Themes & Vision
We are thrilled to introduce the first set of projects completed during Spring 2023. Volume 4, Issue 1 of the SoReMo reports features the following three works:
- Analysis of the impact of search engines and social media on decision-making by Angela Petrone
- Negative Health Impacts of Environmental Inequality by Deana Exline and Natalie Brown
- An Exploration into the Necessary Transparency Needed in the Recycling Culture by Md Mahmudur Rahman and Caitlin Louise Brown
The fellows tackled two very important issues this semester.
The issue of redlining (i.e., discriminatory housing process) has been around for a long time, and continues to negatively affect the environment and living conditions of poorer communities in Chicago. Specifically, one project shows the impact of various environmental indicators on health outcomes on people living in redline areas versus other areas. Another project discusses how educating people in communities in redlined areas may help with addressing the issue of recycling.
A more current issue concerns misinformation and disinformation spread through social media and search engines. The last project proposes heuristics to inform policy-oriented solutions to a set of issues that has been largely misunderstood and underestimated at the policy level in the United States.
The aim of the technical reports is twofold:
- Showcase student research and walk them through the real academic publishing process,
- Make available their work in enough detail so that it can be continued and built upon in the future.
Breakthroughs
With minimal guidance, the Fellows completed monumental tasks:
- Proposed a project topic,
- Redefined the scope so it fits within a semester,
- Narrowed down data issues from publically available data,
- Sifted through historical information to make sense of it all,
- Presented minor and major refinements of their work throughout the semester, seeking guidance and supporting each other,
- Persevered through research lows! of which there are many, as such is the nature of research,
- Each completed their comprehensive report on their projects.
The Editors of this journal and all SoReMo advisers faculty are very proud of the Fellows’ accomplishments in such a short period of time and are sure you will enjoy reading about their work.
The SoReMo Context
“SoReMo” stands for Socially
Responsible Modeling, computation, and
design.
The SoReMo initiative was built from
the grassroots during the 2020/21 academic year at Illinois Tech. The
guiding principle is to empower students to make change
they are passionate about. It all begins with a simple question:
“What do you want to do?”
Through this initiative, we seek to pass down this question to
students at Illinois Tech. Students from all majors and backgrounds, at
any level.
Students are invited to imagine problems and seek solutions broadly.
SoReMo Fellows have the freedom to imagine, create, solve.
Students who are interested in becoming SoReMo Fellows are invited to apply by proposing a project. Those most competitive are then selected by a panel of SoReMo core faculty members, who evaluate all submissions based on the quality of the proposed work, potential for interdisciplinary collaboration, and broader impact.
During the course of the semester, through a paid fellowship, Fellows do the following:
- Propose a project to work on - independently of any course or
assignment;
- Stay within or step outside their disciplines;
- Expose their idea to a diverse group of faculty, advisers, subject matter experts;
- Work with those people who have the tools that can help advance the student’s agenda;
- Propose creative solutions identifying future work and share them with the main stakeholders.
SoReMo’s place in higher education: our vision
Finally, to close out their projects, Fellows are required to write a technical report. This publication showcases those reports. Each report has been reviewed by a group of peers and faculty, and has been revised at least once.
The process mimics exactly what happens in formal academic publishing. But the authors retain copyright of their technical reports and may choose to submit them or build on them for future projects or publications.
More information
Our homepage has additional information about the initiative, related events, past Fellow projects, and current and upcoming opportunities to get involved.
Acknowledgements
Spring 2023 projects were financially supported by a generous gift from Joel Krauss (MATH ’71), Board of Advisors Vice-Chair of CoC Board of Advisors.
Our team is ever evolving and welcoming new contributors. We gratefully acknowledge everyone who has taken part in the Spring 2023 SoReMo Forum in any form, all the faculty and advisers and external collaborators who have helped the Fellows in a variety of ways in completing their projects.
The anonymous referees—students, faculty, and outside experts—were instrumental in evaluating and improving the technical reports. We as editors are grateful for their time and service.