NSF Award
2429605
This National Science Foundation Innovations of Graduate Education (IGE) Track 2 award to the University of Chicago will support the creation of a data science credential that will enable STEM doctoral students to apply data science (DS) and artificial intelligence (AI) in their fields. The methods and tools of data science are crucial for all scientific domains, and AI and machine learning will support future advances in all disciplines by providing researchers with tools to explore new and more complex questions of importance to society. There has been limited research on formal mechanisms for creating integrative opportunities between DS/AI and other STEM disciplines or on the role that a credential from another discipline can play in STEM graduate students’ career paths and research. This new data science credential will enable STEM doctoral students to learn how to use data and AI accurately and responsibly and understand its broader impacts on social systems, make and critique data backed arguments, and become fluent in the latest computation tools. Moreover, the project will contribute to knowledge in these areas by focusing on doctoral students in STEM disciplines outside of data science (e.g. astrophysics, geophysical sciences, genetics, engineering, neuroscience). <br/><br/>With support from their advisors, second- and third-year graduate students will enroll in three customized core courses during which they will consider ways to apply DS and AI concepts in their disciplines. They will then complete a fourth culminating course residing in their home department and focus on applying DS/AI in their own research. Students will also participate in co-curricular activities to support their professional growth. The research activities will use a mixed methods design to focus on three areas: (a) the role that participation in the credential program plays on shifting disciplinary perspectives; (b) the role that participation in the credential program plays in graduate students’ job search and career direction; and (c) the institutional and systemic processes needed to establish and implement an interdisciplinary credential and the role that credential plays in shifting institutional culture. Separate evaluation questions will inform project and course improvement through a continuous learning process.<br/><br/>The Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) program is focused on research in graduate education. The goals of IGE are to pilot, test and validate innovative approaches to graduate education and to generate the knowledge required to move these approaches into the broader community.<br/><br/>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.
