Summit on Two-Year College Data Science Curricula

The demand for qualified data professionals in industry and government and the surge of four-year degree programs in data science create urgent opportunities for two-year colleges. The current supply of data professionals cannot keep up with projected demand if the sole source is four-year colleges and universities. Moreover, two-year colleges serve a large number of first-generation college students and students from groups underrepresented in STEM, and they therefore provide a means of increasing diversity among data professionals. Two-year colleges must play a crucial role in data science education, both by preparing students to transfer to programs at four-year institutions and by offering associate degree programs and certificate programs that will qualify graduates for specialized roles in the data science workforce. This workshop will foster the establishment and growth of data science programs at two-year colleges by bringing together participants in previous NSF projects that have addressed data science education, faculty and administrators from two-year colleges that are developing data science programs, and data professionals from a variety of industries. The workshop will also complement the in-progress National Academies study on "Envisioning the Data Science Discipline: The Undergraduate Perspective," which is establishing a vision for the emerging discipline of data science at the undergraduate level.

Previous projects have considered potential undergraduate data science curricula and have proposed career pathway models to guide two-year college data science programs, but these efforts have proceeded more-or-less independently and from different perspectives. The Summit on Two-Year College Data Science Curricula will consolidate the results of the previous work and will allow a comprehensive look, from the perspective of a range of disciplines and employers, at the knowledge and skills that are needed in data science jobs. Outcomes will include (1) a report summarizing the current state of data science programs at two-year colleges, the challenges that face those who are trying to launch such programs, and the further work and resources that are needed to increase the number of such programs; (2) curricular guidelines for two-year college data science programs, modeled after the Park City Mathematics Institute (PCMI) Curriculum Guidelines for Undergraduate Programs in Data Science; and (3) documentation of available resources for two-year colleges that are considering creating data science programs. The discussions and the products of the workshop will focus on the needs of three student populations: those seeking employment following an associate degree, those seeking transfer to a four-year program, and those seeking college-level courses and certificates in data science for professional development.