WPI Receives NSF Funding for "Big Data Spokes" Projects

Ivon M. Arroyo, assistant professor of social science & policy studies, and Neil Heffernan, professor of computer science, have been awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) entitled “BD Spokes: Spoke: NORTHEAST: Collaborative: Grand Challenges for Data-Driven Education.”



This project will support teachers, administrators and researchers to collaborate around online education resources and big data. It will increase the capacity of WPI and other researchers to analyze data from schools, students and administrators, and to improve teaching and learning. This award is part of NSF funding for 10 "Big Data Spokes" projects to initiate research on specific topics identified by the Big Data Regional Innovation Hubs (BD Hubs). These ‘hubs’ were created to foster multi-sector collaborations among academia, industry and government to solve regional challenges. WPI is part of a BD Spokes Project in the Northeast and will work with UMass Amherst and the University of Pennsylvania.