Daniel Gillen
University of California-Irvine, CA·Education Research
Statistics and data science offer many well-paid careers and face a workforce shortage, but many of these careers need a graduate degree, which can be a major hurdle for low-income students. This collaborative project across seven West Coast universities, including UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara, the University of Washington and several California State University campuses, studies and supports how high-achieving, low-income students move through statistics and data science degrees into graduate school and careers.
- Fields
Education Research
Mathematics & Statistics
Social Science
- Topics
statistics education
data science education
low-income students
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Sep 2028
What they work on
- Provide cohort-based scholarships for up to three years to about 115 low-income statistics and data science undergraduates across seven universities, continuing support for at least 65 into graduate study.
- Prepare scholars for statistics and data science careers through mentoring, a directed reading program, undergraduate research and a pre-graduate summer bootcamp.
- Study through surveys and interviews how counterspaces, supportive peer communities, develop and help low-income scholars progress toward their academic and career goals.
- Examine how scholars' community cultural wealth and their low-income status and other identities shape these communities and influence their choices and outcomes.
More about the research
The program will give scholarships to about 115 low-income undergraduates in statistics and data science, and continue support for at least 65 of them through two years of graduate study. Scholars receive faculty and peer mentoring, a yearly meeting across all seven schools, a small-group directed reading program, shared coursework that builds cohort community, undergraduate research opportunities, and help preparing for graduate school, including a pre-graduate summer bootcamp. Alongside the program, the team will use surveys and interviews to study three themes: how counterspaces, supportive communities where students feel they belong, form and help scholars reach their goals; how students' community cultural wealth, the strengths and resources they bring from their backgrounds, shapes and is shaped by these communities; and how low-income status and other identities influence these communities and students' choices and outcomes.
Why it matters
Low-income students with strong academic records often face financial barriers to the graduate degrees that statistics and data science careers require. This work could help universities design scholarships, mentoring and community-building programs that keep these students in STEM, while producing evidence on how supportive communities and students' own cultural strengths affect graduation and career paths.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
David Lipke
Missouri University of Science and Technology, MO·Education Research
Increase degree completion among about 45 academically talented, low-income ceramic and glass engineering undergraduates at three universities by providing scholarships of up to $15,000 for up to five years.
Jingru Benner
Western New England University, MA·Education Research
Provide four-year scholarships to two cohorts of low-income, high-achieving mechanical engineering students and track their retention and graduation.
Jane Lehr
California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo, CA·Education Research
Test whether scholarship program activities grow transfer students' social networks, resilience, confidence and sense of belonging, using social network analysis, surveys and qualitative interviews.
The school
University of California-Irvine: 46 labs on PI Pages, $645M a year on research, 524 research doctorates a year.
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