HDR: DSC: Interdisciplinary Traineeship for Socially Responsible and Engaged Data Scientists

University Of Notre Dame, Notre Dame IN

Investigators

Abstract

This project aims to develop an interdisciplinary and experiential learning program for undergraduate students that enables them to think and work together with stakeholders on data-driven problems. The University of Notre Dame, as coordinating organization, and Saint Mary's College, a women's college as implementation organization, will collaborate to achieve this vision. Through capstone projects and internships, the project plans to foster data acumen, social responsibility and engagement, and acquisition of superskills that include teamwork, entrepreneurship, creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and ethics. This approach combines explanation, prediction, and attention to cultural and social context. Structured activities held at Notre Dame are planned to expose scholars to innovation and entrepreneurship. The project will be founded on the principles of best practices and evidence-based programming, while ensuring sustainability and replicability. This project focuses on the nation's critical need to develop a workforce of trained human-centered data scientists. It also addresses national priority, strategic goals of the National Science Foundation, and recommendations of National Academy of Sciences for students to acquire data acumen. This project's objective is to nurture a T-shaped scholar and cohort exhibiting data acumen as well as professional development and superskills. Depth of knowledge will be gained through engagement with data science and the student's respective major/minor. Activities involving social engagement, social responsibility, and interdisciplinary and experiential learning will impart breadth. Design thinking and ethics will form the linchpin of this T-shape. They tie together training and experiential learning experiences to help students effectively engage with stakeholders and understand their needs. They will also help the scholars assess societal impact of their projects, and incorporate human context into their technical solutions. Through these activities, scholars have the opportunity to build capacity to harness the data revolution in the partnering organizations and enhance data literacy. If successful, the impact of this project will be evident in four ways: (1) the societal significance of its human-centered theme and the results of addressing a national strategic priority; (2) the educational impact of engagement with community partners and stakeholders; (3) recruitment and training of underrepresented groups informed through specific strategies; and (4) the assembling of a network of the next generation data-driven scholars that think about the future and cultivate capacity building and data literacy. This network has the potential to infuse academic, government, and business communities with the scholars' acquired skills and knowledge. NSF's Harnessing the Data Revolution Data Science Corps program focuses on building capacity for harnessing the data revolution at the local, state, national, and international levels to help unleash the power of data in the service of science and society. Projects in this program are being jointly funded by the NSF's Harnessing the Data Revolution Big Idea; the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering, Division of Information and Intelligent Systems; the Directorate for Education and Human Resources, Division of Undergraduate Education; the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Division of Mathematical Sciences; and the Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences, Office of Multidisciplinary Activities and Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.