This semester, Houghton became the first liberal arts college in the country to offer an undergraduate class in data science. It is also the first Christian liberal arts college to offer any class in data science according to Carmen McKell, cofounder of BaseMetrics.
“Data Science is the art of turning data into actions,” says The Field Guide for Data Science.
Seminar in Data Science hosted guest speaker Paul Yacci, data scientist at Booz Allen Hamilton and co-author of The Field Guide for Data Science, on Jan. 21, marking the first official class of the semester. Yacci said, “It will certainly will be interesting to see what comes out of liberal arts background towards data science.” He said he was “excited to kick of the series” and is the first of many guest speakers to be part of the weekly seminar.
According to course coordinator and technology librarian, Glen Avery, the course has weekly guest speakers from the field of data science lined up. McKell, also course coordinator and Houghton alumna is connecting with data scientists to speak at the seminar.
Stefan Heeke, executive director of SumAll.org, was the second speaker, via Skype, last Wednesday. Some other future speakers include Amanda Stent, principal research scientist at Yahoo Labs; Michael Lyons, director of analytics for the Buffalo Bills; and Philip Martin, SumAll.org data scientist. Avery is also trying to get in contact with a digital historian in Australia.
As part of the seminar, McKell said students will, “have a great opportunity to connect with some of the top Data Scientists in many areas including sports analytics, healthcare, business etc.” Grace Baleno, senior and class participant, said “it is good exposure to the field [data science] and making good connections.”
In addition to connections, Martin will become a mentor for students, according to Avery. Martin will advise students on their final project of data evaluation, analysis, and visualization. “Students will get a chance to work with real datasets as part of this course to tell their stories with data,” said McKell. The semester will end with students giving a presentation on their project.
Sarah Slater, senior and class participant, said the class has already “been really interesting because the teachers are people who are in the industry. I think this is an opportunity you don’t have in a lot of classes.”
“Glen Avery and I are very impressed with the diversity of students in the class,” said McKell. “They come from a variety of backgrounds, including psychology, computer science, business, biology, math, accounting, communications, and international development.”
Concerning students of the class and discussion during his presentation, Yacci said, “Bringing all those people together really fostered an interesting discussion surrounding some of the topics. One of the things I find is working with someone from a different field field often makes you have to force yourself to really think outside the box a little bit.”
McKell said, “At the end of the course it is our hope that these students will have a better understanding of the basics behind data science, and see how it fits in with their future careers.”
“I think the area of using data science for social good is a lot more interesting and intriguing to me,” said Baleno. Yacci said, “I think Houghton has a real interesting opportunity here to do a lot of good in the social good arena. I think there is still a lot that could be done as far as social good problems. I think the liberal arts perspective really would bring a lot from their end.”