Python

Irene Farah

Data Science Fellow 2021-2022
City and Regional Planning

Irene is a PhD student in City and Regional Planning. Her research interests lie at the intersection of urban geography, political science, and public health. In particular, she studies street vendors in Mexico City and how the spatiality and politics of their working conditions impact their access to healthy food. She strongly believes in connecting with other social scientists to share perspectives on how to use technology to acquire greater knowledge of social phenomena.

Frances Leung

Data Science Fellow 2021-2022
School of Information

Frances Leung is a master’s student at UC Berkeley School of Information where she focuses her studies in information and data science. She has a keen interest in leveraging data-driven insights to better understand consumer behaviors and the world around us. In her professional work as a management consultant, she advises retailers and consumer businesses on digital transformation and creating web/mobile experiences that delight consumers through a human-centered approach. Frances holds a Master in Business Administration from York University, Schulich School...

Monica Donegan

Data Science Fellow 2022-2023
Environmental Science, Policy, and Management

Monica is a third-year Ph.D. candidate in the Environmental Science, Policy, and Management program. She uses computational tools to study the evolution and ecology of agricultural plant pathogens. Previously, she worked on a data science team at a biotech company in Boston.

Ruiji Sun

Data Science Fellow 2024-2025
Center for the Built Environment

Ruiji Sun is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Building Science at UC Berkeley. He is also a GSR at the Center for the Built Environment (CBE). His dissertation focuses on causal inference in the built environment. Other areas of his research include indoor environmental quality, personalized environmental control systems, and building energy modeling.

He obtained his M.S. degree from Carnegie Mellon University and double-majored in Mechanical Engineering (HVAC) and Architecture at Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology, China. Ruiji also served as a board...

Nanqin Ying

Data Science Fellow 2024-2025
Goldman School of Public Policy

Nanqin Ying, a second-year graduate student at the Goldman School of Public Policy specializing in Development Practices, combines a robust nonprofit background with advanced data science techniques. She focuses on leveraging machine learning and big data to drive significant social change, aiming to transform insights into actionable, positive impacts on communities.

Jaewon Saw

Data Science Fellow 2024-2025
Civil and Enviromental Engineering

I am a PhD candidate in Systems Engineering. My current research focuses on distributed acoustic sensing (DAS), a cutting-edge technology with diverse applications. I have used DAS to detect whale vocalizations in Monterey Bay, California, and to monitor roadways, water pipelines, and energy infrastructure.

I enjoy identifying and mitigating challenges that arise when applying new technologies by developing data tools, pipelines, and frameworks for real-world deployments. My work is driven by a keen interest in exploring and refining innovative...

Christian Caballero

Data Science Fellow 2024-2025
Political Science

Christian Caballero is a Political Science PhD student at the University of California, Berkeley. His research focuses on American politics and political behavior. In particular, he studies the ways in which social networks influence processes of political persuasion and democratic deliberation, as well as how political ideologies develop within subcultures.

He holds a B.A. in Politics and Sociology from New York University and an M.A. in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley.

Measuring Vowels Without Relying on Sex-Based Assumptions

April 8, 2025
Amber Galvano
by Amber Galvano. This tutorial builds on my previous post on Python for acoustic analysis, this time focusing on measuring vocal tract resonances without relying on sex-based assumptions. I demonstrate how to process audio files and vowel annotations using an adaptive method that optimizes the acoustic analysis across a recording. Instead of fixing parameters based on generalized vocal tract length correlations, this approach varies them within a defined range for greater accuracy. This not only enhances measurement precision but also avoids requiring (or assuming) speakers’ sex in data collection. Finally, I show how to filter for outliers and create high-quality vowel space visualizations.

Melike Sümertaş

Data Science Fellow 2023-2024
History

I hold a PhD in History from Boğaziçi University, Istanbul and B.A and M.A degrees from Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Department of Architecture, and Program in Architectural History. My research focuses on the urban/architectural/visual culture of the late Ottoman Empire and its capital city Istanbul, with a particular interest in the Greek-Orthodox community. My current project in the History Department of UC Berkeley under the umbrella of the Istanpolis collaboration led by Prof. Christine Philliou, focuses on utilizing digital humanities tools for urban/...

Leïla Njee Bugha

Data Science Fellow 2023-2024
Agricultural and Resource Economics

Leïla Njee Bugha is a 5th year PhD candidate in the Agriculture and Resources Economics department. She studied at the École Normale Supérieure de Paris-Saclay and at Sciences Po Paris in France, before starting a career in the field of program evaluation of public policies. Most recently, she worked as a Research Analyst at the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington, DC, evaluating childhood nutrition and social protection programs in West Africa. As a PhD student, she specializes in development and labor economics, with a focus on understanding the barriers to...