While earning her master’s degree in environmental data science at USC Dornsife and the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, Aurora Massari ’24 worked as a research assistant for the wildfire insurance project led by Monalisa Chatterjee. Gathering existing research on the topic and compiling datasets of county demographics helped prepare Massari for her current role as an economic litigation consultant at Cirque Analytics in Irvine, California. There she analyzes data for use in legal cases.

What did you enjoy most about the research you did for the wildfire insurance project?

I got to meet academics, analysts, community members and first responders who offered unique perspectives on wildfire challenges. We met with a fire historian from UC Berkeley, analysts from FlameMapper, the Beverly Hills Fire Chief and representatives from Corral Canyon Fire Safety Alliance, among others. I was excited to employ many of the tools from my Environmental Data Science program.

In what ways have those skills translated into helping you get your current job and excel there?

I’m now able to take an amorphous dataset and structure it to draw meaningful conclusions. Through reviewing existing studies, I made huge advances in my ability to summarize and assess technical papers, which is crucial in my current role where I have to quickly deconstruct depositions and legal reports.

What was unique about working on the wildfire insurance project?

Professor Chatterjee introduced me to stakeholders in the wildfire field, which exposed me to many different perspectives. The whole experience helped me develop transferable skills that expanded the career options available to me.

What was the most important thing you learned?

That the numbers I see on my computer screen can translate into meaningful action to reduce harm from wildfires — it’s just a matter of uncovering their story.