MBDH Priority Area: Data Science Education and Workforce Development
Current demand for professionals with data acumen, across industry, academia and government, and the civic sector, is high and growing, leading to a critical need for a well-trained, data-savvy workforce to address real-world problems. Educational and research activities are needed to advance the knowledge base to train a new generation of data science-enabled specialists and a more general data-savvy workforce able to apply data methods and tools, and make interpretations about analytical output.
We hold frequent conversations with industry and government representatives on workforce-development needs, and engage directly with data-oriented education programs at universities across the Midwest, and in national venues. We work with partners on pilot projects to improve access to data tools and services, produce and host training events, and support participation at events hosted by others. Our engagement amplifies current federal investments, and facilitates new collaborations and proposals.
The Midwest Big Data Hub is engaged in regional and national data-related education activities, including event production or sponsorship, planning grants and community development, and policy development, including:
- • Organizing a monthly webinar series of student-led data science-oriented groups;
- • The Midwest Big Data Summer School, developed and run annually at Iowa State University;
- • Fostering data-science education and curriculum development at predominately undergraduate institutions, community colleges, tribal colleges, and HBCUs;
- • Supporting student hackathons with challenges focused on MBDH priority areas;
- • MBDH-sponsored Data Carpentry workshops and “train-the-trainer” events, coordinated by the University of North Dakota; and,
- • Regular participation in national leadership and stakeholder meetings on Data Science.
More information on MBDH Data Science Education activities:
(Q)-Stabilizing the Ogallala Aquifer: Kansas’ Peer-to-Peer Learning Approach to Sustainable Irrigation
By Francie Fink This story is part of a series on partnerships developed by the Midwest Big Data Innovation Hub with institutions across the Midwest through the Community Development and Engagement (CDE) Program. The Ogallala Aquifer is an incredible feat of nature—a fresh groundwater resource that underlies eight states, or 174,000 miles. The Ogallala contains […]
Illinois Students Are Finalists in COVID-19 Student Paper Challenge
Two University of Illinois undergraduate students were finalists in the 2024 COVID Information Commons Student Paper Challenge. Arnav Aggarwal (Statistics & Mathematics) and Sangjun Ko (Statistics) received third place for their project “Identifying and Addressing the Socioeconomic and Mental Health Impacts of COVID-19 in Mexico: A Data-Driven Approach Using ENCOVID-19.” The COVID Information Commons (CIC) […]
South Dakota Mines Students Help Collect Data for Missouri River Pipeline Study
By South Dakota Mines This story is part of a series on partnerships developed by the Midwest Big Data Innovation Hub with institutions across the Midwest through the Community Development and Engagement (CDE) Program. A group of South Dakota Mines students spent several months collecting and analyzing data from hundreds of smaller water systems that […]
Pivoting toward a STEM career with the NSF ExLENT program at Chicago State University
By Ken Ogata The National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced the Experiential Learning for Emerging and Novel Technologies (ExLENT) program, which provides experiential learning opportunities in emerging-technology fields such as artificial intelligence (AI), biotechnology, and microelectronics. The ExLENT program hopes to increase access to STEM careers for people in nontraditional education pathways or individuals already […]
MBDH Summer Workshops: Opening Doors to Data Science Education
By Ken Ogata This story is part of a series on partnerships developed by the Midwest Big Data Innovation Hub with institutions across the Midwest through the Community Development and Engagement (CDE) Program. As the ferry boat steadily cruised over Lake Michigan, it marked the halfway point of Midwest Big Data Innovation Hub (MBDH) Outreach […]
Building CI Capabilities with the Minority Serving – Cyberinfrastructure Consortium
By Aisha Tepede The Minority Serving – Cyberinfrastructure Consortium (MS-CC) is an NSF-funded effort that promotes advanced cyberinfrastructure (CI) capabilities through collaboration with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), and other Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) by using data, research computing, teaching, curriculum development and implementation, collaboration, and capacity-building […]
Student Profile: Addison Graham
By Aisha Tepede The Midwest Big Data Innovation Hub (MBDH) is committed to being a venue for outreach and engagement that increases the potential for benefitting society through the Priority Areas the organization leads and the amplification of other investments and opportunities. One avenue for this is the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) recent Convergence Accelerator […]
Workshop on Data for Good for Education for Faculty Opens for Registration
By Aisha Tepede The continued growth of the Data for Social Good (DSG) movement provides an opportunity to increase student motivation and persistence within courses and degrees in data science. To help accelerate faculty use of data for good projects in courses, the Midwest Big Data Innovation Hub (MBDH) is hosting a free workshop in […]
New Opportunities for student data science enthusiasts: NSDC launches chapter in the Midwest
By Iishi Patel Data science awareness is becoming increasingly important in today’s world as the amount of data generated daily is growing exponentially. With the right skills and knowledge, data science can be leveraged to solve complex problems across various domains, from healthcare to finance and beyond. Therefore, the need for initiatives like the National […]
Building hands-on data science skills with the Midwest Carpentries Community
By Aisha Tepede This story is part of a series on partnerships developed by the Midwest Big Data Innovation Hub with institutions across the Midwest through the Community Development and Engagement (CDE) Program. Science relies more and more on software and computing technologies, but researchers often don’t receive the training they need to effectively use […]
Meet the Artist: Ariann Rousu and the Native Dancer Project
