Working collaboratively with students studying Computer Science at the California State University, Monterey Bay, dKomplex launched a new tool called DART, the dKomplex Automated Regression Tool, to decrease the technological barrier to data regression analytics.
Doing data regression involves analyzing the relationship in a set of data between variables and drawing a graph to model the data as best as possible. Traditionally, this is done through work in programming languages like R, which are very capable but require the person doing the regression to do at least some work in the programming language and can be incredibly time-consuming. DART works to address that problem by decreasing barriers to doing regression for people without coding expertise.
Students Justin Garcia, Monica Barrios Hernandez, and Jared Lopez worked with dKomplex developers following the Agile development process to give the students real-world experience in development. The team worked for two research analysts at dKomplex who use data regression tools, and who were looking for a tool to make doing regression work simpler.
Developers Ben Wilson and Roy Morla worked with the students. Wilson said that he thought the students gained a new understanding of how software development works and how frequently requirements can change.
“It was a very positive experience for the students because they’d never worked on a software project that people were going to use, and they didn’t know how to organize the development, and so we taught them Agile,” Wilson said. "We scheduled and practiced all of the ceremonies to develop this thing.”
Rather than being tasked with just constructing an existing software project, the students met with their clients and determined what they needed to do to accomplish the task.
“As Produce Owners, I think they did really good at explaining what they wanted out of the project, and what it means to do regressions, the kind of output they wanted out of the project, and it was another learning experience working with clients, learning what their needs were,” Garcia said. “It was my first time as an intern, I haven’t interned at any other places, so it was a lot of good new experiences for me.”
Research Analyst Katy Wilson said she uses the tool to conduct complex analyses and quickly test some hypotheses about data without a significant investment of work.
“This tool is super easy-to-use and offers accurate linear and multiple regression analysis capabilities. Because it does not require any coding knowledge on the user's end, it saves thousands of hours in both knowledge acquisition and analysis time,” said Wilson. “I turn to DART whenever I need to quickly test my data.”
Dr. Bude Su, the Chair of the School of Computing and Design at CSUMB, said that she appreciated the perspective her students gained from their involvement at dKomplex. ”It is great to know that our students' contribution is meaningful and valued at dKomplex.”
While DART is in use at dKomplex, the students are able to also demonstrate their tool’s effectiveness, as it is available online for use by other academics.
“Their professional growth has been obvious. They seemed to be confused at the beginning, but gradually understood and appreciated the software development cycle,” Su said. “This process helped them understand that they need to be lifelong learners, and need to know how to quickly gather missing information to fulfill knowledge gaps.”
dKomplex hopes to build on its relationship with CSUMB and is proud to be able to provide mentorship to local students.