Hacktorial: Data Science Crash Course with Elissa Redmiles
On January 27th, 2016, Elissa Redmiles, a Ph.D student at the University of Maryland Computer Science Department, hosted an information session on the Data Science for the Social Good fellowship, a “University of Chicago summer program for aspiring data scientists to work on data mining, machine learning, big data, and data science projects with social impact” for a crowd of eager CS terps. Going over what the fellowship entailed, things they had accomplished, and how to apply, Elissa gave University of Maryland students an inside look on exactly what big data is, and how they could use it to improve the world.
The Eric & Wendy Schmidt Data Science for Social Good Fellowship is a 3 month program at the University of Chicago. Elissa Miles was a fellow herself in the summer of 2015, working with the World Bank Group, helping prevent fraud in their contracts loaning money to developing countries. A great program for those who are simultaneously technically proficient and passionate about affecting change, Elissa took data science, an intimidating subject for many, and boiled it down to the basics, going over what she had accomplished, answering questions, and speaking on using computer science technical skills for good, a subject not often touched on. Using her World Bank Group project as a tangible real life example, Elissa exposed attendees to a field for computer scientists that is thriving (with a median base $116, 840!).
Data science is a tricky concept to grasp. A form of applied statistics, data science incorporates multiple disciplines and is a very abstract concept, but essentially is the gathering, analysis and application of data, whether it be traffic data, classroom data, or social media statistics. Check out the talk below!
Terrapin Hackers holds many talks and hacktorials like this, introducing CS majors (and non-CS majors) to concepts and fields that may seem daunting. If you’re interested in attending, they are open to all and most are made for beginners so like us on Facebook!
More on Elissa and her great work.
For more information on the Data Science for Social Good Fellowship: http://dssg.uchicago.edu/
