The Computing Essentials for Social Scientists training program invites Ph.D. students in social science and related programs at Northwestern University to apply for a summer training and mentoring program to build their skills in data science methods and the tools for computational social science.
Admitted graduate students will receive a $1500 stipend after completing 7 training half-day workshops and related homework focused on the core skills for successful scientific computing. Upon completion of the training, students will also be eligible for pairing with faculty projects from a related grant program.
The training program will begin in the second half of June and will be led by NU Data Science Scholars and social scientists Chris Skovron and Jon Atwell. The initial workshops will introduce the basics of scientific computing. Trainees will then complete at least seven half-day tutorials in Research Computing Services’ summer workshops and associated lab/homework activities. Topics will include introductions to R and Python, as well as more advanced data analysis skills in both languages. Students will have some flexibility in their choices of workshops based on their research interests and experience with coding. In additional to classroom time, trainees will receive one-on-one mentoring. Workshops will continue through late July.
At the end of the summer, trainees may have to opportunity to be matched with faculty PIs who are awarded seed grants from through the affiliated Data Science Development Grant program. These grants will fund one to two quarters for students to serve as research assistants for the faculty PIs.
Applications are now closed.Â
Frequently Asked Questions
I’m not enrolled in a PhD-level social science program. Am I eligible to apply to join CESS?
Unfortunately not. Eligibility is restricted to PhD-level students in the social sciences because it is a pilot program and space is limited. However, many of the workshops will be hosted in conjunction with Research Computing Services and will be open to all NU affiliated students or staff. Those workshops will be announced here and on the Research Computing Services website once they are scheduled.
What is required to successfully complete the program (and be paid the stipend)?
The only requirement is to attend at least 7 of the 10+ workshops affiliated with the program. Three of those workshops must be the core Computing Essentials workshops led by the program coordinators Chris Skovron and Jon Atwell. You are welcome to attend more and engage the program coordinators for programming-related mentoring. For the final four workshops, you can choose from the nearly dozen others.
What topics will be covered in the workshops?
The Computing Essentials workshops will cover the things experienced computationally-oriented scientists wished they’d know when they first started. This includes things like the basic distinctions in computer and programming architectures, essential terms, best commenting, workflow, and code maintenance practices, and more. Other Research Computing Services workshops will include language agnostic topics like introductions to the command line, Github, databases, and workflow. Then the Python series will include a basic introduction to Python and then introductions to import Python packages: Pandas (database), Numpy/Scipy (scientific analysis tools), visualization, APIs and scraping, Sklearn (machine learning) and using text as data. The R series will include an introduction to R and introductions to tidyverse, Shiny, visualization, and statistics and machine learning models.
What are the dates of the workshops?
The starting sequence of the three mandatory workshops will be the mornings of June 18th, 20th and 21st. The other workshops will start in the last week of June, occur mostly in July, and wrap up in early August. Those sessions are in the process of being scheduled. The finalized dates will be posted here and on the Research Computing Service website soon(ish).
What exactly is this business about having an opportunity to join a faculty-led research project?
The Computing Essentials training program has a companion grant program as a part of the broader the Data Science in the Social Sciences program. This Data Science Development Grants program will provide early-stage social-science-faculty projects support to hire graduate student research assistants. Students who have completed the Computing Essentials program will be strong candidates for those positions and winning projects will be encourage to hire trainees. The hiring decision, however, is ultimately up to the faculty member(s).
When would I get paid the stipend?
While we understand that getting money at the start of summer is often more helpful, stipends will not be paid until the requirements are met. This won’t happen until the end of July or even early August. Processing payments can also take time so trainees should not count on having the money until early September.