Chen Han (MET’24) knows what she wants long-term: a job as a marketing or data analyst at a company she feels invested in. She hopes to make a positive difference with her work—especially for women in the workplace. But first, the MSCIS graduate has some work to do—work that will have a real impact on the long-term quality of life of BU students.

Han and a group of fellow students recently joined the BU Campus Climate Lab after first learning about the lab’s research opportunities via email and then receiving support from professors. The group even secured fall funding for a research proposal.

“Our ‘Identifying High-Risk Residences of Interest for Climate Responsive Technologies’ project aims to identify high-risk housing units to recommend the university deploy cooling technologies,” she says. “By focusing on the most vulnerable housing units – those with high student density, inadequate cooling infrastructure, and solvable facility needs – we aim to improve living conditions and support the university’s sustainability goals.”

With the help of Manpreet K. Singh, coordinator of the Campus Climate Lab, Gabrielle Brewer, who helped provide access to BU dorm data, and CAS master’s lecturer James G. Baldwin, who advised on environmental studies and GIS mapping techniques, Han and her cohort will be hard at work using data to solve a pressing climate problem. She says this type of work is something she is passionate about, and she hopes to make a “lifelong” commitment to sustainability research by continuing the effort after she graduates.

However, she couldn’t have completed this project without the important lessons she learned in her BU MET program. “I applied data analysis and visualization skills from courses like Data Structures and Algorithms (MET CS 526) and Fundamentals of Analysis and Data Visualization (MET CS 544),” Han explains. “Courses like Information Systems Analysis and Design (MET CS 682) helped me understand data from a broader perspective, especially when dealing with large data sets and unfamiliar systems.”

Chen Han is currently actively seeking more opportunities to contribute to climate research and is looking to the future. And she is grateful to her alma mater for the important preparation she received there to take on the challenges ahead. “The most valuable thing BU MET has given me is the courage to embrace every aspect of my life and the confidence to pursue what I love, regardless of what others think,” she says.

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