Corey Jackson

Corey Jackson researches the growing field of citizen science, where amateur volunteers collect data for scientific research. He studies human-computer interactions to understand how people learn how to use online citizen science tools and what motivates them to contribute to research. His work informs software design, with the goal of enhancing collaborations between citizen scientists and researchers to ensure high-quality data collection.

Corey was investigating social and technological barriers to people’s participation in Covid-19 contact tracing efforts when he arrived at UW-Madison during the early months of the pandemic. This summer, he will investigate ways to incorporate equity and fairness into models for Covid-19 vaccine allocation and distribution. Using machine learning techniques, he will search for links between fairness strategies such as mobile vaccine units, and vaccination rates in socially and economically vulnerable communities across Wisconsin. This work will address vaccine access and hesitancy, with the ultimate goal of increasing immunization rates.

Corey believes data science must be informed by the ethics and contexts in which data are situated. In order to make decisions for everyone, data scientists need to consider both the human and technical sides of their work.

“As we grapple with the problems that technology has brought about, we need a new generation of data and information professionals who are critically engaged in future tech development.”