Conference

AALAC Workshop

 

The rise of “big data” has implications across the curriculum, as new modes of inquiry in fields from the sciences to the social sciences to the humanities increasingly depend on statistical and computational tools. The goal of this workshop is to discuss opportunities for curricular change for the liberal arts in the context of trends toward big data. The workshop will include presentations on best practices for incorporating big data into the liberal arts curriculum, as well as opportunities to develop new resources. Workshop leaders will present approaches to teaching big data and supporting research that are currently employed at AALAC colleges. and Joseph Blitzstein, Professor of the Practice at Harvard University, will give a keynote talk. As a workshop outcome, we aim to identify several concrete action items that can be implemented at participants' respective institutions. 

 
 

 

For further reading

Training Students to Extract Value from Big Data: Summary of a Workshop, National Research Council

Challenges and Opportunities for Statistics and Statistics Education, Nicholas Horton, Amherst College

Implications of the Data Revolution for Statistics Education, Jim Ridgway, University of Durham

Statement on The Role of Statistics in Data Science, American Statistical Association

 

Who

The intended audience of this workshop includes statisticians/applied mathematicians and computer scientists. To increase the possibility of implementing action items at the home institutions, we encourage each participant to invite a colleague from their institution to the workshop. Ideally these pairs will represent both statistics and computer science. In certain cases, we will accept faculty from outside of statistics, math, and computer scientist but who directly engage in big data issues in their teaching.

 

Where

Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA

Note: Hotel rooms have been reserved at the Wellesley College Club and the Executive Conference Center at Babson College.

 

When

Wednesday, January 13, 2016 - Friday, January 15, 2016

An optional pre-conference webinar discussion took place on Tuesday, October 20, 4:30-5:30 pm.

 

Tentative Schedule

 

Wednesday

12pm - 1:30pm  Welcome and Lunch/Introductions
1:30pm - 6pm  The Big Data Landscape
6pm - 7:30pm  Dinner

 

Thursday

 

9am - 12:30pm  Courses and Curriculum
12:30pm - 1:30pm  Lunch
1:30pm - 6pm  Integration Across the Curriculum
6pm - 7:30pm  Dinner

 

Friday

9am - 11:30am  Challenges and Support
11:30am -12:30pm  Lunch and Farewell

 

To Apply

We are no longer accepting applications.

 

Conference Committee

Cassandra Pattanayak

Jack and Sandra Polk Guthman ‘65 Director, Quantitative Analysis Institute, Wellesley College

Corrine Taylor

Director, Quantitative Reasoning Program, Wellesley College

Amy Wagaman

Associate Professor of Statistics, Amherst College

Benjamin Baumer

Assistant Professor, Statistical and Data Sciences Program, Smith College

Ming-Wen An

Associate Professor of Statistics, Vassar College

Emmanuel Kaparakis

Director, Quantitative Analysis Center and Centers for Advanced Computing, Wesleyan University

 

This workshop is sponsored by the Alliance to Advance Liberal Arts Colleges (AALAC)

 

For more information:

Cassandra Pattanayak
Guthman Director of the Quantitative Analysis Institute
Wellesley College
106 Central Street
Wellesley, MA 02481
781-283-3435
cpattanayak@wellesley.edu