Florida Data Science for Social Good

The Florida Data Science for Social Good (FL-DSSG) program blends data science and technology design to inform and solve important social problems in Florida. We accomplish this goal by partnering with non-profit and public sector organizations in Florida, analyzing their data, and finding impactful solutions to social issues. The FL-DSSG program provides internships for students from diverse disciplines to work on these data science projects along with our community partners. Non-profit and public-sector organizations receive data analysis and visualization reports supporting their work in the Florida communities. Florida DSSG is hosted at the University of North Florida (UNF). The FL-DSSG program at UNF is spearheaded by Dr. Dan Richard, a Professor of Psychology, and Dr. Karthikeyan Umapathy, a Professor of Computing. Drs. Richard and Umapathy have over a decade of experience with data science projects and helping non-profits. Dr. Richard has been helping various non-profit/government agencies with data analysis and interpretation of the results. Dr. Umapathy has developed custom technology solutions for several non-profit/public-sector organizations to improve their program efficiencies. FL-DSSG was formed in 2017 with a seed grant from the Nonprofit Center of Northeast Florida to pilot the summer internship concept.