Initiative takes advantage of existing data to solve community problems

Research News
By Angie Hunt
02/18/2020

Iowa State University researchers are lending their expertise to help Iowa Communities tap into research collected about community problems

The ISU team is part of a three-state Coordinated Innovation Network of land-grant universities working to expand the Data Science for Public Good program, developed by the University of Virginia’s Biocomplexity Institute. The network received a nearly $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to build the training programs, and a $1 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support the economic mobility of communities with this program.

Cassandra Dorius is the project leader at Iowa State.

Cassandra Dorius, assistant professor in human development and family studies is the project leader for Iowa State. Dorius and colleagues will partner with ISU Extension and Outreach to identify four communities to work with this summer. The work will build upon a pilot project in Marshalltown that tackled concerns with the city’s public transportation.

“The goal of this program is to help communities use their own data to solve their own problems,” Dorius said.

Read the full ISU News Story.

Key contacts

Cassandra Dorius, Human Development and Family Studies, cdorius@iastate.edu

Angie Hunt, ISU News Service, 515-294-8986, amhunt@iastate.edu

By Angie Hunt
News