After attending the Indian Institute of Technology, Menuka Jaiswal knew she wanted to learn more about data science. This interest took her across the globe, where she attended School of Data Science and graduated in the class of 2020. In June, she began a job at Facebook as a data scientist.

Prior to starting their coursework, the School of Data Science offers a tech bootcamp to each new cohort of students. This involves learning about computer software, basic coding and language programming, and a hackathon.

With an interdisciplinary focus and collaboration at the heart of the School of Data Science, creating an opportunity for undergraduate students at the University to pursue an education in Data Science has been a goal for a long time. To achieve this, the School of Data Science has created a minor in Data Science, which was officially approved in May. Learn more.

Abhishek Suryawanshi is passionate about increasing the accessibility of healthcare information, specifically in rural India. He is the first visiting scholar hosted by the School of Data Science. Suryawanshi has been a Gates Foundation Scholar since 2010 and is currently the Director at Wikipedia SWASTHA.

The School of Data Science holds periodic discussions to explore areas of research collaboration. We call these events “Think-Grapple-Innovate-Fridays” or TGIF.  On June 12th, the School of Data Science held a TGIF on topics related to the ongoing protests against police brutality. Speakers from the community and across Grounds linked data science and data ethics to important national conversations.

This year, the sixth year of the MSDS program, is the first year the School was able to award need-based financial aid. The School of Data Science is giving over $150,000.

For their capstone project, James Howerton and Ben Schenck, graduates of the first cohort of the School of Data Science, assembled and distributed environmental sensors throughout Charlottesville, creating the first sensor network with Free and Open Source technologies in the region.

Feiyin Wu (MSDS '16) works at Nor1, a technology leader in the hotel industry, as a Senior Data Analyst/Data Product owner.

Oretha Domfeh, Chirag Kulkarni, Ronak Rijhwani, Arshiya Ansari, and Surbhi Singh, all students in the incoming 2021 MSDS cohort, landed incredible, competitive internships this summer. With the first ever pilot program, they are all able to work these internships and begin the MSDS program.

Daniel Mietchen, researcher at the School of Data Science, and Jundong Li, researcher with a joint appointment in the School of Engineering and School of Data Science received a grant from the University of Virginia’s Global Infectious Diseases Institute to quantify the impact of data sharing on COVID-19.