Safe-D: Safety through Disruption

Featured Safe-D Student Interview: Eduardo Cordova (SDSU)

Eduardo Cordova is a Safe-D student at SDSU working on Safe-D Project 03-087: Big Data Visualization and Spatiotemporal Modeling of Aggressive Driving. Read his Safe-D Student interview, conducted by Huyen T.K. Le (VT), below!

What are your research interests?

My research interests are GIS, data science, and computer science.

How did you end up participating on a Safe-D project?

I was brought on the Safe-D Project 03-087: Big Data Visualization and Spatiotemporal Modeling of Aggressive Driving through my current Advisor: Atsushi Nara (SDSU).

What is your role on the Safe-D project that you are working on? Describe what responsibilities you have, or will have, as a project team member.

I aided in assessing and comparing the querying capabilities of MongoDB and PostgreSQL to see which database would suit the Safe-D project moving forward. My responsibilities included setting up the databases and the testing tables, as well as implementing the query tests.

What do you like most about participating on this Safe-D project?

As a Masters student, the most exciting aspect of the project is getting exposure to working with such a vast dataset.

What has working on this project allowed you to learn/do/practice?

This project has helped orient my mind to consider variables that I usually have not in the past, such as time and efficiency. Time management became important as running a simple query could be very time-consuming. I learned to be more efficient.

How has/will this project benefit your education and future career goals?

I have gained more experience with databases and scripting. Becoming more experienced will allow me to tackle more significant challenges in the future as well as make myself more competitive.

Is your Safe-D project contributing to your thesis or dissertation? If so, when do you expect to complete your thesis/dissertation? If not, describe your thesis/dissertation topic and when you expect to complete it.

Yes, the Safe-D project is aiding me in my thesis which revolves around how to automatically detect dangerous driving behavior and automatically classify the event into an index. I hope that an automated process can aid in detecting areas that are susceptible to hazardous driving, and to see if a connection exists between these areas. I hope to complete my thesis in the spring of 2020.

What are your career goals? If you are nearing graduation and have already taken an employment position after graduation, which institution will you be working for?

My career goals are simple, acquire a position that is fulfilling.

 


The Safe-D Student and Faculty Interview Chain was created to encourage Safe-D students to facilitate contact with faculty and staff members participating on Safe-D projects via conducting a brief interview as a networking and career-building opportunity. To learn more about this initiative, please contact Safe-D Program Manager, Eric Glenn.