by Jade Hollars, photos courtesy of Nisha Baral
There is more to a conference than logistics and the sessions.听
Nisha Baral, PhD, a data modeler with Abacus Evaluation, first attended the (CSSSA) conference in 2017 during her doctoral program. Since then, she has attended three times. This year鈥檚 conference was her first poster presentation.听听
Nisha shares her experience of the many things that make conference attendance truly special.听
New Connections, Less Nerves听
Before, I would have graduate study friends to go to the conference with. I was a little nervous this time and didn鈥檛 know who I would meet. But it went really well, and I got to meet new people. It went better than I expected.听听
At this conference, you get to know people. It is not very big, so you see the same faces every day. You make friends, eat meals together, and explore the area.听
A Few of My Favorite Things from the Conference听
- Food: The food was really, really good! We would all have lunch, dinners, and happy hours together. It made you feel more connected with people and be able to share experiences.听
- People: There were people from all different sectors including social science, mathematics, environmental science, Data science, AI based research, and so much more. I even connected with a student who shares the same advisor I had during my doctoral program.听
- Location: It was wonderful to explore Santa Fe, New Mexico. Red and green chilis were used to decorate buildings, and handmade jewelry were out on tables being sold by locals. Plus, my hotel was where the conference was hosted so I got to save money on Uber bills.听
Sharing Insights, Spreading Impact听
I presented a poster titled, 鈥楲earning from Pandemic to Prepare Schools for Endemic Management of COVID-19 鈥� An Agent Based Modeling Approach.鈥� It focused on better ways to tackle the spread of the COVID-19 virus in schools during an endemic phase. Schools can be a vulnerable environment for children due to the lack of options to decrease exposure to the virus.听听
I tested scenarios among different seasons of the year with different durations of masking. The key finding was that two weeks of masking after a break and during seasonal surges resulted in a positive impact of less infection among children in schools.听听
Sometimes work doesn鈥檛 feel impactful. After speaking to people at the conference about my work, it reminded me of its importance.听
My next steps are to showcase these findings in a manuscript. Be on the lookout for publication!听
Apply Learning and Share Solutions听 听
The conference had a lot more people from different fields of research attend this year. CSSSA showed how many of us are working towards providing solutions to complex social problems. We shared methods like agent-based modeling, system dynamics, AI and machine learning and many others.听听
I learned of new tools and techniques that would be helpful for data modeling. I鈥檓 excited to explore more and apply them to my work!听