Central Virginia isn’t new to Brian Wright, an Assistant Professor with the School of Data Science and the UVA School of Education and Human Development, as he grew up about an hour from campus and has a family farm in Harrisonburg Virginia.

However, being part of the new School of Data Science at the University of Virginia comes with new, exciting challenges for Brian and his peers.

Before Brian transferred to Charlottesville, he lived in Tennessee and then Washington, D.C. “During the day I was learning how to do predictive analyses, quantitative based stuff, and then at night, I was getting a theory-based education in the field of education,” Brian described about his course of study at the University of Tennessee. “I was the first student in the graduate school to ever use an open source tool for their dissertation.”

During his time in graduate school, Brian became more and more aware of data science’s potential to answer questions that have gone unsolved for decades. Following his graduation from the University of Tennessee, Brian began teaching data science at George Washington University. There he helped build a Masters in Data Science Program and start a Data Science Institute. “We knew we had a great thing on our hands,” he said, fully aware of the inter-disciplinary nature of the institute and the field of data science.

As the summer of 2019 drew to a close, Brian arrived in Charlottesville to help start the School of Data Science at UVA. “The academic environment [here] really offers you a lot of intellectual freedom,” he said.

“Part of the reason I came down to Virginia, to UVA, is because of the nature of the openness of the school,” Brian continued. “Given the opportunity to come down and build a connection between and the UVA School of Education and Human Development – which is already an amazing school – and the School of Data Science is just a dream come true for me. There’s so much potential there.”

“I hope people will say at the end of the day that the creation of the School of Data Science moved the field of data science forward in a positive way by creating a best in class example.”

The idea of unity across the School of Data Science and other schools at UVA that Brian discussed is built into the school’s mission and was part of Dean Phil Bourne’s initial pitch to President Jim Ryan.

As for Brian’s goals with the school and its work with the UVA School of Education and Human Development, “it’s about knowing what questions have already been answered and what questions to ask,” he said. There are many areas in which the field of education can benefit from Data Science methods, building on years of previous research by adding a different perspective to long standing problems. Applying data science methods offers a new way forward and around the preexisting obstacles.

“We know that the more students engage with a campus, the more likely they are to graduate.” Brian sees how data science can be used in the field and knows that these methods offer so much untapped potential. “There’s no reason you couldn’t have a smart campus that is orientated toward student success.”

Brian hopes to see the School of Data Science collaborate with the other resources at UVA to progress toward a better future. “I hope people will say at the end of the day that the creation of the School of Data Science moved the field of data science forward in a positive way by creating a best in class example.”

Profile by Connor Masterson

Brian Wright

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