Researchers involved in the Arkansas NSF EPSCoR DART program met in September at the Data Analytics that are Robust and Trusted (DART) All Hands Meeting and Student Poster Competition in Springdale.

Amy Hoang and Samuel Trout won first place in the Undergraduate Poster Competition at the conference. Hoang and Trout's project, developed with help from their faculty adviser Karl Schubert, involved creating a series of data science case studies for both two-year and four-year institutions to utilize, focusing on practical applications and real-world scenarios tailored to students' concentrations and skill sets. Their work helps the data science educational ecosystem, which is being developed and deployed across the state to ensure uniformity across all institutions to allow a "start anywhere, finish anywhere" pathway. Hoang and Trout's award-winning poster earned them a prize of $1,500 each to be used toward attending a future conference of their choice.

Vasavi Surisetty, a graduate assistant of the DART project, won first place in the Graduate Poster Competition during the conference. Surisetty's poster, titled "Enhancing the Data Science Education Ecosystem: A Collaborative Approach to Seamless Two-Year College Transfers in Arkansas," entails the grant's continuous work in establishing the 2+ program with colleges and universities across the state. This work is important to the overall DART project, as it helps bring students of all backgrounds and financial needs the opportunity to receive an education in data science. Surisetty's award-winning poster earned her a prize of $1,500 to be used toward attending a future conference of her choice.  

Karl Schubert, associate director of the Data Science Program, said, "I am very proud of Amy, Sam and Vasavi for their contribution to our statewide data science ecosystem, 'Data Science for Arkansas,' as recognized by their winning posters. Their work is helping us and our two-year and four-year data science program partners fully establish their programs across the state of Arkansas."

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About the NSF EPSCoR DART-Education Theme: The Arkansas NSF EPSCoR program is a multi-institutional, interdisciplinary, statewide grant program leveraging $24 million over five years to expand research, workforce development, and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) educational outreach in Arkansas. The DART project will establish a statewide data science educational ecosystem by defining a combination of model programs, degrees, pedagogy and curriculum, providing resources and training for K-20 educators, providing educational opportunities inside and outside the classroom for K-20 students, and ensuring broad participation to impact the state's pipeline of data science skilled workers.