Students’ social interactions and daily routines to make predictions about freshman retention

Sudha Ram’s Smart Campus research tracks students’ social interactions and daily routines via their CatCard usage — and leverages that information to make predictions about freshman retention. The goal of Ram’s Smart Campus research is to help educational institutions repurpose the data already being captured from student ID cards to identify those most at risk for not returning after their first year of college. Ram found that social integration and routine were stronger predictors than end-of-term grades, which is one of the more traditionally used predictors of freshman retention in higher education.