{"id":368999,"date":"2017-03-09T09:00:03","date_gmt":"2017-03-09T17:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/?p=368999"},"modified":"2017-05-17T15:07:21","modified_gmt":"2017-05-17T22:07:21","slug":"grassroots-data-science-education-uc-berkeley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/blog\/grassroots-data-science-education-uc-berkeley\/","title":{"rendered":"A new understanding of the world through grassroots Data Science education at UC Berkeley"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Vani Mandava<\/a>, Director, Data Science, Microsoft Research<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Data

Students at UC Berkeley Foundations of Data Science Program<\/p><\/div>\n

While some may regard data science as an easy passport to a job for the tech savvy, Luis Macias has different ideas. The fourth-year undergraduate student, who is majoring in American Studies at University of California, Berkeley (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a> (UC Berkeley), wants to turn the hype of data science into hope for low-income communities like the one he grew up in.<\/p>\n

Luis was among the first students to take UC Berkeley\u2019s innovative Foundations of Data Science (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>, an introductory data science course designed for freshman and sophomore students of all majors. The course is a key component of a multi-year university effort to forge a broader, more diverse, and inclusive scope for the emerging discipline of data science.<\/p>\n

Recalling an assignment to gauge how water consumption data might relate to socioeconomic conditions, Luis explained how having the power to get and analyze data about his own ZIP Code ignited an understanding that data science can yield new insights capable of solving some of society\u2019s most complex problems.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe income level was around $25K, a number that was powerful for me in particular, because I think it explained a lot of the social issues and problems my community had,” he said.<\/p>\n