UCSB held an inaugural data science summit on December 3, 2021. The theme of the day-long meeting, which was funded by a grant from the Academic Data Science Alliance (ADSA) Career Development Network (CDN), was "The Data Science Landscape at UCSB: How do you fit in? Where do we go next?"
Following a brief introduction from Dr. Alex Franks (Statistics and Applied Probability), and a comedy-infused welcome from Dr. Pierre Wiltzius (Dean, College of Letters and Science), Dr. Sharon Tettegah (Director, Center for Black Studies Research) kicked off the event with a critical look at who owns and collects data and who designs the infrastructure behind the collection and analysis. With a blend of pop culture references and hard science, her talk helped set the tone for a productive campus-wide workshop.
Dr. Julia Lowndes (NCEAS) wrapped up the summit with a history and demonstration of Openscapes and the power of reproducible, accessible science. Her keynote was a reminder of what the UCSB community can achieve when working collaboratively.
Sandwiched between these two keynotes, participants shared experiences through short talks and panel sessions, and networked over a lunch from UCen Catering. Among the speakers were UCSB faculty and leaders of student-run clubs and organizations. A panel of students and faculty also explored how to create a better culture and climate around data science at UCSB.
Summit organizers will follow up with attendees about how to leverage this event to strengthen and enrich the data science community at UCSB. Throughout the day, participants engaged one another via shared Google documents. Key takeaways from these note-taking repositories will be made available in the coming months. Recordings of the various talks and presentations will also be posted for viewing.
The Summit's organizing committee, led by Drs. Michael Beyeler (Computer Science), Alex Franks (Statistics and Applied Probability), and Allison Horst (Bren School of Environmental Science and Management), wish to thank everyone for their participation in the event. Special thanks go to the University Center Meeting & Event staff and (especially) to Anna Theogarajan for all her behind-the-scenes orchestration.
