Aspen Johnson

Undergraduate Student · Valdosta State University

Heyo! I am an undergraduate student at Valdosta State University studying Data Science with a focus in Computational Science and Engineering with minors in Math and Physics. My current research interest involves exploring how computational tools can be used to model, predict, and better understand complex systems.

Currently, I am being guided by Prof. Szabolcs Blaszek on a seismicity project where I aim to analyze long-memory dynamics in earthquake time series and better understand how statistical and econometric methods can be applied to complex geophysical systems.

I am also working alongside Prof. Shafat Mubin in atomic and particle simulations, where I am learning molecular dynamics concepts such as velocity autocorrelation functions (VACF) and how computational models can be used to study physical behavior at small scales..

Outside of my academic livelihood, I also play D2 basketball for Valdosta State University, and previously at Mercer University. I also engage in other side quests in my free time such as whittling, gaming, reading, pickleball (though im not THAT good haha), and streaming my work on YouTube.

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News

March 2026 Accepted as 1 of 15 papers to present at the Atlanta Research Conference.
March 2026 Committed to return to play basketball at VSU! .
Feb 2026 Admitted to study at the University of Florida for Mathematics and Physics in the Fall 2026.
Dec 2025 Our paper, An empirical application of improved gradient scaling for score-driven..., is published at Applied Economics Letters!

Publications

Score-driven volatility filters paper teaser

An empirical application of improved gradient scaling for score-driven volatility filters

Szabolcs Blazsek, Aspen Johnson, Adam Kobor

Applied Economics Letters · 2025

paper

@article{blazsek2025gradient,
                title   = {An empirical application of improved gradient scaling for score-driven volatility filters},
                author  = {Blazsek, Szabolcs and Johnson, Aspen and Kobor, Adam},
                journal = {Applied Economics Letters},
                year    = {2025},
                doi     = {10.1080/13504851.2025.2606928}
            }

Projects

Basketball Scouting Predictor

Machine Learning · Sports Analytics · Computer Vision

code / notes

Developing a machine learning-based scouting tool to predict player movement tendencies and decision-making patterns from prior game film and scouting data.

Assistive Listening Technology for Athletes

Assistive Technology · Human-Centered Engineering · Audio Systems

project / notes

Exploring communication-support tools for deaf and hard-of-hearing athletes in practice and game environments.

Seismicity Time-Series Modeling

Computational Science · Time-Series Modeling · Econometrics

project / notes

Studying long-memory dynamics in earthquake time series and exploring how statistical methods can be applied to geophysical systems in California and Alaksa over the past 50 years.

Atomic & Particle Simulations

Physics · Molecular Dynamics · Computational Modeling

project / notes

Learning molecular dynamics concepts including velocity autocorrelation functions and computational approaches for studying physical behavior at small scales.