The pandemic has reshaped our lives, creating anxiety and challenges. As an international student from Wuhan, China – the centre of this pandemic – I decided to use the expertise in data analytics I acquired at McGill to make an impact.
With my professor Juan Serpa and a team of almost 20 students in data analytics and engineering, we created a website called covidqc.com, which provides sufficient, accurate, and timely information for Quebec residents regarding COVID-19 by region and borough. Since all the information was fragmented in the early stages of the outbreak, our website supplements by organizing data from various official sources and visualizing it in a user-friendly dashboard.
This inspiring feedback ... makes me believe that we are doing something meaningful and something impactful for society. That’s exactly what McGill teaches us – to always try to apply what we learn and give back to the community.”
The most rewarding part of this project is that we are really helping the community by properly transmitting the data. Three weeks after the launching of our website, it was reported on by Global News and City News, and was introduced as a useful tool to the public. After that, we heard users saying that they constantly check our website before going out for groceries. Some users emailed us with suggestions about how to improve our dashboard, pointing out some interesting aspects to look at. Even some government officials are following our work and promoting it on Twitter.
This inspiring feedback, though it may sound trivial, makes me believe that we are doing something meaningful and something impactful for society. That’s exactly what McGill teaches us – to always try to apply what we learn and give back to the community.
Jasmine (Peiran) Jiang is a recipient of the Levy Family Leadership MMA Award. Established by David Levy in 2019, the award supports outstanding students entering the MMA program and highlights the importance of experiential learning. David Levy is a proud McGill parent and a great supporter of the University. After living and working abroad for 35 years, the Levy family believes in the power of global academic institutions like McGill and in the importance of vibrant international student communities.