By Isabel Alviar Art is how a culture records its life, how it poses questions for the next generation, and how it will be remembered. A team from the AI and VR Lab at the University of North Dakota (UND) is developing a multiuser computer environment for competitive powwow dancing, called the Native Dancer Project, […]
MBDH Partners on New Data Science Workshop for Underrepresented High School Students
By Aisha Tepede This story is part of a series on partnerships developed by the Midwest Big Data Innovation Hub with institutions across the Midwest through the Community Development and Engagement (CDE) Program. Deciding what to do after high school can be overwhelming. There are various academic and career options that are provided but many […]
Data Science for the Public Good Young Scholars Program
By Isabel Alviar Data is the new science; it has the potential to answer the world’s problems if the right questions are asked. And some data science education programs are now focusing on working with local communities to help with real-world problems. The Data Science for the Public Good (DSPG) Young Scholars Program is an […]
National Workshop on Data Science Education Featured Multiple Hub Talks
Kim Bruch, West Big Data Innovation Hub Science Writer Organized by UC Berkeley’s Division of Computing, Data Science, and Society, with support from Microsoft and the West Big Data Innovation Hub, the Summer 2022 National Workshop on Data Science Education offered an array of insight about current data science education initiatives across the academic spectrum, […]
Student Group Profile: DREAM at Minnesota State University, Mankato
The Midwest Big Data Innovation Hub is developing a community of data science student groups across the Midwest region to share their experiences and best practices. This story is part of a series of student group profiles. For this profile, we spoke with leaders from DREAM, Data Resources for Eager & Analytical Minds, a recognized […]
Student Group Profile: Girls Who Code, University of Michigan DCMB
The Midwest Big Data Innovation Hub is developing a community of data science student groups across the Midwest region to share their experiences and best practices. This story is part of a series of student group profiles. In light of Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day on March 8th, we talked with the leaders […]
Student Group Profile: Iowa State University Data Science Club
The Midwest Big Data Innovation Hub is developing a community of data science student groups across the Midwest region to share their experiences and best practices. This story is part of a series of student group profiles. For this profile, we talked with leaders of the Iowa State University Data Science Club. What are the […]
MBDH Learning Innovation Fellows Program Builds on Success with Second Cohort
This story is part of a series on partnerships developed by the Midwest Big Data Innovation Hub with institutions across the Midwest through the Community Development and Engagement (CDE) Program. The Midwest Big Data Innovation Hub and the Gala Sustainability Learning Initiative at the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability continue to build […]
New MBDH Community Development and Engagement partners
By Qining Wang The Midwest Big Data Innovation Hub (MBDH) recently partnered with multiple institutions in the region for new data science activities under its Community Development and Engagement Program. This program incubates new projects and provides support to help them grow. In the last proposal cycle, the MBDH Seed Fund Steering Committee selected three […]
Teaching During a Pandemic
By Raleigh Butler This story is part of a series on coronavirus research in the Midwest region. To explore other NSF-funded research addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, please visit the COVID Information Commons, a project of the four NSF Big Data Innovation Hubs. In early 2020, the USA was brought to a standstill when stores, schools, […]
MBDH Learning Innovation Fellows program – first cohort projects
This story is part of a series on partnerships developed by the Midwest Big Data Innovation Hub with institutions across the Midwest through the Community Development and Engagement (CDE) Program. The Midwest Big Data Innovation Hub Learning Innovation Fellows Program, housed at the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability, enables teams to form […]
Midwest Big Data Hub co-leads local events for 4th Annual Global Women in Data Science Conference
The Midwest Big Data Hub co-led local participation in the 4th annual Global Women in Data Science (WiDS) Conference, with sponsorship from the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) and the University of Illinois. The event was free and open to all. The WiDS Conference, hosted on March 4th at 150 locations around the world, […]
Guest post – Data Science Education at Two-Year Colleges
By Matt Fall Executive Director, Center for Data Science, Lansing Community College Recently, the American Statistical Association (ASA), with support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), hosted a two-day summit in Washington D.C. to discuss outcomes and curricula for data science programs at two-year colleges. The Two-Year College Data Science Summit (TYCDSS) was intended to […]
Midwest Big Data Summer School 2018
Midwest Big Data Summer School reveals how big data can advance research efforts By Paula Van Brocklin, Office of the Vice President for Research, Iowa State University The Midwest Big Data Summer School, held May 14-17 at Iowa State University, helped nearly 140 academic and industry researchers, graduate students and post-docs from nine states broaden […]
MBDH partners on US Ignite Reverse Pitch challenge
part of Hub’s focus on Smart, Connected, and Resilient Communities UIUC collaborators and mentors meet with HackIllinois teams on US Ignite Challenge The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) was awarded a $20,000 grant from US Ignite to host a Smart Gigabit Communities Reverse Pitch Challenge. The MBDH, along with other local partners (see below), […]
New Report on “Keeping Data Science Broad”
A new report on the “Keeping Data Science Broad: Negotiating the Digital and Data Divide Among Higher Education Institutions” initiative was released by the South Big Data Hub and collaborators, including the Midwest Hub. This initiative brought together the BD Hubs community and other stakeholders to explore pathways for keeping data science education broadly inclusive.