Herding Cats: Pros and Cons of a Large-Team Approach to Data Science at a Major Research University

• Activity Number: 651 - Expanding the Tent: Undergraduate Majors in Data Science
• Type: Invited
• Date/Time: Thursday, August 2, 2018 : 10:30 AM to 12:20 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Statistical Education
• Author(s): David Hunter*
• Companies: Penn State University
• Keywords: Data Science; Undergraduate major

Abstract

The experience of starting a data science program at a major research university is a good news/bad news story. On one hand, it has become clear in launching such a program that potential participants who are knowledgeable acknowledge and embrace the central role that statistics plays. On the other hand, not all potential participants are knowledgeable, which has led to some interesting and, hopefully, enlightening episodes. This presentation discusses some of the anecdotes and what we as a statistical community can learn from them.