Professor Alex Franks participated in a panel on Improving Data Science Education Infrastructure at Community Colleges, Teaching, and Research Universities at the 2022 Joint Statistical Meeting (JSM) in Washington, D.C. The panel discussed the differences and similarities across institutions (UC, CSU, and Community Colleges) in "developing cross-disciplinary data science curricula, research opportunities, and career preparation programs." Franks and the other panelists shared their experiences of fostering intra-campus data science collaboration and "creating pathways from community colleges to four-year institutions, from four-year institutions to graduate school, and from higher ed institutions to industry."

Other panelists were Sam Behseta from CSU Fullerton and Mariam Salloum from UC Riverside, who each have separate NSF-funded HDR programs (Awards #2123444, #2123271, #2123313).