Daba Coura Mbow
Cam Mcleman, associate professor of mathematics, is the incoming director of the new Institute for Data Engineering, Analytics, and Science (IDEAS) at the University of Michigan-Flint. As an undergrad at Harvey Mudd College, McLeman’s interests varied widely and he alternatingly pursued computer science, math, and physics. Dr. McLeman’s love of mathematics eventually won out and culminated in a Ph.D. in number theory at the University of Arizona. Recently his passions have expanded, circling back to data science and placing hands-on data analytics projects in front of students. “There is an amazing amount of mathematics in data science”, McLeman offers, “and it’s often invisible in the sense that when people think of data science, they typically think only of spreadsheets and computers.” Part of the motivation for IDEAS is to foster a more all-encompassing view of data science. Dr. McLeman argues that data science is pervasive in every field of study, both in higher education and the private sector, where businesses try to make sense of overwhelming volumes of data.
Working with ORED leadership, IDEAS will partner with local businesses, academic, and government partners to learn about their needs and provide data consulting and training services. The main goal is to serve as a campus-wide data science resource center for various data-related needs, including student support services, data analysis and management, and a point of contact for the campus with external partners. The institute will serve as a training ground for students and faculty development, who will have the opportunity to engage with real-world data science projects, to assist institute partners with research projects and problem-solving. A major ambition of the new institute is also to generate a portfolio of funded research based on the expertise of affiliated faculty and help support the faculty in the proposal writing for grant-funded research.
Local governments, businesses, and community organizations that don’t have the internal resources to hire a dedicated data scientist will be able to turn to the institute’s students and faculty for advice on data analysis projects and needs. Data science, McLeman offers, is a “feedback loop” that serves the needs of the project teams and leadership and aligns with the shift to active learning in higher education. It brings together domain expertise from programming, mathematics, and statistics to create insights and make sense of data. Data science is in high demand. Here at UM-Flint, we have students and faculty in many disciplines who are experts in that domain, and harnessing that expertise by making connections across disciplines will grow shared knowledge and skills in data science. It also reaches into many other academic fields. “An example might be in the field of English, where one remarkable application of data science is in historical document retrieval, for learning handwriting, deducing document authorship, and language processing.”
Initially, the vision for IDEAS focuses on the impact on students. Projects will have a faculty lead and serve either as a senior capstone class or serve as the basis for work-study projects or research assistantships. McLeman reflects, “We’re just getting started… anyone with an interesting idea can bring it to us and if you’ve got energy and passion to work on something, we’ll try to support that.” As the institute takes shape, and the skills of its members grow, it promises to serve an ever-expanding demand for data science both on and off campus.
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