University of Michigan

Rethinking Computer Science Education: Bringing Public Interest Technology into Undergraduate and Postdoctoral Training

We will rework UM’s undergraduate computer science curriculum to include sustained attention to social, moral, equity, and policy dimensions of data and technology, with help from a postdoctoral fellow who will bridge academic units, receive PIT training, and build supply and demand for PIT faculty.

Strengthening PIT Career Pathways for Persons of Color: A Knowledge Network and Experiential Learning Approach

This project seeks to strengthen career pathways into PIT for historically underrepresented communities through the expansion of our year one experiential learning course and a partnership with the Public Policy and International Affairs (PPIA) program Junior Summer Institutes (JSIs). The project will also create a PIT-UN Knowledge Network learning platform (PIT-UN KN) to further support the career pathways and career placement of students and create a general PIT network resource to encourage new ideas, foster collaborations, and incentivize resource- and information-sharing among network members.

Career Pipeline/Placement

Funded Project 

We aim to identify the PIT career paths and constraints faced by persons of color. To accomplish this, we will conduct an analysis of nationwide employment data, and host workshops for PIT social entrepreneurs of color. Students will support this aim via an experiential learning course in the winter.

Principal Investigator

Robert Hampshire, Associate Professor of Public Policy and Research Associate Professor, U-M Transportation Research Institute’s (UMTRI) Human Factors group and Michigan Institute for Data Science (MIDAS)