Howard University to Open Data Science Center with Gift from Mastercard

Howard University studentsMastercard has given a $5 million grant to Howard University to create the Center for Applied Data Science and Analytics (CADSA), which will study how racial bias factors into artificial intelligence (AI) financial analyses like credit scores and how data science can eliminate the bias.

“We’re grateful for the partnership with Mastercard in enabling us to use data science to answer some of the broader societal questions we believe Howard can significantly impact, including those around health care and economic disparities,” said Dr. Anthony K. Wutoh, provost and chief academic officer at Howard.

The gift comes as part of Mastercard’s $10 million contribution to historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), an effort to close the racial wealth gap. CADSA will open in spring 2022 as an interdisciplinary hub with the option to earn a master’s degree in applied data science.