NSF Org:	DUE Division Of Undergraduate Education
Recipient:	THE UNIVERSITY CORPORATION
Initial Amendment Date:	August 22, 2018
Latest Amendment Date:	May 11, 2020
Award Number:	1842386
Award Instrument:	Standard Grant
Program Manager:	Mike Ferrara mferrara@nsf.gov  (703)292-2635 DUE  Division Of Undergraduate Education EDU  Directorate for STEM Education
Start Date:	January 1, 2019
End Date:	December 31, 2022 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount:	$838,157.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date:	$838,157.00
Funds Obligated to Date:	FY 2018 = $838,157.00
History of Investigator:	Carol Shubin (Principal Investigator) shubincarolann@gmail.com Alexander Alekseenko (Co-Principal Investigator) Taehyung Wang (Co-Principal Investigator) Li Liu (Co-Principal Investigator) Bruce Shapiro (Co-Principal Investigator) Adriano Zambom (Former Co-Principal Investigator)
Recipient Sponsored Research Office:	The University Corporation, Northridge 18111 NORDHOFF ST NORTHRIDGE CA  US  91330-0001 (818)677-1403
Sponsor Congressional District:	32
Primary Place of Performance:	Califonia State University, Northridge 18111 Nordhoff Street Northridge CA  US  91330-8313
Primary Place of Performance Congressional District:	32
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI):	LAGNHMC58DF3
Parent UEI:
NSF Program(s):	HSI-Hispanic Serving Instituti, IUSE
Primary Program Source:	04001819DB NSF Education & Human Resource
Program Reference Code(s):	8209, 9178
Program Element Code(s):	077y00, 199800
Award Agency Code:	4900
Fund Agency Code:	4900
Assistance Listing Number(s):	47.076

ABSTRACT

The NSF's Accelerating Discovery: Educating the Future STEM Workforce supports efforts that can position the future STEM workforce to make bold advances in the NSF Big Ideas (https://www.nsf.gov/about/congress/115/10bigideas.jsp). This Accelerating Discovery project will support the Harnessing the Data Revolution Big Idea by developing a new interdisciplinary workforce training program in Data Science. This program will include course work, research projects linked to emerging data analysis needs in the public and private sectors, and career development for undergraduates in mathematics. The overall goal of the new data science program is to increase the numbers of math majors, including students from populations that are underrepresented in STEM, who enter the data science workforce. California State University Northridge enrolls nearly 40,000 students, 78% of whom receive financial aid. For many of these students, college is a pathway to employment and economic security. However, many math majors feel unsupported in career options other than K-12 education or graduate studies in mathematics. This project will help them explore how data science can lead to careers in industry, government, and non-profit organizations. This project has the potential to help grow the national data science workforce.

The proposed data science program will target STEM undergraduates, particularly applied mathematics and statistics majors. The project has four goals. 1) Develop a data science course, given in flipped-format. Class time will focus on learning technical skills needed in industry. 2) Develop a year-long data science research experience for students. 3) Develop career workshops, seminars with data science practitioners, and links to data scientists employed in industry or government agencies. 4) Enhance interaction between mathematics faculty and local industry and government agencies to define the skills needed for employment. This interaction will help create an employer network interested in hiring the graduates and a student tracking system for industry careers. Over the longer term, this engagement with industry will support a development of an internship-to-career network. The student tracking mechanism will become part of the department's review process. Research on how this program improves student recruitment, retention, and entry into the data science workforce will provide new knowledge about building data science programs that link to potential employers.

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.

PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT

Disclaimer

This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.

 

This program paved the way for data science track in a Hispanic Serving Institution, serving a commuter 4-year college. In the San Fernando Valley. This project was a collaboration between math and computer science departments to develop a comprehensive program that would include recruitment, curriculum, research mentoring, career support, and networking with industry. While the core of students came from math and computer science, students with majors in engineering, business, psychology, and biology also successfully completed the program. 

Curriculum was developed for a 6 week data science bootcamp providing the necessary background in  python, statistics, SQL, and  machine learning. Students received $2000 for their participation. Students were given a stipend to complete year-long research projects under the guidance of faculty from STEM departments. Students attended a seminar series with speakers from industry and received help with writing resumes and preparing for technical interviews. The grant originally was funded for two cohorts, but a no cost extension funded a third cohort for an abbreviated program. 

The success of the program can be measured by the students’ accomplishment.

Graduates of the program obtained full time positions at NAVIAR, GM, Penny Mac, Human-I-T, FIST, Google, NFlux, Pixalate, Northrop Grumman, Appward, FloQast, J.D. Power, Blue Ocean Barns, Youth Enrichments, and Department of the Navy at Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific. Students completed internships at JPL, NASA AIMS, NASA Armstrong,  HRL, Griffiss Institute, NAVIAR, NAVWAR, CSUN Autonomy Research Center, Family Focus and Empowerment Center, and HERE Center. Some students decided to pursue advanced degrees at Harvard, Georgia Tech, UC Berkeley, UCI, USC, Purdue, CSULB, San Jose State, and CSUN. The program had a significant impact on students from underrepresented groups, in particular 28 female, 28 Latinx students, and 2 students with disabilities.

The project resulted in two continued thrusts: department of mathematics and computer science departments are now offering the data science minor that was developed in conjunction with this project to provide students with opportunities to prepare for careers in data science, while the network of employers and career preparation materials became part of resources at the Industrial Mathematics Group to assist mathematics and statistics majors seeking careers in industry.

 

 

Last Modified: 03/10/2023
Modified by: Carol A Shubin

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