NSF Awards Data Science Grant to Morehouse and Spelman

A grant award was made on August 15th, 2016 to Morehouse College and Spelman College titled Targeted Infusion Project: Data Science eXtension (DSX): Incorporating data science fundamentals in computing curriculum at Spelman and Morehouse Colleges. The total amount of the grant is of $399,903 over three years. The idea behind the grant is to infuse data science concepts throughout multiple classes at Morehouse and Spelman Colleges, create two new data science courses that students at both institutions can take and submit a proposal to develop a minor in Data Science at both Morehouse and Spelman Colleges. Drs. Brandeis Marshall (Spelman College) and Kinnis Gosha (Morehouse College) are  the Principal Investigators on the grant. Data science is an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary field focused on processes and systems that extract knowledge and relevant information from either structured or unstructured data (Baker et al, 2011; Chang et al, 2008; Naur 1974). According to the McKinsey Report (Manyika et al, 2011), there will be almost 200,000 positions requiring “deep analytical skills”. The report further outlines the additional job responsibilities of nearly 1.5 million managers and analysts who will need to analyze and interpret data findings in order to make decisions. Given that HBCUs account for only 3% of the higher education institutions, HBCUs are producing nearly 26% of all Black STEM bachelor’s recipients each year with smaller institution endowments and restricted institutional resources (Upton and Tanenbaum 2014). The continued STEM bachelor’s recipient production hinges on sufficient faculty and student exposure and training in emerging fields such as data science. Says Gosha, “This award sets the groundwork to make both Morehouse and Spelman College the national leaders in producing African-Americans data scientist, which will adds to the overall push by both colleges to prepare students for outstanding career and graduate school opportunities after graduation.” More information about the award can be found on the National Science Foundation’s website.