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Table of Contents
Sophia Parde - Data Skills Pathway Workspace
Student Information
Name: Sophia Parde
Major: Social Sciences
Year: Junior
Semester: Fall 2026
Email: sophia.parde@und.edu
Mentor Information
Mentor Name:
Mentor Department / Program:
Mentor Email:
Meeting Schedule:
Project Interest
- Medieval history
- Medieval disease - the Black Death
- Data visualization
- Cartography
- Statistics
Project Question or Problem
I am interested in researching
Project Brief
Project Title:
Project Goal:
Data Source: Open-access scientific data
Method or Tools: ArcGIS Pro
Expected Output: Poster presentation
Why this project matters: Limited localized (city-scale) datasets on the effects of the Black Death in medieval Europe
Learning Goals
- Develop and maintain organized and accurate workflow documentation
- Identify and implement note-taking strategies to assist with managing and analyzing research data
- Efficiently work with and standardize large datasets containing inaccuracies while preserving original data
Work Schedule
- Weekly Data Skills Pathway meeting: Thursdays 5:30-6:20pm CT
- Mentor meeting:
- Independent work time:
Data Sources
- Data source 1:
- Data source 2:
- Data source 3:
Tools and Skills
- Apple Numbers / .CSV files
- ArcGIS Pro
- Other visualization tools
Papers and References
- Reference 1:
- Reference 2:
- Reference 3:
Weekly Progress Updates
Week 1
Date: September 3-9, 2026
What I completed:
- Attended weekly meeting
- Completed pre-survey and syllabus quiz
What I learned:
- Became familiar with course structure and expectations
Next steps:
- Identify research area and project topic
Week 2
Date: September 10-16, 2026
What I completed:
- Attended weekly meeting
- Identified research area(s)
- Attempted to login to wiki and Jupyter sites
What I learned:
- Received guidance on research area and choice of project topic
Paper, figure, dataset, tool, script or output shared:
- Preferred project research area
Question or blocker:
- Unable to login to wiki (no account)
- Unable to access Jupyter site (need UND VPN)
What I tried:
- Attempted to use personal VPN to access Jupyter site (did not work)
Next steps:
- Attempt to login with wiki credentials once provided
- Attempt to download UND VPN onto computer to access Jupyter site
- Identify specific project topic
Week 3
Date: September 17-23, 2026
What I completed:
- Attended meeting
- Logged into wiki and Jupyter site
- Created student workspace
- Researched city population datasets
- Downloaded data files onto Jupyter site
What I learned:
- Basic Python commands on Jupyter site
Paper, figure, dataset, tool, script or output shared:
- Student workspace
- Python outputs on Jupyter
Question or blocker:
- Unable to download UND VPN onto computer (Linux distro not supported)
What I tried:
- Attempted to download UND VPN on different computer (was successful)
Next steps:
- Continue researching population datasets
- (Re)gather original data for project