Meet Allison Enyart!
Major: Mathematics and Computer Science
Minor: Business Administration
Hometown: Ames, Iowa
Allison is a sophomore at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and when she is not in class, you can often find her attending a Husker sporting event or performing in the Big Red Express pep band.
A love of math led to her chosen area of study. She has also added a second major in computer science and a minor in business management.
This semester, Allison began working on a research project surrounding analytics and predictive analysis for NCAA volleyball, a sports program governed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
“I got started on this project because I love volleyball and math, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to add some value to our incredible volleyball program,” says Allison.
The research project provides Allison with applied experiential learning alongside other students and a faculty member, studying the emerging area of volleyball analytics.
“Working with Nate Wilson, the Husker volleyball technical coordinator, has been a great experience that has helped me further my understanding of volleyball and better pinpoint how I could be helpful to the program,” says Allison. “Specifically, Nate showed me how to use and analyze volleyball code, giving me the tools to hopefully create a predictive model of efficiency [for a] given lineup.”
Professor Judy Walker, Allison’s faculty sponsor, helped to arrange the research opportunity, and Allison is thankful for Walker’s feedback and support. “She has so much knowledge that she is always willing to share and cares a lot for her students!”
Allison values how this research project has increased her applied knowledge of statistics and machine learning and sees how the skills she is developing will benefit her.
“This project combines coding and math, which is what I hope to be doing after graduation. Additionally, the machine-learned model training that I am focusing on with this project could be very useful in the future for a career in computing.”
At present, Allison is happy to show her Husker pride by combining her passion for math and volleyball to serve her research team, help ace her research project, assist with program performance, and hopefully bump the probability of another big W. Go Big Red!
