What's Up with the Data Sciences Academy?

Here is a partial list of what the Data Sciences Academy has been up to recently:

  • Summer 2024 - The Educators in Data Science Fellows will have a weeklong professional development workshop at Grand Canyon College. Our approach this year is to assist teachers in having full class projects from simple bell work to full science fair projects. We have partnered with The DataJam for assistance with high schools and SARSEF for younger students. The creator of Data Classroom will spend a day with our teachers. We are investigating R Ladies for a day on the use of R. Most of Friday will be set to have the teacher make concrete plans for the year forward.
  • April 11 to 12 - U.S. Indigenous Date Sovereignty & Governance Summit at Casino del Sol

  • https://usindigenousdatanetwork.org/us-indigenous-data-sovereignty-governance-summit/

  • April 6 to 8 – ASA DataFest https://ww2.amstat.org/education/datafest/
  •  The American Indian Science and Engineering Association (AISES) held its regional meeting at the University of Arizona on March 22 and 23. 

Angela Marquez hosted Native Women in Data Science panel. The panelists were Gabriella Casarez-Kelly, Nicolette Gomez, Laylalenai Gocobachi

Gabriella is the Pima County Recorder of Elections. She is Tohono O'odham and is the first tribal member to hold a Pima County elected office. Nicolette is Pascua Yaqui and is the Executive Director of Napolita Network. This Network helps Native entrepreneurs to promote their business through digital marketing, graphic design, web design, and social media. Laylalenai is an undergraduate student majoring in environmental science. Her focus is on water rights, especially on Rio Yaqui in Sonora. Laylalenai’s father Jesus was in the Beepop summer program some 20 year ago and designed the poster attached to this email.

2024

  • May 14 - Family Engagement end-of-the-year-event "Cholla Extravaganza"
  • May 3 - Indigenous STEM Symposium. This is an all-day event at the Arizona Science Center hosted by the Office of Indian Education in the Arizona Department of Education. We have been asked to explain our approach to engaging Native communities through Native Who Code and Beepop. Beepop was a month-long math/science and language/culture camp with Pascua Yaqui and Tohono O’odham youth that took place most summers from 1998 to 2013.
  • April 30 - Data Science for Everyone Higher Education Focus Group Meeting #3
  • April 28 – Natives Who Code April Meeting, Ian Her Many Horses.  Ian is the founder and director of the Lakota AI Camp https://lakota.aicode.camp/  One activity is the development of an app that utilizes machine learning to identify plants of cultural importance through a mobile device photograph and explain their uses in both English and Lakota
  • April 23 - Beading Workshop.  Tucson Indian Center
  •  On April 19, the Data Sciences Academy team presented the professional development activity and the American Indian Educators Association (AIEA) Meeting at South Mountain College. The presentation was on Appreciative Inquiry, an asset-based approach to organizational and social engagement that utilizes questions and dialogue to help participants uncover existing strengths, advantages, or opportunities in their communities, organizations, or teams.
  • March 29 - Higher Education (Data Science) Focus Group Meeting #2 hosted by DataScience4Everyone. Joe is a member of the focus group.
  • March 29 - WIDS (Women in Data Science) Tucson. Angela is speaking about the EdSci Fellowship program.
  • March 22 - AISES regional conference at the University of Arizona.  The Academy is hosting a panel.
  • March 21 - STEM Day at Baboquivari High School
  • March 15 - Presentation American Indian Educators’ Association
  • March 09 - Tabling at SARSEF Science Fair
  • February 16 - Data Science Higher Education focus group
  • February 9 – Present to the American Indian Educators Association
  • February 9 – Meeting with the College of Science Advisory Board on the Professional Master’s Degree
  • February 4 – Recruitment event for the next cohort of EDsci Fellows< we have >20 who have signed up to attend.
  • February 1 – Meet with the Haury Foundation on next steps for Natives Who Code
  • January 31 – Meet with the Office of Indian Education and Indigenous Resilience Center
  • January 30 – Meet with the Pascua Yaqui Tribe liaison for Natives Who Code
  • January 28 – Natives Who Code professional development with Frieda McAlear https://www.kaporcenter.org/team/frieda-mcalear/
  • January 27 Professional Development presentation, Math Educators Appreciation Day. We anticipate that several of our EdSci fellows will also be presenting
  • January 20 Undergraduate Biology Research Project Annual Conference. The Academy suppports several data science undergraduate researchers
  • January 19 Present on the Academy’s work with Native youth at the American Indian Educators Association. This is also an opportunity for input from these educators
  • January 17 Professional Development presentation, Tucson Unified School Distict. We present quarterly.
  • January 10 Arizona American Indian Nations and Tribes Legisation Day. We are trying to arrange a meeting with Senator Gonzales on extending our Arizona Department of Education Grant
  • The January 10th Tribal Legislative Day accomplished three major tasks
  1. Met with planners for the March AISES Regional Conference planning team. We will have a panel at the Conference on Natives Who Code.
  2. Spoke with the Office of Indian Education to learn of progress in having the Natives Who Code project written into the legislation. Progress is being made on that front and the Office will be asking us to make a series of presentations in the Spring.  
  3. Interaction with the Labriola National American Indian Data Center to discuss plans for collaboration especially on internships. We have a follow-up meeting set for late February. https://lib.asu.edu/labriola

2023

  • December 3, 2023 - We hosted Parallx for a Regional Computer Science/Data Science Professional Development event for educators from across Arizona.  There were about 60 attendees.
  • Summer 2023, Educators in Data Science Fellowship met in Phoenix for the kickoff to our year of support in data science education integration. 5 days of Bootstrap: Data Science training commenced where the DSA successfully supported the training in data science for 17 Arizona K-12 educators.  
  • October 2023, Joe Watkins and Angela Marquez attended the AISES conference in Spokane, WA 
  • July 12-14 Professional Development using Mobile CSP for NWC Fellows at Fort Lewis College
  • July 9 – July 11 Four Corners Computer Science Convening at Fort Lewis College
  • June 20 Presentation on Natives Who Code at the RESPECT Conference in Atlanta, Georgia
  • June 19 – June 23 Bootstrap Professional Development hosted by Computer Science Teachers of Arizona at Xavier College Preparatory School
  • June 15 Professional Master’s Degree in Applied Statistics and Data Science approved by the Arizona Board of Regents
  • June 13 Appreciative Inquiry Meeting with Pascua Yaqui community
  • June 3 Welcome dinner for Natives Who Code Fellows
  • May 23 Data Science Task force with the Arizona Department of Education
  • May 16 Poster presentation at Tribal Environmental Health Summit hosted by Southwest Environmental Health Sciences Center and the Indigenous Resilience Center
  • May 15 Sharon Ramon joins DSA team as coordinator for NWC
  • April 26, May 31, June 28, July 26 Beading Workshop at Tucson Indian Center
  • April 20 Pascua Yaqui Elders meeting
  • April 4 Data Sciences Academy announces new class of DSA/UBRP fellows.
  • March 30 Present at Indigenous Education Gathering 
  • March 15 Meeting with Tohono O’odham Education Department
  • March11 Table at SARSEF STEM Expo 
  • March 2 Data Science Convening with the Arizona Department of Education