Data Science in the Liberal Arts: Discuss the Berkeley experience with Eric Van Dusen, Kseniya Usovich, and Samantha Chean-Udell

Join us for a talk with Eric Van Dusen and his team to learn more about integrating Data Science education in the liberal arts curriculum. Eric Van Dusen will present Berkeley’s two flagship programs: Data Science Connectors - two-unit domain seminars to accompany introductory Data Science courses - and Data Science Modules, that introduce Data Science into existing courses. There will be time for questions and discussion.

Eric Van Dusen
Director at Data Science Education Program, UC Berkeley

Eric is currently working on curriculum development for Data Science Education at UC Berkeley, working on getting an open source common data analysis framework into a wide range of classes and departments. He also facilitates summer workshops teaching Berkeley faculty, and instructors from across the country, to use data science pedagogy in their classes.

Eric has taught classes applying Data Science to subjects such as International Development, Reproducibility and Open Science, and Economic Modeling. He has worked in the areas of applied economics analysis of international and environmental issues in a variety of systems and settings. Eric has always had an interest in how socially focused research can benefit society and has worked on a variety of issues of political importance but in a micro- applied research setting. He is now working on the vision on how to get students to learn through hands-on experiences in reproducibility, interactive computing, and research exposure. 

Kseniya Usovich
Global Adoption Team Lead at UC Berkeley Division of Computing, Data Science, and Society | Student Director at Cal NERDS

Kseniya is currently pursuing her undergraduate degree in Cognitive Science with a minor in Data Science at UC Berkeley. She is working towards democratizing Data Science education through creating various educational resources as a Modules Lead, consulting other institutions on launching a Data Science program and establishing inter-institutional collaboration of Data Science Educators worldwide as a Global Adoption Team Lead, and through teaching programming to non-dominant communities in STEM as part of the Cal NERDS team. Being a transfer student herself, Kseniya is a passionate advocate for transfer students everywhere. She is mentoring current and incoming transfer students on UC Berkeley campus and focuses on promoting Data Science education to California Community Colleges.

Samantha Chean-Udell
Global Adoption Consultant Intern at UC Berkeley Division of Computing

Samantha is a third-year applied mathematics major and data science minor at UC Berkeley who has experience with Python, SQL, Matlab, and SharePoint. She likes to find creativity in technology through her hobbies of graphic design and painting. Looking at the world through the lens of an artist and a steminist allows her to invent out-of-the-box solutions to difficult problems. Currently a Consultant Intern for the Global Adoption Team at UC Berkeley where she works to democratize the education of Data Science.