The Michigan Data Science Team: A Data Science Education Program with Significant Social Impact

One role of universities is to provide students with the practical knowledge necessary to address broad societal needs. The growing field of data science has the potential to address many of these needs, primarily due to recent efforts to collect large amounts of data related to social, environmental, and political issues. A challenge is that there exists a disconnect between these real-world issues and the course materials taught to university students. This gap is due in part to a lack of engagement between universities and their local communities, leaving students with few opportunities to work with datasets relevant to real-world problems. To address this disconnect, the authors have implemented a novel data science education and outreach program in which students acquire new knowledge and skills while creating positive social impact through community service. In this work, we outline this outreach program, the Michigan Data Science Team, and provide empirical evidence of positive educational and social impact.