Data, Information and Society

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Data, Information and Society

Learn more about 糖心TVections, 糖心TV's innovative new curriculum.

Explore how society uses and interacts with data to understand and navigate the world.

Humans have always used data to help them understand and navigate the world. In recent years, advances in technology, computing power and internet accessibility have rapidly increased the importance of data on a societal level. Today, data can be gathered and applied to address almost anything, from science to politics and sports to literature.

In this Pathway, students will develop data literacy and learn to interpret and analyze data themselves. They will acquire the skills to use data to draw inferences, make informed judgements and decisions, and clearly communicate. They will explore the ways society uses and interacts with data to form evidence-based arguments; the relationship between data, privacy and morality; the role of data in social justice; the rapidly expanding role of big data in both the public and private sectors; and how data analysis, like any tool, can be used in unethical ways that may ultimately undermine knowledge.

While students construct their own animating questions, some recent examples include:

What role does big data play in the ethical decisions made in the medical industry?
How can we develop unbiased and non-discriminatory machine learning algorithms?
How has the psychology of economic decision-making been influenced through big data?
How can data analysis inform healthier positive marketing strategies for consumer products within marginalized communities?
How has our society created a world in which women earn significantly less than men?
How much information can be found about people for free using the internet?

Thematic Inquiry

This course introduces the use of data as means to create information and knowledge in a variety of contexts. Students will learn about data analysis, the responsible use of data, data collection in their own lives, and how to communicate results and findings. As part of the course, students will identify an animating question or research theme to focus their future studies, global/local engagement and study away. Students will also complete a course that focuses on data analysis and interpretation of data, ideally prior to completing the Thematic Inquiry seminar.

Student Profiles

Kendall Foley

Examining Agent-Centered Deontological Approaches to Data Science

Kendall, a philosophy major and data science and statistics minor from Sammamish, Washington, joined the Data, Information and Society Pathway after taking a 鈥淧sychological Statistics鈥� course at 糖心TV.

鈥淚 was intrigued by how this branch of data analysis attempted to capture different aspects of human experience, as well as the philosophical questions and concerns that came with this practice,鈥� Kendall said.

The experience has allowed her to explore data science from a variety of perspectives. For example, while studying abroad at the University of Edinburgh, Kendall took a 鈥淭heology in the Age of Technology鈥� course, exploring approaches to data science and AI within Christianity.

鈥淕aining an understanding of how identity can shape approaches to data science led me to my Symposium topic,鈥� she said.

As a sophomore, Kendall was awarded a Funded Sophomore Research Program grant to conduct research at the Yang-Tan Institute of Cornell University Industrial and Labor Relations School. This past summer, she interned at BlackRock as a summer analyst with the analytics, insights and research team.

On campus, Kendall is co-captain of the women鈥檚 water polo team, chair of the Philosophy Student Advisory Board, a team representative for One Love, and a lead fellow for the Office of Student Accessibility Services.

At the Symposium, Kendall will present a poster. 鈥淚 hope my audience will further question the purported objective nature of quantitative analysis and reflect on the role that identity may play as it relates to feelings of duty and responsibility within day-to-day life,鈥� she said.

After graduation, Kendall will return to BlackRock as a full-time analyst. 鈥淚n my career, I hope to continue to explore the intersection of technology and ethics, particularly as it relates to research within the field of future of work,鈥� she said.

Sana Bhat ’26

Data, Information and Society Pathway

Global/Local Engagement

Global and local engagement options are limitless, as the use of data to facilitate evidence-based decision-making is relevant—and likely beneficial—in nearly any context. A student with an interest in architectural studies might use data visualization techniques while studying well-known buildings abroad, for example, while another student might complete an internship with a company that manages large data sets. Students could work in private, public or academic research labs anywhere in the world, or partner with a community organization to analyze local food distribution and usage. Data analysis and interpretation might be employed in any off-campus organization, either locally or globally.

Senior Reflection

In this two-credit seminar, students will focus on their experiences with data-related work in the Pathway, prepare to present at the All-College Symposium and consider how they may apply their knowledge of data and data analysis in the future.

Pathway Courses

All students in the Pathway will complete at least three Pathway courses, based on their specific interests and animating questions. Examples include:

With approval from the Pathway coordinator, you can apply virtually any course to your Pathway. These courses have been preapproved.

Pathway Coordinator

Jason Nier, Associate Professor of Psychology

Jason A. Nier

Professor of Psychology 鈥� Data, Information, and Society Pathway Co-Coordinator

Jason Nier is a social psychologist whose research focuses primarily on intergroup relations. As a result, he is concerned with the psychological processes that are responsible for prejudice and discrimination, and the processes through which biases may be reduced.

Jason Nier

Jeff Moher

Associate Professor of Psychology, Co-Chair of the Department of Psychology, Data, Information, and Society Pathway Co-Coordinator

Jeff Moher is a psychologist whose research uses behavioral and neurophysiological methods to understand why distractions occur, when they are likely to arise, and what mechanisms humans can harness to avoid them.

Jeff Moher

Core Faculty & Staff

Lyndsay Bratton

Digital Scholarship and Visual Resources Librarian

Ozgur Izmirli

Professor of Computer Science

Ozgur Izmirli explores new technologies to help create, understand, analyze, organize, experience and perform works in the arts with a focus on music. His research interests are concentrated in models for music understanding, music information retrieval, digital signal processing related to music audio, music perception and cognition modeling, multi-modal computer-user interfaces and real-time interactive music technology. Professor Izmirli has over 55 peer reviewed publications in conference proceedings and journals. More specifically he has devised several models for key finding and modulation detection. His key finding algorithm ranked first in the independent MIREX evaluation in 2005.

Priya Kohli

Professor of Statistics, Chair of the Mathematics and Statistics Department, Chair of the Faculty Steering and Conference Committee

Professor Kohli’s work is driven by her passion for instilling statistically-informed thinking and making meaningful contributions. Her research, which is not just about theoretical beauty but also about practical utility, is making a significant impact. Priya Kohli's expertise spans various statistical and interdisciplinary research areas. She is particularly skilled in faculty salary modeling, covariance estimation, longitudinal data analysis, spatial random fields, and biostatistics. Her research also addresses challenges arising in interdisciplinary research in Ischemic hepatitis, RNA-seq, healthcare, and environmental sciences, demonstrating the practical relevance of her work. Her research accomplishments include various publications, U.S. and European patents, and being a speaker at several prestigious statistics and data science conferences. Drawing students into research is also at the core of her mission as an educator and researcher. She makes her research accessible to undergraduates and has several peer-reviewed articles with undergraduate students as co-authors.

Yong Jin Park

Associate Professor of Economics

Yongjin Park's short-term research interest is to understand and explain the social inequalities, especially income inequality and disadvantages of the poor, in a credit market. Park teaches the following: Core courses: Financial Markets and Institutions, Econometrics I; upper-level courses: Corporate Finance, Economics of Conflict and Cooperation Seminar.

Andrea Wollensak

Professor of Art

In her work, Andrea Wollensak combines new media technology and traditional design and fabrication to explore the convergence of place, identity, and history through site-based art works. Her works are interdisciplinary and she co-creates with many collaborators including community partners, computer scientists, musicians, poets, and scientists. Specific themes in her work include place-based narratives, environment, and memory, which she adapts to a range of artistic forms including audio/video, interactive installations, data visualization, artist books, and digitally fabricated forms.

Yan Zhuang

Associate Professor of Statistics

Yan Zhuang specializes in the areas of sequential analysis, sampling strategies, sample size determination, and statistical inference. She also enjoys working with people from other disciplines to conduct interdisciplinary research. Her current interdisciplinary collaboration projects include violations of drinking water quality and Medicare quality analysis.

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