G.O.A.L.S.

As an honors student at The Ohio State University, my current actions and future plans for my  four years align with the principles of G.O.A.L.S., and I am proud to share how I will work towards each individual category of this framework.


Firstly is Global Awareness, of which I plan to pursue through an eventual study abroad or overseas internship. Accumulating knowledge of our world and its diverse set of cultures is extremely important to any student, no matter what they are studying. Learning to appreciate and understand diversity through an educational study abroad would prepare me for a professional career full of professionals from a variety of backgrounds, especially in the potential professional fields of technology consulting or working for a larger technology company, as networking and making connections is crucial to the job. I hope to find a unique learning experience to teach me both about an academic area of interest and the appreciation of a new and unique culture.


One of the things that excited me the most about coming to Ohio State was the immense breadth of research opportunities. I am excited to make faculty connections in my first semesters to pursue undergraduate research in an area that interests me, directly associating with Original Inquiry. I will be working to gain research experience to eventually complete a senior thesis, exploring individual and original research projects. During the spring semester of 2020, I took my first step into the world of original inquiry at Ohio State as a research assistant in the department of sociology. This research opportunity opened my eyes to the power that research holds, and how high the demand for data analytics skills are within any area of study to take inquiry to the next level. This experience led me to change my minor to sociology, and I’m looking forward to delving deeper into computational social science research in my next three years at Ohio State.


In regards to Academic Enrichment, my major is the perfect fit for my future career. I believe that data analytics will best prepare me for jobs of interest in the professional world after my undergraduate, as I wanted to gain these technological and statistical skills to analyze data and information professionally. However, I also have sought out general education classes that interest me outside of my major, and that make me excited to learn more. Two of my general education highlights so far have been Environmental Citizenship and Honors Introduction to Philosophy, both of which have challenged the way that I think about the world around me. Both of these classes have influenced me to think about potential minors, which is a very exciting way to enrich my academic experience at OSU. This summer, I took History of Modern West Africa, which I found to be one of the most intellectually stimulating classes of my Ohio State career.


As a first year, I have not had many opportunities yet to gain experience in Leadership Development, but I have made developments into a variety of student organizations that I intend to gain leadership experience in. As a member of BDAA,   I have the potential ability to gain experience leading within my academic area of interest, which would be extremely valuable to benefitting both my academic and leadership skills. I am also a member of the OSU climbing club, of which I have really enjoyed the social connections and team based interaction. Working towards a leadership position in this physically competitive environment would be extremely fun and very enriching to my leadership experiences.


Lastly, as an Eminence Fellow, I am working with the members of my class to create our eminence service project, which we will develop and carry on throughout our time at Ohio State. I am extremely excited to see where this project takes me, and I know that it will be very valuable experience to connect with my community and be involved in Service Engagement. I am also still exploring other service organizations, specifically technology related service opportunities. The breadth of OSU’s student service organizations will allow for me to stay connected to the important value of service throughout my time at Ohio State.

About Me

My name is Melina Raglin, and I am a fourth-year student and Eminence Fellow majoring in data analytics and minoring in sociology. I’m interested in the applications of technology and data analysis in various areas of professional work and study, as well as several other subjects of study, including sociology, design, and sustainability. I am a member of Ohio State’s Big Data Analytics Association, a unique data analytics oriented organization here at Ohio State. I am also a member of Cultivate Columbus. I am planning to graduate this upcoming spring of 2023 and will be seeking a full-time job as a data analyst with a projected start date in fall of 2023.

In spring of 2020, I was a research assistant for a computational social science project through OSU’s department of sociology and the Translational Data Analytics Institute, studying the impact of race and inequality on the internet using web scraping, facial recognition software, and data analysis tools. During the summer of 2020, I interned for the Garyfallidis Research Group at Indiana University’s School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering, working on software development and creating tutorials for FURY, a scientific visualization Python library.

At the beginning of 2021, I started my research assistantship in the Sociology department back up, acting as first author of DCiFR, or Demographic Characteristics in Facial Recognition, which I have been coding and developing throughout the spring semester of 2021. DCiFR is a software interface that allows users to run facial analysis on their own photos with the help of deep learning models, which is available for download on GitHub and PyPi.