Data Warriors project students and instructors visited campus recently for an event with a visiting mathematician/musician at Hendricks Chapel. (Photo by Martin Walls)
5 Data Warriors Student Research Fellows Chosen to Work With SCSD Youth
Five students have been selected as and will work with the project, an initiative that helps  (SCSD) youth build math and data literacy skills to address pressing issues in their community.
The fellows will work with Nicole Fonger, associate professor of mathematics and mathematics education in the and . Fonger is the 2025-27 faculty fellow.
The student research fellows are:
G’23, ’25, a third-year doctoral student in sociology in the who also earned master’s degrees in both sociology and geography. The Syracuse native graduated from SCSD and has been involved in the Data Warriors program for four years. Her work blends ethnography, interviews, GIS mapping and youth participatory action research to explore how young people address segregation and inequity.
’27, a dual economics and international relations major in the Maxwell School with a minor in entrepreneurship and emerging enterprises. She serves as a University student ambassador and is part of the RenĂ©e Crown University Honors Program. She founded the Ikya Women’s Health Foundation to promote women’s health awareness and wellness in her home country of Zambia.
’28, a double major in policy studies and law, society and policy in the Maxwell School with minors in business and information management and technology. She is the founder and president of the Syracuse University chapter of Big Brothers Big Sisters.
G’27, a master’s student in communication and rhetorical studies in the . Her research focuses on how rhetoric shapes language policies and narratives of grief, trauma and belonging. She is the founder of the Disorders Collective, a community platform on mental health in South Asia.
Shavonne Jacobs ’27, an information management and technology major in the with a minor in architecture. Her interests bridge technology, architecture and environmental science.
Started in 2021, the Data Warriors project now includes 21 researchers from two SCSD high schools. They use math, maps and data analysis to study lead poisoning, code violations, housing conditions, car thefts and income disparities, as well as current immigration policies and historic parallels in Syracuse. The high schoolers aim to train as community-engaged scholars; support community-engaged math education; and inform local government officials about their research findings.
Data Warriors students and their teachers visited campus recently to attend mathematician and musician Eugenia Cheng’s lecture and performance, “The Logic of Creativity: Music, Mathematics and Expression,” part of the School of Education’s Ganders Lecture Series. The group will present their research on lead poisoning in Syracuse at the Association of Mathematics Teachers of New York State conference in Rochester this month.
