Simon Wang graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in May 2025 with a Bachelor of Philosophy in Psychology and Bachelor of Science in Economics. Currently, he works in Washington, DC at the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) as an Economic Mobility Specialist. He previously interned in state and federal government and worked on several research projects across different social science disciplines. He was a 2024 Truman Finalist and plans to pursue law school in the future.
In 2024, I spent the summer [completing an NSF-REU] in Dallas, Texas at Southern Methodist University’s Data Science for Social Good program. I entered the program with an interest in how data and statistics can inform better public policy, especially around reducing economic inequality. Only 8 weeks long, the program was split into two main phases–a bootcamp and projects. During the bootcamp phase, I spent the mornings in a Python for data science class and the afternoon in a class about the Census and using data collected by the federal government. There was a focus on mapping data to compare geographies with one another.
While I had little to no experience with any of this before the program, I learned enough to apply it to my project and have since found that knowledge about Census data is essential for most quantitative social science research, especially in economics, law, and public policy.
The second phase of the summer was focused on our projects. Given my interest in economic justice, I selected a project focused on analyzing eviction trends in Dallas County with a professor at the SMU Dedman Law School’s Consumer Protection Clinic. Working with two other students, I built graphs and maps to visualize which areas of the city experienced the most evictions per capita, demographic groups most likely to be evicted, and how often evictions were decided by default because a tenant was not able to show up in court to name a few issues we analyzed. At the end of the summer, we presented our findings in a “three minute thesis” challenge with all of the other undergraduate research students at SMU that summer.
Another valuable aspect of the REU that should not be discounted is the relationships with fellow students. My program put an emphasis on cohort-building. We all lived in the same hall of a dorm on SMU’s campus, ate in the dining hall together, and sponsored site visits and trips to different areas of Dallas that were relevant to our projects. I did not click with everyone, but there are a couple of people who I still keep in close touch with.
My experience at SMU’s REU program exposed me to new technical skills, gave me an opportunity to contribute to an ongoing research project, and introduced me to friends with similar career goals.