Capstone Project in Data Science

Fall 2020 will be the kick-off quarter for the new Capstone Project in Data Science. The four-unit class will be offered through the Computer Science Department as CMPSCI 190DD, and concurrently through the Department of Statistics and Applied Probability as PSTAT 197A. On Monday and Wednesday evenings, at 5 pm, Professor Ambuj Singh will lead enrolled students in a study of data science from the systems engineering perspective. He will introduce and address a variety of ethical issues that arise in data science projects, and engage students in project-based learning through a series of carefully selected and curated data science studies. Toward the end of the quarter, students will form groups and partner with customers from industry on a collaborative project. These projects will continue through Winter and Spring quarters in CMPSCI 190 DD-DE and PSTAT 197 B-C. 

Undergraduate advisors across campus received details about the capstone course. Students can begin to sign up during Pass 2 on September 8. 

Course Details:

• Year-long capstone course:
  • Classroom instruction in Fall 2020: focus on the process of discovering knowledge from data, public policy, ethics, fairness, and statistical traps.
  • Followed by two quarters of faculty-mentored experiential project work. 
• Synthesize course materials from individual machine learning, statistics, and data engineering courses, and place them in the context of concrete problems and datasets.
• Culminates in an end-of-year showcase of projects to the local data science community
• Develop skills such as
  • Oral communication and public speaking
  • Time management
  • Teamwork
  • Data analysis and informed decision making

Enrollment details: 4 units each quarter

• Fall 2020: CMPSC 190DD/PSTAT 197A, MW 5-6:30.
• Winter 2021: CMPSC 190DE/PSTAT 197 B, times TBD.
• Spring 2021: CMPSC 190DF/PSTAT 197 C, times TBD.

Interested students should fill out this course survey.

Contacts:

Staff: Tim Robinson, trobinson@cs.ucsb.edu
Faculty: Ambuj Singh, ambuj@cs.ucsb.edu