Post on 12-Apr-2017
JSM2016
MarkDanielWardPurdueUniversity
¡ MCTP:SophomoreTransitions:BridgesintoaStatisticsMajorandBigDataResearchExperiencesviaLearningCommunities
¡ SponsoredbyNationalScienceFoundation,DivisionofMathematicalSciences
¡ $1.5milliongrant
¡ fall2014throughspring2019¡ Vision:Completerevampofhowweteachdataanalysisattheundergraduatelevel
¡ 20sophomoreundergraduatesperyear
¡ 100students(altogether)by2018
¡ 12-monthexperienceforeachsophomore(AugusttoAugust)
¡ 12Co-PI’sandSeniorPersonnelfromPurdueStatisticsplus56lettersofcollaboration
¡ AtPurdue:55first-yearlearningcommunitieswith78totalsections…..
¡ butonly3sophomore-yearLC’s!¡ Only13%ofuniversitiesoffersophomore/juniorseminars,while90%offerfirst-yearandseniorseminars.(Berrett,2012)
¡ “In2002-03,only8percentofNSF-fundedundergraduateresearchersweresophomores”
—WilsonandCrowe,2010
¡ Sophomoresarereferredtoinliteratureas:§ “Abandoned”§ “Forgotten”§ “Invisibletotheinstitution”
¡ Sophomoreyearisatimeoftransition:§ Finish(ing)calculus§ Divingintomostfoundationalcoursesinmajor§ Identifyingorrefininglong-termjobgoals
¡ Thesophomoreslumpleadstoattritionof§ Females§ Minorities§ Studentswithdisabilities§ First-generationstudents
¡ Especiallyinthemathematicalsciences…
¡ Sophomoreyearisatimeoftransition!
¡ Only1prerequisite:CalculusIII(MA26100)beforethestartoftheirsophomoreyear.
¡ Nocomputationalorstatisticsrequirements
¡ USCitizens/Nationals/PermanentResidents
¡ Studentsfromanymajorcanapply
¡ For2016-17,≈60apply,butonly20stipends
¡ Sophomoreyearexperiencesthatblendthese4areunknown,nationwide.
¡ Academic(Curricular)
¡ Research
¡ ResidentialLife
¡ ProfessionalDevelopment
¡ Studentschoosefrom50+researchprojects,eachwithadedicatedfacultymentor.
¡ TheyallhaverelevancetoBigDataanalysis.
¡ Notalargespreadsheet,but(often)gigabytesorterabytesofdata.
¡ AtmosphericScience¡ Biostatistics¡ HealthcareEngineering¡ Probability/TheoreticalStatistics¡ HumanDevelopmentandFamilyStudies¡ Consulting¡ CoastalMarginObservationandPrediction¡ SavingNaturewithStatistics(ForestryandNaturalResources)
¡ Biology,andBiomedicalEngineering¡ ChemicalEngineering,andChemistry,¡ CoastalMarginObservationandPrediction,¡ ComputerScience,¡ Economics,¡ ElectricalandComputerEngineering,¡ ForestryandNaturalResources,¡ HealthandHumanSciences,¡ Mathematics,andPhysics,¡ RegenstriefCenterforHealthcareEngineering
¡ Studentsareencouragedtoparticipatein§ Researchliteraturegroups§ Computationalprojects§ Largeresearchgroup/laboratorymeetings§ Conferencecalls§ Meetingswithresearchvisitors§ Discussionswithclinicians/practitioners
¡ Basically,studentsshouldlearnallaspectsofresearchandbevaluedteammembers.
¡ Probability:§ fundamental;randomvariables
¡ StatisticalTheory:§ alsofundamental;buildsonProbabilitycourse
¡ IntroductiontoBigDataAnalysis(new!)§ directlyimpactstheresearcheffort;§ allowsstudentstobuildcomfortwithcomp.stat.
¡ BigDataAnalysisandProbabilityarebothtaughtina“flipped”style
¡ 237videosforprobabilitytheory
¡ Eachvideohasfullpageofnotes
¡ BigDataAnalysisisproject-orientedandstudentsworkinteamsallsemester.
¡ Platforms/toolstaughtinnutsandboltsstyle:
§ R(6weeks)§ visualizingdata(2weeks)§ UNIX(1week)§ awk/regularexpressions(1week)§ SQL(2weeks)§ XML(1week)§ Finalpresentationsfromstudents(2weeks)
¡ Studentshaveaparadigmshift
¡ Thedatawillnotfitinlaptop/desktop
¡ Rack-mounted(remoteaccess)serverwith384GBofRAM,50TBofdisk,and24processingcores,fordataanalysisneeds.
¡ Becomeverycomfortablewithcomputing
¡ Facultyasmentorsbeyondclass/research.
¡ Thelifeofafacultycanincludefamily.
¡ Studentdinners§ HillenbrandeveryThursday§ OccasionallyatWardfamilyhome.
¡ Makesascientist’snon-academiclifebemoretangible(graspfullpictureofbeingascientist)
¡ Studentsarepreparedfordata-drivenworkforce§ DataScientists§ Graduateschool(Stat,Math,CS,manyappliedareas)§ Consulting,R&D,analytics,databases,etc…
¡ Alsolearnfromnetworkingwithalumni
¡ Bigpictureofwhatmattersintheworkforce:§ howtopartnerwithteammates§ communicatetheirresults§ problemsolving(e.g.,howtogetunstuck)
¡ TheDepartmentofStatisticswouldlovetokeeptheSTAT-LLCoperating,longaftertheNSFgranthasexpired.
¡ Wehaveapproximately450studentspursuingaStatisticsmajor.
¡ PurdueStatisticsisoneofthelargestUGStatprograms…andmanystudentsareinterestedinpursuingdatascience!
Questions:MarkDanielWardmdw@purdue.edu