The summer after my sophomore year at Brown, I spent 8 weeks at MIT’s Senseable City Lab conducting research on the issue of smog in Pakistan and the disproportionate impact it has on lower income areas and marginalized groups - a topic previously not researched. Through air quality data analysis, mapping socioeconomic data, and GIS techniques, I was able to prove that poorer areas in Lahore, Pakistan face significantly worse air quality than those in wealthier areas, due to factors ranging from neocolonialism to governmental policies.

I published my findings, data visualizations, and interactive maps online to not only spread awareness of the intensity of the smog, but also of the sheer injustice that is occurring against the poorer and marginalized population of Pakistan. Everyone deserves to breathe clean air, regardless of identity and socioeconomic status.

You can find my research here.