Visualizing Alumni Locations with R

By Samuel Frame

In early April 2011, our wonderful department assistant, Melody Pietsch, was contacted by Teresa Hendrix (content editor, Cal Poly Public Affairs). Teresa wanted to know if we had a student or professor that could take data files and visually express the information on a map. Melody asked the students in the Stat Lab what they suggested and their response was, "Dr. Frame could do it." Truly, I am flattered. Teresa provided me with information on the number of Cal Poly College of Science and Mathematics alumni by California county, state, and country. She desired maps that visually convey the number of alumni in each region, with darker colors of green indicating higher numbers of alumni. Each graph presented a unique challenge I had never encountered. Using skills we teach in our new STAT 331 course, I was able to create maps with the desired properties. Rrrrrrr!