Students in two Information Technology and Web Science (ITWS) courses at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute are getting a unique, hands-on experience by collaborating directly with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center research scientists on a critical global health issue regarding various disease outbreaks including Chikungunya and Rift Valley fever. This partnership is spearheaded by RPI faculty member Dr. Thilanka Munasinghe and Dr. Assaf Anyamba (of Goddard Earth Sciences Technology and Research/University of Maryland Baltimore County) and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. The purpose is to embed real-world research and development project work directly into the curriculum, allowing students to contribute to a major scientific initiative while mastering core concepts. 

Visualizing Global Threats 

Students in the ITWS 2110 Web Systems course are building a web-based tool to effectively visualize the spread of Chikungunya and Rift Valley fever, vector-borne diseases transmitted by mosquitoes. Their mission is to create interactive and user-friendly web dashboards that correlate NASA's satellite-based Earth observational data, such as rainfall, temperature, vegetation with locations of disease outbreaks in order to understand the spatio-temporal patterns of disease outbreaks.  

The goal is to transform complex, time-series climate data into simple, intuitive visualizations. These tools are designed for public health agencies and policymakers, enabling them to see the current state of outbreaks and make informed decisions to protect communities. 

Building a Foundation for Open Science 

Simultaneously, as part of this initiative, senior and graduate-level students in the ITWS 4250/6350 Database Systems and Applications course are tackling a foundational challenge. They are implementing an open science-based database application. Their task is to organize unstructured data from various reliable sources into a single, comprehensive database. This work follows NASA's Open Science initiative, ensuring the data is accessible and usable for the broader scientific community.  

A Unique Mentorship Model

This collaboration extends far beyond a simple class project. Students from both courses meet with Dr. Anyamba bi-weekly to present their progress, receive expert feedback, and deepen their understanding of the subject matter. This direct line to domain experts provides an invaluable opportunity for students to bridge the gap between classroom theory and real-world application. 

This innovative approach provides undergraduate students with an early introduction to research methods, enhances their learning outcomes, and enables them to make a tangible contribution to a global scientific effort. By working hand-in-hand with NASA, these RPI students are not just learning about technology, they are using it to solve one of the world's pressing public health challenges. In addition to sharing the project with the global community, the final reports of the students’ class projects are tailored to be submitted to relevant conferences at the end of the semester, as students authored research papers. This collaboration is as part of GeoHealth Community of Practice (GeoHealth) Student Engagement Activities (https://www.geohealthcop.org/studentengagement)