Several graduate students presented their research at the third annual Data Day held recently on campus.
Anna Tomczak, who is in the Health: Science, Technology and Policy (HSTP) master’s program, presented research she has been conducting as a research assistant for Prof. Paul Villeneuve.
Their project looks at the impact of outdoor air pollution on lung cancer.
“We know the leading cause of lung cancer is smoking but recently outdoor air pollution has been identified as a cancer-causing agent and has been specifically linked to lung cancer,” explains Tomczak.
Their study specifically looked at the impact of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) – which consists of airborne particles found in polluted air.
“We found that even at low levels of PM2.5 exposure, there is still an increased risk of developing lung cancer,” says Tomczak.
The research team worked in collaboration with several organizations, such as Health Canada, The Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Dalhousie University and the University of New Brunswick to collect data for the study.
Tomczak, who will be graduating in June, also participated in Carleton’s Three Minute Thesis competition. Below, you can watch a video of her 3MT presentation that features research conducted as part of a collaborative research project for the HSTP program.
Several other graduate students showcased posters and talked about their big data research on Data Day. Political Science Graduate Student Lee-Michael Pronko spoke on behalf of his research team about their project Milieu: Building Better Cities Together. Ardyn Nordstrom, a grad student in Economics, and Kevin Dick, a graduate student in Systems and Computer Engineering, also presented their research at Data Day. Their topic? Identifying Unvaccinated Individuals in Canada: A Predictive Model.
Please click here to read a full story about Data Day.
