Ian Castro‍

Ian Castro

Hello! I am an applied data scientist, journalist, and recent graduate of the UC Berkeley School of Information.

I am an applied data scientist 📈 and journalist with a focus in education and housing. I have a background in STEM education, and I graduated from the University of California, Berkeley 🐻 with a Master of Information Management and Systems (2023) and a B.S. in Microbial Biology and a B.A. in Media Studies (2021, magna cum laude).

I currently work as a Political Database Manager at Equis Research, researching issues that affect Latino voters in the United States. I also work as a freelance journalist, providing data and photography services to news and community organizations. If you would like to reach out for my services, please contact me at castro.ian(at)gmail.com or through LinkedIn.

About me 👋

I am a first-generation Filipino 🇵🇭 graduate student born and raised in the East Bay Area. Growing up in a community significantly shaped by the big tech industry, I saw how STEM degrees- particularly computer and data science- offer great possibilities for upward mobility, but access to these fields is particularly limited for students who are low-income, first-generation, or just generally non-traditional. Most of my professional experience has been as an educator in this space, motivated by my own lack of access to STEM opportunities growing up and my struggles to find a community in the field. Since coming to Cal, I have worked to make key introductory courses more accessible for marginalized students and students in non-computing majors to build interest in CS/DS skills while also emphasizing the social impact of data and technology.

I am skilled at statistical analysis (research and survey design, hypothesis testing, causal inference), programming (algorithms and data structures in Python and R), and data science (exploratory data analysis, data visualization, natural language processing, and machine learning). I also have experience working as a photojournalist and investigative reporter, having covered topics including Section 230, deforestation in the Amazon, the 2022 University of California UAW strike, and People’s Park protests. My photos have been published by outlets including the SF Chronicle, SF Examiner, Berkeleyside, Berkeley Times, Street Spirit, and KQED. You can see my work on my Instagram or my portfolio at the bottom of this page, and you can find some of my data projects in the section below.

My broad interests can be distilled into the three following areas:

  1. Data science as a tool for social good 📊
  2. Accessibility in data & computer science education 💻
  3. Information law & policy (privacy, freedom of speech, and freedom of press)

In terms of research, I study issues regarding equity in communities. During graduate school, I worked with Dr. Tim Thomas on the Evictions Project and Dr. Karen Chapple at the Urban Displacement Project, studying demographic disparities in evictions using natural language processing and statistical techniques. I also interned at PolicyLink on their National Equity Atlas project. At the UC Berkeley School of Journalism, I worked on stories for the Our Better Web initiative and the Investigative Reporting Program. Given that most of my experience is at the intersection of education, media, and politics, I eventually plan to study the role of information networks in facilitating mass social movement.

Here are some of my past affiliations:

Outside of school, I used to compete in logging sports (i.e., lumberjack things) with the Cal Bucking Bears. You can still find me foraging for mushrooms in the forest, photographing local punk shows, and brewing lots of tea. A fun fact about me is that I’ve probably tasted at least 300 different teas from every continent where tea plants grow. If you’re in Berkeley, I highly recommend stopping by Blue Willow Tea and saying hi to Ali.

Lastly, if you’re interested in applying to graduate school, or speaking with me about anything I mentioned, shoot me an email! I love to speak with students and other people interested in these fields.

Scholarship 📝

Selected Projects

The following links are to some projects I’m particularly proud of and have authored during my time at Berkeley.

Invited Conferences & Talks

Other

If you’re interested in viewing the code, data, or other information for these projects, please contact me.

Teaching 📚

As instructor

As teaching assistant

As tutor, reader, and other roles

I strongly believe that education should be a freely available resource; if you’re interested in any of my teaching materials or resources (slides, Jupyter notebooks, best practices, etc.), please reach out. I’ll be more than happy to share!

(this page was last updated February 2024)