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The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a $750,000 grant to UC Berkeley professors Niloufar Salehi and Catherine Albiston and University of Southern California professor Afshin Nikzad to support efforts by the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) to implement a new elementary school zone-based student assignment policy.

The Berkeley team will partner with SFUSD on an iterative, human-centered design process to understand families’ needs for student assignment through interviews and analysis of existing data. Using these findings, the team will develop and conduct a community engagement process to involve families directly in the design of elementary zones.

5th Year MIDS student Ben Chu has been awarded the Summer 2021 Jack Larson Data Science for Good Fellowship for his work on improving supply chain transparency to end human trafficking and forced labor.

“With the gift of cutting-edge data science tools, an advanced statistical background, and the passion to solve real-world problems, I foresee no limits to the change we can accomplish as the next generation of data scientists,” Chu said. “It’s our responsibility to use our talents to make ethically and morally just decisions that directly benefit the greater population.