TRAIN Scholar Evelyn Rivera Elias' Blog

                                                             Recently I met with the ASU West transfer specialist, shout out to Cassandra for sharing the Calendly link. As long as I keep up my grades, I shouldn't have to worry about paying for tuition. I am eager to transfer to the West campus in particular since I heard that it's quiet & the campus isn't huge, especially compared to the Tempe campus. Additionally, I want to continue the TRAIN program for as long as I can. Money aside, I have really appreciated the program and genuinely could not imagine how my college experience would have been had I not done it. I think this fall semester is 100 times better compared to my first semester with TRAIN and that I've grown a lot since then, both as a student and as a person. I look forward to being able to re...

  This week I had to do an informative speech for my public speaking class and I decided to explain my project since I had the sources already and could copy from my proposal. I was a bit nervous because it would be different compared to presenting for other TRAIN scholars. I still get nervous presenting at the end of the semester but the other scholars are at least somewhat familiar with machine learning. I think there are 3 people in my class who are majoring in a STEM field, so it was tricky to condense the information but not oversimplify it.  I think I did well, I noticed some people who seemed genuinely interested so that made it easier. Even though this isn't a major-related class, I want to be able to explain my work to people who aren't in STEM. As well as improving my public speaking skills as I hope to present my work more in the future. 

 This week I am continuing to create my algorithm for using machine learning to predict inflation. Josh sent me a data science boot camp video that goes over this but models inflation in India instead, so it should work for my project so long as I input US data. Luckily US inflation data is publicly available and extremely easy to find.  On a side note, I have really enjoyed doing this project even though economics isn't a topic I am too familiar with. I have picked up more information as I've been researching so now I am at a point where I could explain what inflation is and how it is calculated but I am still a bit fuzzy on how it is caused/resolved. However I don't think there is a conclusive answer to that anyway, and that is not what I am looking to do with my research. I am hoping that my research will at least make it easier to find a solution.  I also found a section of the Bureau of Labor Statistics website where it will create a graph modeling the data of the CP...

  This week I registered for classes in the Spring semester, along with creating a schedule for next semester. My classes will be on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which gives me time to do TRAIN on Mondays and Wednesdays. I feel that this schedule will allow me to have a better work-life balance, especially since it will only be 3 hours of going in person for class each week.  On another note, I have noticed writing has gotten much easier. I enjoyed writing the project proposal this time, which made drafting the project background less stressful. In the previous semesters, I absolutely hated writing for the assignments but now it isn't an issue, and my writing abilities have gotten better. Hopefully, I still enjoy writing when I transfer next year to ASU West!

  This week I have been doing more research on economic inflation and specifically looking at how inflation is resolved. Inflation and economics in general is way more complicated than I thought. Though most of the complication is due to politics, along with misinformation as to who is responsible and controls inflation.  I have found that the Federal Reserve raises interest rates as a way to combat inflation, along with encouraging banks to raise rates on risky loans. I will use this piece of info will be used to justify my project, if people are aware ahead of time of inflation, it could help financial planning.