South Big Data Hub is partnering with Data Science for Social Good- Atlanta to bring nine graduate students from various southern states to participate in a ten-week paid internship experience. The program would place undergraduate and graduate students in multidisciplinary teams to work under the supervision of a Georgia Tech faculty mentor on a problem that comes from a local government or nonprofit partner in the Atlanta metro area. Mentors from the local data science practitioner community will provide additional guidance and support.
DSSG-ATL is in its third year of successful engagement and has consistently attracted more than a hundred student applications. The program has engaged student interns with diverse academic backgrounds including computer science, statistics, digital media, public policy, civil engineering, industrial engineering and urban planning, as well as diverse demographic backgrounds including underrepresented groups. For example, the participation of women in the three years of DSSG-ATL has been 31-44%.
During the first week of the summer program, students will participate in hands-on tutorials in data analytics, web stack development, spatial information, and geographic information systems. During the remaining weeks, students work with government and nonprofit partners to design data-driven solutions. They also attend weekly seminars with invited speakers from academia and industry on various technical topics as well as on prominent examples of the use of data for good. At the end of the program, the teams communicate their work to a broad audience at a final presentation event, which usually attracts 100-200 guests from across the city, region, and across different sectors, including data scientists, local companies, nonprofits, agencies, and organizations.
Thus, the goal of the DSSG program is to give students an opportunity to solve a real problem in a real context and to give partners an opportunity to tap into the skills and ingenuity of a student team. To become a DSSG sponsor or student intern, see past projects, or apply visit: www.dssg-atl.io
