The Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) through the Targeted Infusion Project supports the development, implementation, and study of evidence-based innovative models and approaches for improving the preparation and success of HBCU undergraduate students. In doing so students are able to pursue science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) graduate programs and/or careers (Award #1623362). The project at Spelman College and Morehouse College seeks to address the need for skilled data scientists through data science and big data training for faculty and students at both colleges in partnership with the College of Charleston's Data Science program. The activities and strategies are evidence-based and a strong plan for formative and summative evaluation is part of the project.
The project has specific goals to:
- Train faculty on data science principles that are part of computing fundamentals and infuse the existing curriculum to showcase the data science principles.
- Develop and implement a data science curriculum at the undergraduate level at both institutions.
- Broaden awareness of data science to students underrepresented in the discipline at the undergraduate level in preparation of graduate studies or corporate positions in data science.
Two groups of ten faculty members will be trained in data science principles, and these faculty will create, infuse and deliver data science modules to about 500 of their students.