DSFederal Updates

At DSFederal, summer wouldn’t be summer without a team of bright, dedicated interns in the building; and we are delighted to put the spotlight on our 2019 interns: Faith Giguere, Hsien Shen, and Jing Li. We asked Faith, Hsien, and Jing to share a little bit about their interests and ambitions. Here’s what we learned. Faith Giguere is a new George Washington University graduate, with a bachelor's degree in computer science. As a Web Developer Intern, she is focused on the intr

Our NGITS team recently developed several new dashboards for our HHS customer to improve insight into execution and business operations, improving their ability to manage IT support efforts across all 25 HHS Operating Divisions. This required our team to migrate process-tracking data from existing Microsoft Excel spreadsheet to a more robust, standardized solution in Microsoft Project Online. These metrics have since become a key component of the Power BI dashboards that ha

At the National Grants Management Association’s recent annual conference, DSFederal Project Manager Echo Wang participated in a joint presentation with HRSA Office of Federal Assistance Management (OFAM) staff. Because of her leadership role in the OFAM risk management study, Echo was invited to talk about the project's challenges and successes, key risk findings, recommendations, and considerations. In 2017, HRSA sought DSFederal’s assistance with an enterprise risk manageme

The USDA’s National Agricultural Library (NAL), a national library of the United States, is home to the world’s largest collection of agricultural science materials and information. Located in Beltsville, Maryland, the Library serves scientists and researchers by assisting with database searches, literature reviews, and requests for hard-to-find documents and records. NAL’s Information Systems Division (ISD) develops and maintains applications that enable public access to the

It's the Year of the Pig, and DSFederal celebrated with a traditional (and huge) Chinese lunch, served at Rockville HQ. With the help of Lead Data Analyst Echo Wang, NGITS QA Lead Vicki Wang, Accounting Specialist Jingjing Li, Data Scientist Siyi Huang, Contracts Manager Maggie Lin, Administrative Assistant Ekaterina Casa, HR Generalist Keria Moorehead, Senior Recruiter Leigh Kelley, and sister Sandy Chang, CEO Sophia Parker prepared and served a traditional Chinese feast, su

During a lunch and learn session this week, DSFederal team members learned that you can gather and visualize data on almost anything--including a mountain-climbing expedition! Sr. Solutions Architect Nigel Shaw writes that the Himalayan Database (a free online database that houses records of Himalayan expeditions dating back to 1905) served as the data source for the training, noting that "some of our experienced staff were also inspired and they built some beautiful dashboar

The Japanese mastered the art of achieving harmony with nature a long time ago. We are still working on building our own zen of achieving harmony with data in all of its shapes and forms. It has been an evolution led by pioneers in art and data. Giorgia Lupi inspires me every day to bring humanity to data. She reminds us that every brushstroke, every pixel represents a person, that what we do with data visualization matters. My own revolution has been learning to build beauty

Building on their recent success building a Tableau-based decision support tool for the Maternal and Child Health Bureau's Healthy Start program (which was featured in a FedResults webinar), DSFederal's data team has created an enhanced Color Palette Selection Dashboard, now published on Tableau Public..The dashboards offer custom color palettes and new advanced visualizations --what Lead Solutions Architect Nigel Shaw describes as "a good mix of wow factor and improved conte

Dominic (left, rear) with aspiring cricketers Dominic Francis, our FDA Clarity PM, is an IT professional and a part-time humanitarian. Instead of a beach visit or sightseeing trip, Dominic is spending his vacation in Nepal, serving as a volunteer camp counselor at the BlinkNow orphanage in Surkhet. BlinkNow was founded by Maggie Doyne, who first visited Nepal at age 18 and was shocked at the poverty and harsh conditions in which so many Nepali children live. Established on a

Left to right: Thiagarajan Prakash, Echo Wang, Nigel Shaw, Jessica Chen, Sophia Wu. You can tell they're cool because of the sunglasses. DSFederal Lead Data Analyst Echo Wang jokingly refers to herself and DSFederal teammates as "data geeks," but we think that our data experts are cooler than rock stars, and not just because of their sunglasses. "Data-driven" has become a buzz phrase in Federal contracting, but DSFederal has been developing data-focused solutions to complex p

