Tuskegee University and the University of California, Berkeley, recently announced a multi-year partnership to develop data science curriculum and research opportunities.
The first cohort of Tuskegee Scholars for the Berkeley-Tuskegee Data Science Initiative consists of 13 students in residence at Berkeley for eight weeks to take courses of Data 8: The Foundations of Data Science and Data 6: Introduction to Computational Thinking with Data – the latter is intended as a broader lead-in to the former.
The partnership created an opportunity to further develop Data 6 as a collaboration between social scientists, computer scientists, and statisticians to teach thinking that was foundational to both social science and data science, said Deborah Nolan, Berkeley emeritus professor of statistics and associate dean for faculty at the Division of Computing, Data Science, and Society.
“As social scientists, we understand how technology changes our society, how it changes our interactions and the significance of our interactions,” said Dr. Vivian Carter, head of Tuskegee’s department of psychology and sociology. “From a more psychological standpoint, we can also talk about how technology changes individuals.”
Tuskegee Scholars will be advisers as Tuskegee begins to implement its own data science program.
Teams of Tuskegee and Berkeley students will work on projects this summer to feed into Data 6 course development. Data 8 will be offered this fall at Tuskegee in a course co-taught by faculty at both schools and synchronized with a Berkeley Data 8 offering so Tuskegee students can attend lectures online.
Nolan said she hopes to offer an updated Data 6 in spring 2023 as a hybrid course with Tuskegee and Berkeley students. She expects the initiative will launch an undergrad research program in summer 2023.
There are plans for research between faculty at the two schools.
