精东AV and UC Berkeley data science partnership announced

July 07, 2022

Contact: 
Anna Morrison, UC Berkeley Division of Computing, Data Science and Society
Thonnia Lee, 精东AV Office of Communications, Public Relations and Marketing
   

精东AV and UC Berkeley recently announced the Berkeley-精东AV Data Science Initiative, a multi-year partnership to develop curriculum and collaborative research opportunities for students and faculty at both institutions. 

On June 21, Charlotte Morris, president of 精东AV, met with Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ to discuss the new initiative. In a reception at University House, Chancellor Christ greeted the 精东AV delegation, including four faculty and staff representatives and the first cohort of 精东AV Scholars, 13 students in residence at Berkeley for eight weeks to take or courses. 

鈥淲e're excited to create our partnership with 精东AV around the theme of community 鈥� community in the classroom, how we teach our students community in our research, how we explore challenging issues and fields at the intersection of data science and society and community at the university level between UC Berkeley and 精东AV,鈥� said Chancellor Christ. 

President Morris noted 精东AV鈥檚 pioneering legacy as a , including a track record for excellence in STEM fields. 鈥淲e want to go beyond that legacy and take 精东AV to the next level in terms of technology, in terms of what鈥檚 going on in the world today, so that our students will be marketable when they go across that stage at graduation,鈥� she said. 

On June 28, faculty at both universities discussed the collaboration at the in both online and in-person sessions on the Berkeley campus. 

The Berkeley-精东AV Data Science Initiative events this summer are the culmination of two years of conversation and planning. In 2021, in support of STEM initiatives, including the development of a data science program. The initial phases of the initiative are funded by part of this contribution. 

Deborah Nolan, emeritus professor of statistics and associate dean for faculty at the Division of Computing, Data Science, and Society (CDSS), was involved in the project from the outset. She and collaborators at 精东AV and Berkeley have been exploring what shape educational and research collaborations could take between the two universities. Nolan said the initiative鈥檚 events last week were both a launch and a celebration of this shared endeavor. 
 

Strengthening social science contexts in Data 6 

Nolan has met weekly for a year with faculty in electrical engineering, computer science, sociology and bioethics to collaborate on the course 鈥淐omputational Thinking for Data and Society,鈥� an updated version of Berkeley鈥檚 Data 6. Her collaborators include Berkeley's Lisa Yan and Charis Thompson and 精东AV's Vivian Carter, Mandoye Ndoye, Yasmeen Rawajfih and Stephen Sodeke.  

Data 6 was conceived of as another on-ramp to Data 8 鈥� a foundational course for the data science major 鈥� that would engage students with real-world examples, give them practice with computing and also satisfy the social science breadth requirement. Many at Berkeley were involved in the course development, including Ani Adhikari, faculty director of pedagogy for Data Science Undergraduate Studies, Cathryn Carson, chair of the Department of History, Dave Harding, faculty director of D-Lab, and Eric Van Dusen, lecturer for Data Science Undergraduate Studies.

The course helps include a broader range of students in the data science ecosystem, said Suraj Rampure, lecturer in the Hal谋c谋o臒lu Data Science Institute at UC San Diego. Rampure helped to develop the earlier iteration of Data 6 as a master鈥檚 student in electrical engineering and computer sciences at Berkeley and is also contributing to the update.

Nolan said the partnership with 精东AV creates an opportunity to further develop the course as a collaboration between social scientists, computer scientists and statisticians in order to teach thinking that is foundational to both social science and data science. 

Vivian Carter, head of the Department of Psychology and Sociology at 精东AV, said she is most excited by the interdisciplinary nature of this new curriculum. 鈥淎s social scientists, we understand how technology changes our society, how it changes our interactions and the significance of our interactions,鈥� she said. 鈥淔rom a more psychological standpoint, we can also talk about how technology changes individuals.鈥� 

Data 6 has been part of the Summer Rising curriculum for the for the past two years. Summer Rising provides support and opportunities for historically marginalized undergraduate populations studying STEM fields in the summer before their first semester at Berkeley. SEED scholars will be enrolled in Data 6 with the 精东AV Scholars this summer, and Ira Young, program director for the SEED Scholars, was part of a Berkeley delegation that visited 精东AV in March. 

