Honors CS @ University of Houston · Houston, TX
Vincent Wren
GIS & Spatial Analysis · Urban Planning · Computer Science
I’m a computer science student at the University of Houston working at the intersection of software, geographic information systems, and urban planning. I use spatial data to study how cities work, and how they might work better.
Selected work
Spatial analysis & GIS projects
Equitable Bike Share Station Siting
Modeling where a future Houston bike share should place stations to balance ridership and equity.
The Road to Campus
A survey-based data portrait exploring whether commute burden shapes civic engagement among UH undergraduates.
Downtown Houston Land Use Analysis
Quantifying how much of downtown’s land is given to vehicles versus people.
Houston Transit Equity & Frequency Study
Mapping METRO’s high-frequency network against population to find gaps in access to frequent transit.
Houston Equity of Places
Correlating amenity density with demographics to surface inequities in access.
A 15-Minute Neighborhood: Diemen-Zuid
A walkability analysis of my old Amsterdam neighborhood, mapping what is reachable on foot in 5, 10, and 15 minutes.
Midtown Houston Complete Streets Visualization
A 3D procedural model exploring how the Louisiana & Smith corridor could be retrofitted for multimodal travel.
Campus Bike Parking Utilization Field Survey
A field survey of 74 campus bike racks revealing where capacity is failing.
Istanbul Seismic Vulnerability Index
A 3D index combining earthquake hazard and population exposure to rank Istanbul’s districts by risk.
Photographic Footprint of the Netherlands
A heatmap of 13,000 geotagged photos from my semester abroad, layered with GPX tracks from two long-distance bike tours.
Perseverance Rover Path, Jezero Crater
A cartographic map tracing NASA’s Perseverance rover path across Jezero Crater on Mars.
Other projects
No Higher No Wider I-10
Maintaining an advocacy website for a community effort around the I-10 freeway.
Miles to Victory
A data-science project on how travel affects MLB team performance.
Food Oasis
A first-place hackathon web app helping people in food deserts find access to food.
Hour Tracking Web App
A real-time tool that automates employee hour tracking.
About
A little background
I started writing software in middle school and competed in the FIRST Robotics Competition in high school, where I picked up Java and object-oriented programming. Today I’m an honors computer science student at the University of Houston, with minors in Architecture and Data & Society, and I recently spent a semester studying at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
My focus has grown toward geographic information systems and urban planning, using spatial data and visualization to understand transit, land use, and equity in cities, with the goal of pursuing urban planning in graduate school and beyond.
When I’m not working, you can usually find me riding my bike, reading, or playing cello.
Skills
GIS & spatial analysis
- ArcGIS Pro
- ArcGIS CityEngine
- QGIS
- ArcGIS Online
- Field Maps
- Network Analyst
- GeoAI
- Kepler.gl
- Georeferencing
Data & statistics
- Survey design & distribution
- Data cleaning
- Correlation analysis
- GTFS
- OpenStreetMap
- Census / ACS data
Programming
- Python
- JavaScript
- Java
- C++
- Git / GitHub
Visualization & cartography
- Data portraits
- Cartographic design
- Isotype charts
- 3D visualization
Collaboration & leadership
- Team leadership
- Mentoring & tutoring
- Public storytelling
- Community advocacy
- Cross-disciplinary teamwork
- Human-centered design
Experience
Where I’ve worked
- Pharis Fellow University of HoustonMay 2026 – Present
- Selected for the Pharis Fellowship at the University of Houston.
- Project Invent Manager Lazarus EnergyJul 2025 – May 2026
- Led 36 students through a year-long human-centered design invention program.
- Mentored teams through the full engineering design process, from research to pitch.
- IT Intern Lazarus EnergyOct 2023 – Jan 2025
- Developed a real-time data management web app to improve scheduling efficiency.
- Automated employee hour tracking using the Google Sheets API.
- TechConnect Intern City of HoustonJun 2024 – Aug 2024
- Facilitated STEM activities for youth to promote digital equity in under-resourced areas.
- Collaborated with professionals at TechConnect Fairs; earned Apple Teacher certification.
- Desk Assistant University of HoustonOct 2023 – Mar 2024
- Ran front-desk operations for a residence hall, including resident check-ins and check-outs.
- Supported residents, staff, and visitors with day-to-day needs.
Leadership & extracurricular
What I’m involved in
-
Alumni Ambassador · Featured Storyteller
CEA CAPA
Published a featured narrative on Dutch cycling infrastructure and study abroad for The Forum Annual Conference.
Read “Transformation” ↗Feb 2026
-
Website Manager
No Higher No Wider I-10
Build and maintain the advocacy website for a community effort opposing the I-10 freeway expansion in Houston.
Feb 2024 – Present
-
Events Coordinator Intern
CodeCoogs
Managed room bookings and scheduling for the university’s competitive programming organization.
Sep 2024 – Dec 2024
-
Data Team Dashboard Developer
BikeHouston
Helped build a data-visualization dashboard mapping cycling infrastructure and crashes across Houston.
Jan 2024 – Aug 2024
-
Tutor
CougarCS
Tutored students in introductory Python and C++ courses at the University of Houston.
Aug 2023 – Aug 2024
-
Captain & Programming Lead
FIRST Robotics Competition · Team 5892 Energy HEROs
Led the team to the State competition and won the FRC Autonomous Award; wrote the Java code controlling the robot.
Oct 2021 – May 2023
-
Omega Team Lead
NASA High School Aerospace Scholars
Led an eight-person team designing a lunar south-pole habitat as part of an Artemis-focused program.
Oct 2021 – Feb 2022
Contact
Let’s talk
I’m always glad to talk about cities, maps, and data. The best way to reach me is email.