I'll be spending the summer in Chicago doing data science for social good

12 Apr 2016

A quick update on some career progression stuff. It’s been a couple of months since RC finished (it feels like an age) and I’ve been applying to a few jobs and internships. I was delighted to find out recently that I’ve been awarded a place on Data Science for Social Good, a summer fellowship funded by the Eric and Wendy Schmidt foundation and run by the University of Chicago. In their own words:

The Eric & Wendy Schmidt Data Science for Social Good Fellowship is a University of Chicago summer program to train aspiring data scientists to work on data mining, machine learning, big data, and data science projects with social impact. Working closely with governments and nonprofits, fellows take on real-world problems in education, health, energy, public safety, transportation, economic development, international development, and more.

For three months in Chicago they learn, hone, and apply their data science, analytical, and coding skills, collaborate in a fast-paced atmosphere, and learn from mentors coming from industry and academia.

I’ve known about this programme for some time and applied unsuccessfully last year, so it feels great to have a place this year. Whereas previous programmes I’ve done this year (S2DS and RC) were mostly about experience and skill building, DSSG is also an opportunity to become acquainted with how data science works in a particular field: namely, in the social good realm. I know others who have done DSSG and have gotten a lot out of it, so I think that this is going to be a very valuable experience.

You can see my happy face on the 2016 fellows page!