IGE: Graduate Opportunities to Learn Data Science (GOLD): Empowering female and underrepresented graduate students through inclusive data science training

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The amount of data generated by modern scientific research is unprecedented. While this leads to technological advances and scientific discoveries, it also creates a dire need for a workforce with data science skills. In addition, society needs a more diverse science workforce, as creative and robust scientific and technological advances result from more diverse scientific teams. With the right approach, we can train diverse basic science graduate students in data science to fill these workforce needs. This National Science Foundation Innovations of Graduate Education (IGE) award to San Francisco State University will evaluate a novel, modular approach for inclusive graduate education to advance data science skills in the basic sciences. The Graduate Opportunities to Learn Data science (GOLD) strategy will support basic science Masters students, focusing on women and students from historically underrepresented groups, to (1) learn computational and statistical skills, (2) apply those skills to their research projects, and (3) form strong learning and networking communities. This new approach will create inclusive environments that prepare diverse students to obtain the interdisciplinary skills necessary to boost their career development. The GOLD program is modular, so successful components can easily be adopted at other universities, creating the potential for a significant impact on graduate education. The Graduate Opportunities to Learn Data science (GOLD) strategy will be implemented through a 12-unit interdisciplinary certificate program. The program includes a 9-unit series of courses that will teach programming and data science, using assignments and examples drawn from biology and chemistry research. A 1-unit class taken twice will help students to apply these skills to their own thesis research supported by peer-mentors. A 1-unit professional development class will connect students with local computational biologists and chemists working in academia and industry, helping the students network and contextualize their training. To ensure an inclusive environment, GOLD will (1) use validated methods to mitigate well-known barriers that alienate many women and underrepresented students entering high-tech fields and (2) provide faculty professional development on inclusive teaching strategies, active learning, and mentoring. The success of the GOLD strategy will be assessed based on five student outcomes using a mixed methods approach: acquisition of computational skills, application of computational skills, career goals, perception of inclusive learning environments, and scientific identity. Outcomes will contribute to the current state of pedagogy in graduate education and enable successful implementation of similar programs. 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.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.