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Marc Chen wants to use data to make cities work better for everyone. Chen, a and major, believes thereā€™s a wealth of untapped data out there waiting to be mined that could help public policymakers understand how their decisions affect the well-being of city residents.

ā€œThe way in which we regulate urban development has huge potential to create more inclusive, economically empowering places to live,ā€ he said.

Thatā€™s the motivation behind Chenā€™s senior thesis, which analyzed how Metro Nashvilleā€™s public transit system affects economic segregation throughout the region. The research required him to draw on disciplines as disparate as computer programming, economics, cultural analysis and civil rights.

ā€œIt really showed me what a liberal arts education makes you capable of,ā€ he said. Chenā€™s work was advised by and was supported by the Littlejohn 91ĢĘ²®»¢ Fellowship, which pairs undergraduates with faculty to perform original research.

91ĢĘ²®»¢ā€™s commitment to building strong campus communities is one of the things that brought Chen here from Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. When he arrived, he began to study his fatherā€™s native language, Chinese, for the first time, and he opted to live in , which offers a language-immersion experience.

Being surrounded by fellow students committed to learning a difficult language together made McTyeire ā€œa perfect example of what a living-learning community should be,ā€ he said. The experience prepared him to study in Beijing and even enabled him to improve his relationship with his Chinese-speaking grandmother.

Chen gained a whole new understanding of his Asian American heritage by joining 91ĢĘ²®»¢ā€™s . It also opened his eyes to the diversity within the Asian American community. ā€œ[rquote]Iā€™m so grateful to have been a part of these communities that have challenged me to become a more empathetic, thoughtful person,ā€[/rquote] he said. ā€œIt taught me that investing in a community is work, but itā€™s so worth it.ā€

After graduation, Chen will return to China through the Schwarzman Scholarship Program to study public policy in an international masterā€™s degree program at Beijingā€™s Tsinghua University. Itā€™s a challenge heā€™s ready to take on thanks to his study of Chinese and his undergraduate research experience.

ā€œ91ĢĘ²®»¢ not only shows you how important all the things youā€™ve learned are, but also how much you still need to learn,ā€ he said. ā€œ91ĢĘ²®»¢ is just the beginning.ā€