The Future of Data Science

Associate Provost Jennifer Chayes on equality, equity, opportunity in data science

We bring together programs, schools, and departments from across campus to create rich educational opportunities and ignite groundbreaking research to meet society's greatest challenges.

Berkeley Institute for Data Science
Data Science Commons
Data Science Education Programs
Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences
School of Information
Statistics

Berkeley's Computing and Data Science In Action: COVID-19 Response and Recovery

Learn more here.

Recent News

BIDS and Accenture welcome first Global Environmental Change Research Fellow

BIDS and Accenture Applied Intelligence are pleased to welcome R.J. Cody Markelz as the inaugural BIDS-Accenture Global Environmental Change Research Fellow. The Data Science and Global Environmental Change Independent Research Fellowship is a full-time two-year position at BIDS made possible by funding from Accenture Applied Intelligence. 

Rediet-Abebe

A Computer Scientist Who Tackles Inequality Through Algorithms

When Rediet Abebe arrived at Harvard University as an undergraduate in 2009, she planned to study mathematics. But her experiences with the Cambridge public schools soon changed her plans. 

Rediet Abebe uses the tools of theoretical computer science to understand pressing social problems — and try to fix them.

How Berkeley is Using Data Science to Tackle Climate Change

Tuesday, May 18, 2021 | 12:00pm - 1:00pm
Virtual - RSVP by emailing kdarling@berkeley.edu

UC Berkeley is at the scientific forefront in applying solutions critical to the wellbeing of our world. A signature strength of the University’s mission to serve the public good is how its researchers and students harness interdisciplinary strategies to tackle the thorniest global challenges and opportunities.

This moderated panel discussion showcases one such innovative Campus collaboration between experts in the environmental and data sciences. They will discuss their partnership, including how it is shaping responses to climate change and improved ecosystem health for all. We look forward to your company and to your questions.

YOU MADE IT MOMENTOUS

Thank you. During Big Give 2021, alumni, parents, students, faculty, staff, and friends just like you came together to give 157 gifts (374% growth!) totaling $60,424. Your thoughtful generosity and enthusiastic participation will help the Division of Computing, Data Science, and Society to support our student teams.

We are momentously grateful for your commitment to Cal! Visit BigGive.berkeley.edu for final contest results and more.

Oliver O’Reilly: In a year of turmoil, Berkeley abides

On the morning of Sunday, March 8, 2020, I left my colleagues in mechanical engineering at a team-building activity at the Cal Boathouse in Oakland for an urgent conference call that Chancellor Christ had organized with senior campus leadership. At the time, I was chair of the Berkeley Division of the Academic Senate. While many of us could sense the tsunami of the impending pandemic and stay-at-home orders, I could not have imagined the devastation and dramatic changes it would cause...

WiDS logo

Register now for the Berkeley Women in Data Science Conference, March 9-11

Join us for a series of events celebrating Women in Data Science at UC Berkeley(link is external). WiDS Berkeley is an independent event that is organized by the UC Berkeley WiDS ambassadors as part of the annual WiDS Worldwide conference planned by Stanford University and an estimated 150+ locations worldwide. It features outstanding women doing outstanding work in the field of data science. Check out the live, virtual programming(link is external) provided for the UC Berkeley campus throughout the week featuring distinguished scholars and practitioners from across the Bay Area and the world.

Founder of craigslist Renews Support: Second Year of Funding Expands Cybersecurity Defense for Non Profits by UC Berkeley Students

For the second consecutive year, Craig Newmark Philanthropies has funded Citizen Clinic, a groundbreaking program at the University of California, Berkeley’s Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity (CLTC). This first-of-its-kind program trains UC Berkeley students to provide digital security assistance to activists, journalists, and advocacy organizations who may be subjected to phishing, spyware, surveillance, trolling,  and disinformation campaigns, often at the hands of powerful adversaries. 

Bringing Data Science to Liberal Arts Courses

Although Data Science only just became an official Berkeley major in Fall 2018⁠, its versatility and applicability in almost all domains have led to its rapid expansion across campus. At Berkeley, data science can even be found in traditionally non-technological, liberal arts classes… in the form of data science modules. 

 

Discovery Program: Data Science Beyond the Classroom

Over the past five years, the Data Science Discovery program has helped hundreds of Berkeley undergraduate students join data science research projects. Students work on a team-based research project for a semester with one of Discovery’s project partners, which yield from a variety of fields and comprises Berkeley faculty, campus-affiliated start-ups, and non-profit agencies. The research projects tackle real-world issues utilizing data science techniques.

This is Data Science: Amal Bhatnagar

I think a lot of the time when students first get into data science, they’re a little intimidated because they feel that they have to learn math, stats, and CS, which is a lot, but I think doing personal projects in the domain that they really like can be really encouraging because they can see what they can do with data science versus without it.

Oliver M. O'Reilly

CDSS Associate Dean Oliver O’Reilly Awarded the 2021 Berkeley Faculty Service Award

Oliver O’Reilly, Computing, Data Science, and Society’s (CDSS) Associate Dean for Graduate Education and professor of Mechanical Engineering, has been selected as co-recipient of the 2021 Berkeley Faculty Service Award. Alice Agogino, the Roscoe and Elizabeth Hughes Chair in Mechanical Engineering, was also selected for the award. 

 

Celebrate Love Data Week!

This nationwide campaign is designed to raise awareness and build a community to engage on topics related to research data management, sharing, preservation, reuse, and other research data services. Students, faculty, researchers, librarians, and data specialists are invited to attend these events to gain hands-on experience, learn about resources, and engage in discussions around data needs throughout the research process.

Climate Research, Scientific Computing Converging at a Critical Time

UC Berkeley and Berkeley Lab is using data-driving models to understand the impacts of climate variability and long-term change on ecosystem functions, as well as related feedbacks to the atmosphere through ecosystem carbon cycling and water use. Kathy Yelick, CDSS Associate Dean of Research forecasts the future of climate research will require a broader range of disciplines to fully understand and try to mitigate the impacts. Areas such as economics, sociology, engineering, material science, law and public policy will need to join the community. 

Reading to Write

Translating Numbers into Words: The Art of Writing About Data Science

UC Berkeley Statistics Professor Deborah Nolan readily admits that writing is difficult for her, as well for many of her students. To help students and others better communicate their research, Nolan and UC Berkeley Ph.D. Sara Stoudt teamed up to teach a class in writing about statistics. This month, an article they wrote on the topic was published in Significance, the journal of the Royal Statistical Society, and in March 2021 their book "Communicating with Data: The Art of Writing for Data Science," will be published by the Oxford University Press.

DARPA

UC Berkeley Team Awarded DARPA Grant to Improve Development of Complex Cyber-Physical Systems

A UC Berkeley research team led by Prof. Sanjit Seshia has been awarded a four-year, $8.4M project by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to research artificial intelligence-based approaches that augment humans to perform correct-by-construction design of cyber-physical systems (CPS).

covid conversations sather

Pandemic provides real-time experiment for diagnosing, treating misinformation, disinformation

With the COVID-19 virus spiking worldwide and the need for accurate information about it more important than ever, four data science experts from UC Berkeley held an online discussion on the origins, amplification and impacts of the current infodemic of mis- and disinformation that is jeopardizing measures to control the pandemic.

Data Science in Undergraduate Economics Workshop

Exploring the Intersection of Teaching Undergraduate Data Science and Economics

Berkeley's Data Science Undergraduate Studies hosted a virtual workshop to bring together academic and corporate leaders actively innovating in the intersection of undergraduate data science and undergraduate economics education.