DataLab is a data science for social justice summer fellowship program based at the University of the South, Sewanee. It's a project-based training program, designed to produce responsible data scientists by engaging university students in solving real-world social impact problems in collaboration with governments and nonprofits. Aspiring data scientists from all over the country apply to come to Sewanee for a competitive full time paid fellowship and sharpen their data science skills specifically on projects in the social good domain.
Past fellows have had different skill profiles and backgrounds, yet everyone has had a passion for making a social impact. While some have had stronger math and computing skills, others had strong skills in the humanities and social sciences. We are proud to say that our fellows represent a diversity of majors including political science, economics, physics, computer science, data science, geography, history, finance, biology, creative writing, and global studies.
This summer, 23 DataLab students from 5 universities are hard at work using data science to explore and address 5 pressing problems: voter disenfranchisement in Tennessee, the spread of disinformation online, bus route efficiency in Franklin County, equitable finance in Middle Tennessee, and malaria eradication in Mozambique and Kenya.
“DataLab was a fantastic partner for our organization! They helped SCSMP to surface that which lives below our intuition - the team asked the right questions, challenged our assumptions, and helped me, as a program director, think critically about what the patterns and trends were telling us, and plan efficiently for the future.”
"Our work has promoted real social change, and the purpose of our project really resonated with all of us. The work we've done will help move the Zanmi Kafe Project forward and help to reduce Sewanee's impact on the environment" Caroline Willett, C'23 was part of the Carbon Sequestration team, DataLab 2021
DataLab has had the honor to train a total of 81 interns over the course of only four summers.
DataLab fellows have worked on 19 community projects over the course of three summers.
In just four summers, DataLab has collaborated with 13 other universities and still envisions expanding the alliance even further to more universities.
Providing Free Summer Meals to Children Ages 2-18 in Grundy County and Surrounding Areas
Leading the Community in Making Homelessness Rare, Brief, and Nonrecurring
Offering Integrated and Holistic Health Care, Comprehensive Wellness Outreach, and Peer Health Education for Students
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