It all starts with a question: Where do Bucknell students get their friends, and how does the physical space of the University encourage or discourage diverse friendships among the student body?
That question was the starting point of a paper Bucknell Student Melissa Eng ’16 wrote last semester, but answering it fully would involve more than a few weeks of reading and philosophizing. It requires polling the student body about their friendships, and employing sophisticated social network analysis and mapping tools to analyze how physical space and friendship interact at Bucknell. Luckily, Eng now has resources to access those tools, and guidance in implementing her analysis.