Academics / Undergraduate Program / Client Project Challenge / ProjectA Forecasting App for Class Size
A Forecasting App for Class Size
July 16, 2024
Northwestern’s Office of the Registrar assigns courses to classrooms. Since available classroom space is always tight, having better forecasts for each course will help.
This problem is an industrial-sized forecasting problem. There are hundreds of classes each quarter across many different departments. The Office of the Registrar has detailed data going back ten or more years.
The student team used different machine learning models to analyze the data, identify important features (like class start time—hint: 8 a.m. isn’t popular for a high enrollment), and develop forecasts.
The student team went further and built a front-end app. This was important because the Registrar isn’t responsible for the forecasts; the departments are. Therefore, to get more accurate predictions, the Registrar needs to give the departments better tools to help with forecasting. This is also typical in forecasting problems: you must consider how users interact with the solution.
The following is a mock-up of the interface:
Dustin Levell, Senior Assistant Registrar, said, “Alex, Antonio, Mekhi, and Mark gave us a lot to think about with their results. We were impressed that they understood the data, came up with models to forecast better, and helped us envision what a user interface would look like. This is a complicated problem with a lot of variables and a lot of stakeholders. The team made great progress in 10 weeks. We look forward to seeing how we can roll out their suggestions.”
Jaci Casazza, Assistant Provost for University Records and University Registrar, added, “It is always a pleasure to work with students on our challenges. It gives us great talent and allows them to test their new skills.”
Alex Romanenko, Antonio Santana, Mekhi Barnes Adams, and Mark Ruiz were the Northwestern student team. Professor Imon Banerjee was the faculty advisor.
Dustin Levell, Charlotte Stowe, and Jaci Casazza were the project sponsors from the Office of the Registrar.