Students and Clients from the inaugural Tech & Innovation in Government course.
CITY OF BOSTON
At the City of Boston, firefighters and public safety officials provide fire protection and first responder emergency medical services to 650,000 residents. Today, the Boston Fire Department is experiencing fewer fires – yet they are more hazardous and firefighters are being diagnosed with cancer at greater rates than the general population. The City tasked their student team with discovering a way to better provide Fire Commissioner Finn and Boston Fire Department (BFD) leadership with the information necessary to making day-to-day decisions, particularly critical metrics and comparative statistics on carcinogenic exposure.
Team:
- Sean Cochran
- Neel Mehta
- Algirde Pipikaite
- Charlie Sellew
- Chanteclaire Swett
US CENSUS BUREAU
Over the past four years, the Census Bureau has been transforming its digital channels through better online navigation, new digital products, and responsive design, among other data-driven advances. One challenge digital transformation faces is in modernizing data presentation so data users, particularly novice users, can find the data they need for a variety of uses and to inform decisions. The Census Bureau asked their student team to reimagine one of their digital ‘content hubs’- a microsite experience bringing together data and stories around income inequality.
Team:
- Luciano Arango
- Nidhi Badaya
- Aaron Capizzi
- Rebecca Scharfstein
- Peter Willis
CITY OF NEW YORK
Construction related injuries and fatalities have been tracked by the Department of Buildings (DOB) for many years as a safety-related performance indicator. With their team, the Department sought to delve deeper into incident and fatality data to develop an actionable, predictive tool that can be applied to avoid future accidents. The Department is trying reduce construction related injuries and fatalities by learning about critical data points and trends, and determining how to best report and act on that data.
Team:
- Anthony Arendt
- Dan Bacon
- Howaida Kamel
- Kirsten Rulf
- Daniel Wagner
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
When a veteran is provided with disability benefits, she may disagree with the amount of benefits that the VA provides her with. At this point, she may submit an appeal to increase her disability benefits. This process is long (think 1 to 2 years or more) and at any given time, veterans have no idea where their appeal is on the process timeline, or how much longer they will be waiting. The Digital Service team at the Department of Veterans Affairs is working to modernize the process that is currently in place. The goal of the collaboration with the Harvard Kennedy School student team was to explore specific gaps in the research of veterans’ experiences in the appeals process.
Team:
- Chetan Jhaveri
- Jane Labanowski
- Paris Martin
- Rohan Pavuluri
- Joshua Welle
