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Rock Canyon senior tackles school shootings with AI

HIGHLANDS RANCH — Inside a history class at Rock Canyon High School in Highlands Ranch is a senior looking to make history.

"I decided to bring my aspect and my interests in technology towards the cause," Shreya Nallapati, senior, said.

Normally, she works on computers pursuing an interest in cybersecurity. But, Nallapati also founded NeverAgainTech, an effort to combat school shootings by using artificial intelligence.

"We identify the most common factors that contribute to a shooting," Nallapati said. "We use artificial intelligence to predict it again."

Nallapati says the computer would seek and compile data from public sources and teach the computer to look for similar patterns at other schools. She says she came up with the idea after seeing the troubling images from the deadly school shooting in Parkland, Florida on Valentine's Day.

"I just felt so tired of just sending out thoughts and condolences over social media instead of using that technology for a bigger purpose," Nallapati said.

Through her NeverAgainTech website, she has recruited hundreds of students, mostly girls, to write this program.

"We're also coding our own language," Nallapati said.

She wants a computer to find the next Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School.

"When we think of artificial intelligence, we think of like a talking robot or like that fully-capable software," Nallapati said. "We're talking about machine-learning and it's a newly developed aspect of it, but it has a lot of potential."

History teacher Luke Hadden says he's impressed with this type of tech-based activism.

"I think, you know, I mean it's the wave of the future," Hadden said. "That's where we're headed as a society."

Although she is hopeful her idea can work, Nallapati knows it will not be perfect.

"The biggest obstacle I think we face is we could be looking at every aspect and every factor, but we still can't decide exactly when the next shooting is going to happen," Nallapati said.

But, she hopes the program can take the data and identify schools that are at-risk for a shooting and find a way to reduce the potential.

"Although we can't necessarily predict exactly when the next shooting is, we can bring awareness to those mental health professionals," Nallapati said.

Hadden says it's an original idea worth doing.

"I definitely think we should try it," Hadden said. "I mean, I wish I had the answers."

If you want to find out more about Nallapati's project, click here: www.neveragaintech.org.

"I do hope it works and I have a lot of confidence in the software," Nallapati said.

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