What is the DMC Community Impact?

Ramapo College’s Center for Data, Mathematical, and Computational Sciences (DMC) connects technology students with nonprofit organizations through paid, faculty-supervised internships that address real community challenges. This model strengthens our region by 1) ensuring that high-quality technical expertise is accessible to mission-driven organizations, and 2) providing experiential learning opportunities to students, building a workforce-ready talent pipeline.

Our approach creates impact across three groups, all aligned around community benefit:

• Non-profit organizations: Receive professional-grade technical solutions to maximize impact by helping them serve more people, operate more efficiently, and amplify their mission. These services are provided at no cost to the nonprofit.
• Students: Gain meaningful, paid work experience while building portfolios, exploring careers in technology for social good, and contributing directly to community needs.
• Community supporters: Individuals and institutions who contribute to the DMC Community Impact Project help expand access to these services for more nonprofits across the region. Their support fuels hands-on student learning and ensures that local organizations have the tools to meet pressing community challenges.

Dr. Scott Frees (DMC Director) brings extensive experience in software development, consulting and project supervision. Internship teams are supervised and managed by DMC faculty ensuring high-quality deliverables while providing students with mentorship and professional development.

What Your Organization Receives

• Custom technology solutions built specifically for your operational needs
• Professional-grade deliverables: databases, mobile applications, data dashboards, forecasting models, inventory systems, GIS mapping tools, and more
• Complete ownership of all intellectual property, data, and systems we create
• Ongoing support as part of DMC operations

We Handle the Heavy Lifting

• Zero cost: RCNJ fundraising covers all project expenses, including intern stipends
• No intern supervision needed: DMC faculty manage all student work
• Minimal staff time: We gather details up front and respect your time
• No technical expertise required: We translate your organizational challenges into solutions

How the Partnership Works

1. Initial Consultation: Dr. Scott Frees (DMC Director) meets with you to understand your operational challenges and identify technology solutions that would create the most impact for your organization.
2. Project Design: DMC develops detailed project specifications based on your needs. We handle all technical planning and design work. We’ll create timelines and milestones and review the design with you.
3. Student Team Deployment: DMC hires interns from Computer Science, Data Science, and related programs to work on your project under close supervision. Students earn market-rate compensation and portfolio-worthy experience. Their compensation is paid from DMC Community Impact funds, not from your organization.
4. Deliverable & Training: You receive completed systems, training for your staff, and documentation. All systems are yours to own and use indefinitely.

Current Success Story Center for Food Action (CFA)

Our partnership with CFA demonstrates the model in action. Five Ramapo students are delivering seven distinct technical solutions addressing CFA’s operational challenges:

1. Time series analysis of inventory and donation patterns
2. Automated inventory valuation tools using real-time pricing data
3. Mobile scanning application for streamlined item categorization
4. Guest demographic profiling and preference analysis
5. Geographic visualization of mobile pantry deliveries and service gaps
6. Integrated analytics platform staff can access from anywhere

These solutions help CFA serve 40,000+ people annually with greater efficiency and improved reporting to funders.

CFA Student Team

	Bibhu Bhatta is a Computer Science major with 3+ years of professional experience in fin-tech, automation, design, UX, and application development.
	Emily Morra is a Data Science major with a minor in Sports Management, gaining analytics experience through her internship with the New Jersey Jackals.
	Tina Nosrati is an Honors Computer Science major and Pi Mu Epsilon President, applying AI to sustainability challenges with nationally recognized research.
	Prashant Shah is a Computer Science and Data Science double major with software engineering internships at Trimble and Novartis Pharmaceuticals.
	Vedika Shaily is pursuing an M.S. in Data Science with experience in data visualization, machine learning, and developing R Shiny applications for analytics.

Other Partners

The DMC Center at Ramapo College is developing a data exploration portal for Pony Power Therapies, an equine-assisted services organization, to help them better understand their participant and program data. The tool allows staff to filter and visualize attendance information by semester, program type, demographics, and diagnosis – showing trends over time and mapping where participants come from geographically. It also helps Pony Power analyze their existing intake forms to identify patterns in how they collect information. This portal serves as a foundation for building better reporting tools that can support donor outreach, measure program impact, and identify growth opportunities for programming and research.

The DMC Center at Ramapo College is developing an event management system for MEVO (Mahwah Environmental Volunteers Organization) to help them coordinate their community cleanup and trail maintenance events. The app allows volunteers to sign up for events and enables MEVO staff to track attendance in the field—clocking volunteers in and out so participants can receive credit for their community service hours. Staff can also record event outcomes like total pounds of garbage collected or number of tires removed, creating a complete record of MEVO’s environmental impact. The system makes it easy for MEVO to generate reports showing volunteer contributions and the measurable results of their cleanup efforts.

Next Steps

If your organization faces operational challenges that technology could help solve, we’d welcome the opportunity to explore a partnership.

Contact: Dr. Scott Frees Ramapo College of New Jersey sfrees@ramapo.edu

We look forward to discussing how the DMC can support your mission.