Seeds

We are an interdisciplinary vision of computing research that bridges Natural Sciences, Applied Sciences, Technology, Engineering, Social Sciences, Humanities and Education to create a new and student-driven foundation through a data science living and learning community for understanding issues of personal significance through a diverse lens. 

A Data Science Living and Learning community for UCSB students (including incoming Freshman and Transfer students). This program will draw the interest of prospective and current students that prioritize professional outcomes, small cohort-based learning, and opportunities for interdisciplinary and convergent learning. This is an opportunity for UCSB student populations to deeply understand and potentially make meaningful contributions in data science with goals to study ethics, how data is conceptualized and utilized in STEM, Social Sciences and Humanities. Our focus is to approach data science through workshops, conversations and mini lectures with a goal of integrating data science towards formal instruction in diverse disciplines. 

We work with partner Departments on campus to connect first year and transfer students in various majors to foster skills, training and workforce development. Beyond the obvious PSTAT and Math Departments, our students majors include English, Computer Science, Biopsychology, Environmental Studies, Global Studies, Black Studies, Chicano Studies, Sociology, Communications, and Economics. 

Goals:

1. Knowledge building through a multifaceted and interdisciplinary intersectional process facilitated by a living and learning community.

2. Knowledge and Skill Building: Development, coordination and implementation of undergraduate opportunities in computational/data science.

3. Design, develop and implement training and research modules that would explain computation/data science and research potential with large scale data sets in STEM, Social Science and Humanities during the academic year through a hands-on experiential research opportunity beginning their freshman and follow up years.

4. Provide professional development and curriculum integration for URM undergraduate students who are interested in the intersection involving Computational/Data Science, African American/Black Studies, Biology, Chicanx/Latinx studies, Communications, Information Science, Neuroscience and other STEM fields during the academic year.

5. Conceptualize, research, coordinate and develop data management plans with a collaborative team to determine activities and plans for computational/data science, Ethnic Studies, Biodiversity and Ethics.

6. Identify key issues and resources in the development of data management for Ethnic Studies in data science and large-scale data sets (Belle Sterman & Clark, 2017; Harron, 2017; Matteson, Sherrod & Ceyhun Cetin, 2016).

Finally, our goals focus on the illumination of sociotechnical space, harnessing the data revolution through innovative educational pathways, and leveraging convergent research using STEM and computational/data science. 

The application can be found here. 

Our team and partners include: 

Core Mentors

Byron Johnson, Graduate Student, Psychological & Brain Sciences

Ebenezer Larnyo, PhD., CBSR Postdoctoral Scholar

Joseph Incandela, PhD., Physics

Michael Beyeler, PhD., Computer Science, Psychological & Brain Sciences

Sharon Tettegah, PhD., The College of Creative Studies 

Tim Sherwood, PhD., Computer Science 

Mentees

Akua Ofori-Nyako, Senior, Environmental Studies 

Arnav Kumar, Senior, Computer Science

Bianca Ramos Medina, Senior, Statistics & Data Science

Eyob Teshome, Junior, Computer Science

Fatima Aguilar, Senior, English, Sociology

Keya Panchal, Senior, Statistics & Data Science

Nancy Mahmoud, Junior, Biopsychology

Data Science Workshops

Jon Jablonski, Interdisciplinary Research Collaboratory, UCSB Library 

Partners

Marian Bankins, MA, Interim Director, Residential & Community Living-Housing, Dining and Auxiliary Enterprises 

Marcus Mathis, Admissions and Outreach