathematics program.