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CDSS’ Jennifer Chayes Receives 2020 ACM Distinguished Service Award

Jennifer Tour Chayes, Associate Provost for the Division of Computing, Data Science, and Society (CDSS) at the University of California, Berkeley, is the recipient of the 2020 ACM Distinguished Service Award for her effective leadership, mentorship, and dedication to diversity during her distinguished career of computer science research, teaching, and institution building.

Two Data-Driven Projects Led By Berkeley Students Named Finalists in Big Idea Contest

When this year’s six Big Idea finalists were announced on May 27th, 2021, two data driven projects involving Berkeley students were among them. Each project named as a finalist receives $5,000 to support the team’s work. The two Berkeley teams are also the recipients of a new special prize, the CDSS Discovery Award, presented by the Division of Computing, Data Science, and Society (CDSS). Jennifer Chayes, Associate Provost for CDSS, decided to create the prizes, which award $10,000 to each team, since both finalist projects have strong data science aspects.

Tiffany Lohwater Joins CDSS as Chief Communications Officer

Tiffany Lohwater, who served as the Chief Communications Officer and Director for the Office of Communications at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), joined CDSS as its new Chief Communications Officer on May 17.

Register Now for the 2021 National Workshop on Data Science Education

UC Berkeley will host its fourth annual National Workshop on Data Science Education for data science instructors on June 14-18. The free workshop, to be held online, is organized by Berkeley’s Division of Computing, Data Science, and Society with support from Microsoft and the West Big Data Innovation Hub.

2021 CDSS Commencement Ceremonies Like No Others, Ending a Year Like No Other

In the wake of the 2019-20 school year, which ended with a pandemic-inflicted ban on graduations, UC Berkeley is allowing this year’s graduates to cap the year in much the same way they experienced it -- online. Each of the campus entities comprising the Division of Computing, Data Science, and Society (CDSS) will mark the occasion a bit differently. The celebrations began on Saturday, May 15, the awarding of Bachelor’s degrees in Data Science, the largest of the groups, and concluded with Statistics on Friday, May 21.

EECS Professor Emeritus David Culler Receives 2021 Berkeley Citation Award

David Culler, the Friesen Professor of Computer Science, Emeritus at UC Berkeley, and founding Dean of the Division of Data Sciences is the recipient of the Berkeley Citation Award - one of the university's highest honors. The Berkeley Citation is awarded to a variety of distinguished individuals or organizations, academic or nonacademic, whose contributions to UC Berkeley go beyond the call of duty and whose achievements exceed the standards of excellence in their fields.

Data Science Undergrads Class of 2021 Feted in Online Commencement

For the 668 UC Berkeley students who received their Data Science bachelor’s degrees on Saturday, May 15, it was a graduation day like no other, coming on the heels of an academic year like no other. Due to pandemic restrictions, students and their families celebrated their graduation via the program’s first-ever virtual commencement premiering Youtube. The ceremony featured commencement speakers, student and faculty awards, and a surprise appearance by Cal mascot Oski the Bear.

Sandrine Dudoit Named Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics

UC Berkeley Statistics Department Chair and Professor Sandrine Dudoit has been named a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (IMS). She was one of 41 IMS Fellows selected in 2021.

John DeNero of EECS Named CDSS Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies

John DeNero, an Associate Teaching Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS), has been named the new Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies for the Division of Computing, Data Science, and Society at UC Berkeley. He takes on the position with the retirement of Professor Deb Nolan.

After 35 Years at UC Berkeley, CDSS Associate Dean Deb Nolan to Retire

At the end of 2019, Deb Nolan was looking forward to retirement; traveling, doing some serious work in her garden and taking on part-time projects with campus. But when she was she was asked to stay on as the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education in the nascent Division of Computing, Data Science, and Society (CDSS) by Associate Provost Jennifer Chayes, she saw it as a fantastic opportunity to continue shaping the Data Science program she helped create.

Data Forward: CDSS in the Harvard Data Science Review

We’re excited that the Harvard Data Science Review (HDSR),(link is external) an award-winning journal and a leading voice for data science, is spotlighting the UC Berkeley Division of Computing, Data Science, and Society (CDSS) and its leadership of data science at Berkeley and throughout the UC system.

EECS Professor Michael Jordan Named Foreign Member of the Royal Society

Michael I. Jordan, the Pehong Chen Distinguished Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and the Department of Statistics at the University of California, Berkeley, has been named one of 10 Foreign Members to the Royal Society. In all, just 62 scientists from around the world were named Royal Society members this year.

1st ACM Conference on Equity and Access in Algorithms, Mechanisms, and Optimization (EAAMO ’21)

Virtual, October 5-9, 2021 | Submission deadline: June 3rd, 2021

The inaugural ACM conference on Equity and Access in Algorithms, Mechanisms, and Optimization (EAAMO ’21) aims to highlight work where techniques from algorithms, optimization, and mechanism design, along with insights from other disciplines, can help improve equity and access to opportunity for historically disadvantaged and underserved communities.

The conference is organized by the Mechanism Design for Social Good (MD4SG) initiative, and builds on the MD4SG technical workshop series and tutorials at conferences including ACM EC, ACM COMPASS, and WINE.

EAAMO ’21 will feature keynote presentations and panels and contributed presentations on research papers, surveys, problem pitches, datasets, and software demonstrations.

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.

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.

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...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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