DSFederal's NIH Training Center Project Manager Keturah Dubar is leading a company-wide effort to collect personal care and clothing items for Bethesda Cares in recognition of national Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week (November 10 - 18). With services focused on preventing, easing, and ending homelessness, Bethesda Cares offers a wide range of services and support for its clients, including food assistance, clothing and personal items, mental health counseling, prescrip

The DSFederal Innovation Council, led by Solution Architect Nigel Shaw, developed a Tableau-based decision support tool for service providers and government. The tool was envisioned as a dashboard prototype for the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) Healthy Start Program, using client-level data collected by the DSFederal-developed Healthy Start Monitoring and Evaluation Database (HSMED), but it has broad applications for other data collection and measurement projects. T

DSFederal was pleased to learn that the “Building Futures: Supporting Youth Living with HIV Technical Assistance Toolkit” that we developed in partnership with Mission Analytics, CAI, and Deborah J. Isenberg Consulting Services will be distributed at the 2018 National Ryan White Conference on HIV Care and Treatment. The 508-compliant Toolkit, available for download at Target.HIV.gov, offers strategies and resources that providers can use to improve care and outreach efforts

DSFederal's Director of Web Development Nneka Hector and Art Director Alex Emmerman presented at the June 29 Drupal4Gov half-day event. In informal colloquium-style presentations, Alex and Nneka covered development practices, 508 compliance, security, and Drupal 8 migration for government. With extensive experience in Drupal development and graphic design for Federal customers and many appearances at industry conferences, Nneka and Alex are recognized experts in Drupal devel

The MCPS Educational Foundation supports the educational mission of Montgomery County Public Schools by raising money from private and corporate donors. The additional funds allow MCPS to improve existing programs, offer additional educational and enrichment opportunities, and provide supplies and equipment for children in need. GIVE BACKpacks, the Foundation's supply campaign, provides backpacks filled with supplies to students throughout the county. DSFederal was pleased to

Montgomery County is taking a novel approach to fighting the epidemic of opioid overdoses, by offering free, open-to-the-public training on use of naloxone, a drug that can safely reverse the effects of an overdose. According to a recent news release, three training sessions will be offered in June: Tuesday, June 5 1 to 3 p.m. Department of Health and Human Services 401 Hungerford Drive, 1st floor conference room Rockville Tuesday, June 12 10 a.m. to 12 noon Westfie

DSFederal's own Jessica Chen is a business analyst, technical writer, and accomplished artist whose work will once again be featured in the Harmonious Art Group's annual exhibit at Gaithersburg's Bohrer Park Activity Center. The show runs until July 1, with the reception and formal opening on Sunday, May 20, from 2 to 4 PM. Works will be available for sale, and many of the artists will be in attendance. Read more about Jessica and her work here. #Blog

DSFederal CEO Sophia Parker and Web Development Director Nneka Hector attended the 2018 Women's Leadership Conference, held on April 14 at the McLean Hilton Tyson's Corner. Sophia writes that the conference inspired her to refocus on DSFederal's commitment to service--by finding ways to combat human trafficking and child marriage on a large scale; while also thinking locally by re-emphasizing DSFederal's commitment to reducing plastic waste. As Sophia explains, it's easy to b

In a recent News Generation podcast, Michael Weiner, M.D, a University of California, San Francisco researcher and world-renowned Alzheimer’s expert, discusses use of biomarkers for diagnosis of the disease. Dr. Weiner, Principal Investigator for the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), explains that before biomarkers for Alzheimer's were identified, clinicians had to rely on signs and symptoms in order to make a diagnosis. ADNI, the largest-ever Alzheimer's cl

This is the first in Jay's series of “innovation chats” on how artificial intelligence is changing the face of government services. In this series, we will explore how chatbots, blockchain, and other artificial intelligence methods like machine learning will be used to prevent waste, fraud and abuse, order supplies, perform IT operations management and many, many functions performed manually today. Machine Learning (ML) is a type of artificial intelligence that allows softwar