CSC Speaker Series – Optimizing for Whom? Centering Youth Voices in Shelter Capacity Planning

This talk will explore Dr. Yaren Bilge Kaya's use of mathematical modeling to determine how much shelter and service capacity NYC needs for unstably housed youth, offering policymakers a framework for future planning. Rather than focusing on the modeling itself, the talk highlights the often-overlooked groundwork behind it: survey design, interviews, and ongoing feedback loops with service providers like the Coalition for Homeless Youth and the Department of Youth and Community Development. Dr. Kaya also reflects on what it means to involve the people affected by a decision directly in the modeling process, arguing that public interest technology is most effective when those it serves are treated as collaborators rather than just sources of data.Dr. Yaren Kaya is a Lecturer in the Industrial Engineering and Operations Research Department at Columbia University. Her teaching and research apply large-scale optimization, simulation modeling, and machine learning to advance social justice, equity, and access in the systems that shape people's lives.This workshop is planned to take place in-person (Milstein 516). ​​​​​​For more information about the Barnard CSC, go to https://www.csc.barnard.edu or follow us on Instagram and X (@barnard_csc).