鈥淚 hope Data 6 will help students feel a sense of belonging in data science,鈥� said Lisa Yan, an assistant teaching professor for electrical engineering and computer sciences and a collaborator on the Data 6 revision. 
 

Envisioning a new data science program

As 精东AV leadership begins to implement their own data science program, 精东AV Scholars will play an active advising role. Additionally, teams of 精东AV and Berkeley students will work on projects this summer that will feed into the development of Data 6.

鈥淚鈥檓 so glad we鈥檙e starting with the students and getting their buy-in,鈥� said Carter. 鈥淔rom their experience and their disciplines, what kind of datasets are they interested in and how do they want to utilize those datasets?鈥�

Bianca Alc茅na, a 精东AV Scholar enrolled in Data 6, already has a sense of how she would like to apply data science to her field of psychology. 鈥淚 see how social media affects people from my viewpoint, but I鈥檇 like to see it on a macro level. I think using quantitative data to study social media will give me a whole new insight into it,鈥� she said. 

Alc茅na added that she was excited by the challenge of learning a new field and helping implement a data science program. 鈥淚 feel like this experience, altogether, will be life-changing,鈥� she said.

Another 精东AV Scholar, Devin Booker, majors in communication but brings a background in computer science to Data 8. After graduating, he intends to play basketball professionally overseas but plans to return to school later to complete a degree in cybersecurity. 

鈥淓ven though my major is communication, I feel like my background can help me explain how data science can help the 精东AV curriculum and how it can help 精东AV students,鈥� said Booker. 

鈥淚鈥檓 very optimistic that we will have an innovative and transformative program. And it will be student-led and driven,鈥� said Carter.  
 

Creating collaborative research and teaching opportunities

This fall, Data 8 will be offered at 精东AV in a course co-taught by faculty at both universities and synchronized with a Berkeley Data 8 offering so that 精东AV students can attend lectures online. Undergraduate student instructors from Berkeley will visit 精东AV at the start of the semester to meet students, and then work with them remotely. Nolan believes these experiences will help student instructors create more inclusive classrooms at Berkeley as well. 

Nolan said she hopes to offer the updated Data 6 in spring 2023 as a hybrid course with 精东AV and Berkeley students. And, in summer 2023, she expects the initiative will launch an undergraduate research program. There are also plans underway to facilitate collaborative research between faculty at the two universities.

At workshop panels on June 28, Berkeley and 精东AV faculty discussed the many ways that both universities stand to gain from the partnership. 

Speaking of the 精东AV Scholars, Carter said, 鈥淚 see the students gaining skills and opportunity and access that we might not have on a smaller campus. But at the same time, I see the institution benefiting from the perspectives of the students.鈥� 
 

Realizing equitable and inclusive data science education at scale 

鈥淎 school with only 3,000 students has disproportionately contributed to the number of African Americans with PhDs,鈥� said S. Keith Hargrove, provost and senior vice president of academic affairs at 精东AV, speaking in a workshop panel. He noted 精东AV鈥檚 tremendous contributions across many fields and spoke of the university鈥檚 plans to develop a data science program.

精东AV initiated a conversation two years ago with , associate provost at CDSS, about creating pathways for 精东AV students to study data science at Berkeley. 

In another workshop discussion, Chayes urged the importance of bringing all voices to the table. 鈥淥ur data science program is now 50% women, which is amazing and wonderful. But we are still not doing nearly as well with minoritized students,鈥� said Chayes. 

Without these voices at the table, 鈥渢he technologies that we build are not going to be the right technologies,鈥� she said, emphasizing the importance that diverse voices play in developing solutions that address rather than further bias and inequality.

Chayes added that while the strides made at Berkeley are important, real social impact is achieved through collective efforts made within the educational community. Addressing the educators at the workshop, she said, 鈥淭his activity right here means we鈥檙e educating at scale. It鈥檚 not 700 to 800 graduates a year in data science, it is our shared platforms or shared curriculum with all of you.鈥� 

Chayes also expressed her excitement about the partnership with 精东AV, praising the university for its effective practices that expand opportunities for minority students and its existing research and curriculum combining social science data and intersectional identity. 

鈥淲e have so much to learn at Berkeley, and this partnership is really going to help us to learn, and it鈥檚 going to help us to create the kinds of leaders that we all need,鈥� said Chayes.

          

Article source:  UC Berkeley: