This summer, the Department offered several short courses to enhance and improve student training in data science. Math Camp, traditionally a two-week program, was extended for the first time to include coursework throughout the full summer. Students also participated in a short course on spatial statistics taught by Scott Cook from Texas A&M University.
Summer training opportunities concluded with an intensive Python programming course that covered essential topics in data science and programming. Students learned object-oriented programming, error handling, web scraping, and the use of APIs. They also covered topics in machine learning and data management with SQL. The course culminated in a poster session where students presented projects that applied these skills to a diverse array of research topics, including the impact of transgender rights on anti-trans violence globally, measuring electoral personalism in Latin America, and the influence of military bases on women’s representation in Japan.
We also had four of our graduate students (Aaron Du, Abbie Eastman, Jie Ma, and Shuren Zheng) participate in an applied formal theory workshop over the summer. The workshop was focused on student research and featured original and promising work on topics such as information disclosure in criminal justice settings, escalation in protests, and oversight of local corruption by central governments. A similar workshop was co-planned and offered at Yale University by Ian Turner, a WashU Ph.D. alumnus and current Assistant Professor at Yale. The workshops were run separately, but in the Spring, there will be a joint virtual session at which students can connect and present completed papers.
Summer training opportunities concluded with an intensive Python programming course that covered essential topics in data science and programming. Students learned object-oriented programming, error handling, web scraping, and the use of APIs. They also covered topics in machine learning and data management with SQL. The course culminated in a poster session where students presented projects that applied these skills to a diverse array of research topics, including the impact of transgender rights on anti-trans violence globally, measuring electoral personalism in Latin America, and the influence of military bases on women’s representation in Japan.
We also had four of our graduate students (Aaron Du, Abbie Eastman, Jie Ma, and Shuren Zheng) participate in an applied formal theory workshop over the summer. The workshop was focused on student research and featured original and promising work on topics such as information disclosure in criminal justice settings, escalation in protests, and oversight of local corruption by central governments. A similar workshop was co-planned and offered at Yale University by Ian Turner, a WashU Ph.D. alumnus and current Assistant Professor at Yale. The workshops were run separately, but in the Spring, there will be a joint virtual session at which students can connect and present completed papers.