Sam Conley, in concert with Dr. Raúl Ordóñez, professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, is writing an honors thesis alongside a research project that aims to help fight the homeless crisis in the Montgomery County area. Sam cites the global homeless crisis as his motivation for this project, using his passions and skills to fulfill the community’s needs.
Sam is a computer and electrical engineering major with a humanitarian work minor who has been using data on homelessness in Montgomery County over the past 10 years in order to create graphs and models that represent future populations and their needs. By breaking down the population of Montgomery County into different groups, Sam can identify the trends that lead to homelessness. He uses many variables and factors in his models in order to try to accurately display the current situation of homelessness and what can be done to lower the number of people who are at risk for becoming homeless.
By finding what leads to homelessness, the state and city can better understand how to use their money to help those who are already homeless and keep those in the at-risk zone from becoming homeless. Sam uses systems dynamics modeling with intervention functions, or functions that simulate government aid, in order to test what would best help those in the at-risk category at a month-by-month rate over the course of 120 months. This issue is even more important with the recent cuts to funding under the current administration. Furthermore, Sam has taken on the task of working closely with Montgomery County to find out who will be eligible for funding with the new cuts in order to lift up those who may not qualify but still need support.
Sam is working on an honors thesis in tandem with his research project, a scholarly article that he hopes one day can be published to the humanitarian section of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) journal. Working with the Honors Program, Sam highlighted the opportunities he has had by being paired with professors that truly care about his development as a student. Even in the midst of struggles with research, gathering data, and the intensive coding, he has had a good support network of faculty who have his back.
Sam plans to continue research on this topic at the university when he returns for graduate school, in hopes that this project could one day be used for public policy changes that greatly help those in need in Montgomery County. In his own words, Sam says, “This is a privilege for me, and an opportunity to take what I’ve learned in the past four years and to compile it all into one project.” Sam’s journey highlights the importance of fighting for the common good, and as his engineering skills help to keep the lights on for some, he also lights the way for others to make a positive impact on those around them.