Kevin Ding, a 西维尔大学 sophomore, was recently named a 凯克数据科学研究所 Fellow after developing a ridesharing app, 丁拼车, that helps 佩珀代因大学 students share the cost of commuting in the greater Los Angeles area while also benefiting the environment. Each year the Keck Institute fellowship provides funding for Seaver College students who wish to pursue advanced research in data science during the summer. This summer funding through the fellowship will allow Ding to further develop the app, analyze its usage using AI, and optimize its experience for travelers—in particular, students.

洛杉矶的交通

丁拼车 provides Pepperdine students with an affordable ride-sharing option to navigate Los Angeles highways. Using a Pepperdine email address, consumers log into the app and post the time they are leaving University grounds and their final destination. The app then matches users based on the corresponding criteria. This allows Pepperdine students to pair up and split the cost of a single Uber or Lyft ride with a peer as opposed to paying the bill alone, an incentive that cuts the total cost of a trip off campus in half.

丁在佩珀代因大学春假之前推出了他的低成本创意。 The app gained significant attention during the break and recorded 180 student downloads and significant use for travel back and forth from campus. In total, student users saved $500 by making use of the sophomore’s creative idea. Now, throughout the summer, Ding will work alongside faculty mentors at the 凯克数据科学研究所 to study potential ways it could benefit the environment.

Launched in 2021 with a 凯克基金会拨款一千万美元, the 凯克数据科学研究所 is an interdisciplinary hub that furthers the research capabilities of students and faculty members. Through this resource, Pepperdine University researchers are actively studying how the field of data science and new AI technologies can be used to improve people’s daily lives.

“The essence of data science’s mission is to link disparate fields that we don’t think of as working together,” says Fabien Scalzo, director of the Keck Institute for Data Science and associate professor of computer science at 西维尔大学. “The Keck Institute for Data Science connects different disciplines so that the end result is more than what would’ve been accomplished individually. With that, I think entrepreneurship is of critical importance. Kevin’s initiative is a really good example of how to make things happen—of a student using these collaborative resources to grow an idea.”

丁在2024年3月首次提出了“丁拼车”的想法。 A native of Las Vegas, he realized he was spending more money commuting to and from the airport than he was on plane tickets. Since then, he and his team have worked from 10 to 20 hours a week on developing the app’s algorithms and its look and feel on whiteboards in Payson Library. However, at a certain point in the creative process, the Seaver student recognized a need for a faculty mentor to help him navigate the computer programming aspects of his creation.

“我想看看能不能找到计算机科学方面的导师，”丁说。 “I visited all the com sci professors' office hours to speak with them about my idea, and Dr. Scalzo really supported me and encouraged the concept,”

With Scalzo’s mentorship, Ding launched the app and is now thinking of ways to expand its reach. 他的目标是将丁拼车在佩珀代因大学的用户群扩大到500名学生。 Afterward, he plans on introducing the idea to other local campuses, including the University of Southern California and the University of California, Los Angeles.

As a result of expanding the app’s use, Ding believes his app could prove beneficial for the environment. With fewer students ordering individual rides, the carbon footprint of these various campuses could be noticeably reduced. During the 2025 summer, he, Scalzo, and others at the 凯克数据科学研究所 will study how the app could mitigate the effects of climate change as well as save people money.

“凯文很独立，”斯卡尔佐说。 “He was able to develop an idea into an app that is actually working. 它解决了我们校园社区的一个非常大的问题。”