Targeted Infusion Project: Implementation of Data Science Courses, Modules, and Capstone Experiences to Enhance Career and Graduate School Readiness

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The Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) through Targeted Infusion Projects supports the development, implementation, and study of evidence-based, innovative models and approaches for improving the preparation and success of HBCU undergraduate students so that they may pursue science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) graduate programs and/or careers. This project seeks to provide STEM students at Clark Atlanta University with education and training in modern principles and techniques of data-driven discovery by infusing data science education and research into the university STEM curriculum.The goals of this project are to (1) develop and implement three new undergraduate data science courses to educate at least 60 students per year with interdisciplinary data science skills; (2) develop and implement 10 data science modules in current STEM courses to introduce students to data science in the context of their discipline; and (3) increase data science institutional infrastructure, including implementation of a data science laboratory to support data science courses and modules, and host two faculty development workshops per year. This endeavor will leverage the efforts of the Atlanta University Center Data Science Initiative to build sustainable institutional capacity and infuse data science into classrooms and research programs. The infusion of data science into the undergraduate STEM curriculum will better prepare undergraduates, primarily African American students, for graduate study and the STEM workforce. The findings from this project will serve as a model for other Historically Black Colleges and Universities and 4-year institutions that seek to educate and maintain a diverse data-driven STEM workforce.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.