SILS plays role in Lunar Library moonshot

DataAware introduces high school students to health data analytics

Instead of hanging with friends or binging on Netflix, 10 high school students spent part of their summers analyzing data and tackling health care challenges through the DataAware program hosted by the Carolina Health Informatics Program (CHIP).

DataAware, short for Data Analytics for Teen Advancement: Applications in the Workforce and Academics with Research Experience, ran for six weeks from July 8 to Aug. 16. Students from high schools in the Chapel Hill, Durham, and Raleigh area traveled to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus each weekday to learn about health data analytics, digital health technology, machine learning, real-world problem solving, and academic research.

Supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), DataAware loaned each participant a laptop, equipped with the needed software and data sets, and provided a $1,000 stipend.

Students received intensive training through classroom instruction, field trips to companies and organizations working in health data analytics, and mentorship from faculty experts, who helped them develop research projects that they presented on the final day of the workshop.

Devesh Kasireddy, a rising junior of Granville High School in Cary, had a great time exploring the various aspects of data science and learning about topics such as Virtual Reality applications for health care.

“This was a really unique program to me,” he said. “Usually, there’s stuff about pharmacy and medicine available, but data science is a new field, and I felt that if I had experience in this field, then I can apply it to many different fields. That will be useful for me in the future.”

Fei Yu, Assistant Professor at the UNC School of Information and Library Science and Health Technology and Informatics Librarian at the Health Science Library, served as one of the program’s faculty mentors. Yu said she was impressed by the level of interest and commitment the students demonstrated.

“These high school students are so dedicated to their research projects,” she said. “I can see many of them wanting to go beyond this time and continue to work with mentors and professors.”

Program Coordinator Claire Paulson, far left, with DataAware. students and instructors.

PHOTOS AT TOP OF PAGE, from left, DataAware student Devesh Kasireddy explains the data used in his project. HiDAV student Ijeoma Okoro lists the areas of life that can be affected by depression. Cyber Carpentry participants Toktam Oghaz explains her groups’ findings. Ankith Kodali takes questions during the final DataAware presentation. Cyber Carpentry participants and instructors pose together on the steps of Manning Hall. For more information about DataAware, visit dataaware.unc.edu. Watch a video featuring students and instructors at go.unc.edu/data-aware-video. For more information about the HiDAV boot camp and other ENABLE programs, visit enable.unc.edu. Watch highlights from the boot camp and interviews with students and instructors at go.unc.edu/hidav-2019.