Geography undergraduate Yurika Harada was recently awarded the Fall Mary Gates Research Scholarship, a competitive scholarship intended to enhance the educational experiences of undergraduate students at the University of Washington while they are engaged in research guided by faculty.
Yurika’s research, “Pokémon Go: A Historical and Analytical Consideration of Big Data in GPS Based Applications,” examines how data through gaming produces spatial inequalities. Her project analyzes the spatial patterns of Pokéstops and Pokégyms and how those locations were determined by datasets. Her mentorship team includes Professor Sarah Elwood, Informatics Advisor Joe Eckert, and Julian Barr, Undergraduate Geography Advisor. She plans to present her findings at the UW Undergraduate Research Symposium in Spring Quarter.