[Faculty] 2019-20 Data Science Ambassadors Program: Call for Nominations for all UA Colleges

Wed May 15 09:48:05 MST 2019

Reminder: Applications for the Data Science Ambassador program are due next week. Please see details below:
This message is forwarded on behalf of Dr. Kirsten Limesand, CALS assistant dean for graduate education.
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Please send nominations to Kirsten Limesand (limesank at email.arizona.edu<mailto:limesank at email.arizona.edu>) by 5/22 at 5pm. The Graduate Education Task Force will rank the nominees and work with the mentors, departments and grad programs of the students that were selected for nomination to complete the letter of endorsement.

Kirsten H. Limesand, PhD
Professor, Department of Nutritional Sciences
Assistant Dean for Graduate Education, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
University of Arizona

Website: http://nutrition.cals.arizona.edu/people/kirsten-limesand-phd

“Progress has no end date” – Doug Baldwin

From: UA Data Science
Sent: Tuesday, April 30, 2019 7:25 AM
Subject: 2019-20 Data Science Ambassadors Program: Call for Nominations for all UA Colleges

Sent on behalf of the Data Science Institute:

2019-20 Data Science Ambassadors Program: Call for Nominations for all UA Colleges
Note: This program requires each college to coordinate nominations from their departments or divisions.

We are seeking enthusiastic UA PhD students to support data science literacy at the University of Arizona. Selected applicants will assist researchers, including students and faculty, through consults, training, and referrals to address their data science needs within their respective colleges.

Description
The Data Science Ambassadors (DSA) program capitalizes on domain knowledge and data science expertise in the UA graduate student population. DSAs serve as a resource within their college to help researchers and educators with (1) data science related questions through consults, training, and/or referrals to the right resource and experts on-campus or online and (2) developing training or other data literacy programs that are specific to needs to you and your discipline/college. In short, DSAs are champions for data science literacy in their college!

Each ambassador will develop a program of support and engagement that reflects and advances the data science needs of their college. All ambassadors will receive training and support in order to foster data science literacy in their respective college and compensation of a $1000 stipend for an academic year commitment.

Eligibility
Priority will be given to UA PhD students who have:

  *   Completed at least one year of their PhD program
  *   Demonstrated an interest in data science literacy
  *   Support from the nominating college

Nomination Process
Each college will coordinate nominations and submit a single PDF containing the three items listed below to datascience at email.arizona.edu<mailto:datascience at email.arizona.edu>. Nominations are due June 1, 2019. The Data Science Institute will provide one half of the $1000 stipend, while the second half ($500) is expected from the nominating college. There is no limit to the number of students a college can nominate.

  1.  A letter of endorsement from the nominating unit stating college-level support for the ambassador(s), a list of nominees (their full name, e-mail address, PhD major and department, year in the program), and contact information of a point person who can provide an account number for supporting funds. See FAQ section for more information.
  2.  Current resume or CV of each nominee (3 page limit)
  3.  A statement from each nominee describing their interest in data science and the data science ambassadorship. Nominees are encouraged to highlight relevant experiences such as list of data science related courses taken and other professional experiences. (1 page limit)

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1.      Who can nominate data science ambassadors?
Each college at the University of Arizona is eligible to nominate ambassadors. This would mean that colleges should coordinate nominations with their constituent departments or divisions.
2.      Can departments or divisions or interdisciplinary programs nominate ambassadors?
If a department or division is housed within a college, we request that they work with their college administration to coordinate nominations. In cases where there is no support from the college, but a department or division would still like to nominate candidates, they are welcome to do so. Programs that are not housed within colleges (e.g., graduate interdisciplinary programs) are eligible to nominate ambassadors for their program. In general, the nominating unit will have undergraduate and/or graduate academic program(s) that they administer. Units that do not administer an academic program (e.g., centers or institutes) are not eligible to apply. We encourage such units to work with a college or program that they are associated with.
3.      How many candidates can each college nominate?
Each college or program can nominate any number of qualified candidates. Priority will be given to UA PhD students who have (a) completed at least one year of their PhD program, (b) demonstrated an interest in data science literacy, (c) support from the nominating unit.
4.      Can graduate students self-nominate?
No, only the college or program that graduate students are part of can nominate. Interested students should talk to their department head or dean or program chair and express their interest in being an ambassador for the college or program.
5.      How many ambassadors will be selected?
A minimum of 10 data science ambassadors will be selected. Additional slots may be added based on funding availability.
6.      What is the guarantee that a college will have at least one ambassador selected?
We would like to have at least one ambassador in every college. While we are able to support up to 10 ambassadors across various colleges, the nominating college may choose to contribute additional funds (e.g., a total of $1000 per ambassador) to ensure that at least one ambassador selected from the college. We will provide complete programmatic support for all selected ambassadors.
7.      What are general expectations for Data Science Ambassadors?
Selected candidates will be expected to support data science literacy efforts in their respective colleges for one academic year (Fall 2019 and Spring 2020). In addition to a two-day training curriculum and meeting with program co-directors once a semester, ambassadors will be expected to support researchers in navigating campus resources and develop an engagement plan for the fall and spring semesters. An ambassador’s plan for supporting data science literacy could include:

  *   Identifying data science needs within their college
  *   Leading data science workshops or training sessions; either as stand-alone events or within current programs such as the UA Library R workshops or Tucson Python Meetups
  *   Serving as an Instructor for UA Software Carpentry<https://software-carpentry.org/> / Data Carpentry<https://datacarpentry.org/> workshop(s)
  *   Holding regular drop-in sessions (office hours) for support in data management and broadly applicable data science tools such as Python and R.
  *   Providing individual data science consults and guidance to researchers
  *   Developing learning resources such as video tutorials or Carpentries-style lessons
  *   Participating in RezBaz<https://researchbazaar.arizona.edu/> events such as PhTea, Hacky Hour<https://researchbazaar.arizona.edu/#portfolio>, and the annual Research Bazaar<http://researchbazaar.arizona.edu/resbaz/resbazTucson2019/>
  *   Developing and engaging in research studies related to sociocultural and organizational processes around the practice of data science.

Ambassador Program Co-directors
For general inquiries, please e-mail datascience at email.arizona.edu<mailto:datascience at email.arizona.edu> or contact program co-directors.
Jeff Oliver, PhD
jcoliver at email.arizona.edu<mailto:jcoliver at email.arizona.edu>
Vignesh Subbian, PhD
vsubbian at email.arizona.edu<mailto:vsubbian at email.arizona.edu>

Sponsors
Data Science Institute (Data7<https://datascience.arizona.edu/>)
Collaborative for Engineering Education Research and Outreach (CEERO<http://ceero.collab.arizona.edu/>)
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