The second week of eScience’s Data Science for Social Good summer program kicked off with the arrival students from Alliances for Learning and Vision for Underrepresented Americans (ALVA), a program that targets underrepresented students in a variety of disciplines for summer internships. The aim of ALVA is to give students first-hand, quality experiences to prepare them for careers in the growing field of data science. As part of our DSSG program, each ALVA student has been assigned to work with one of four teams conducting research on a number of social issues, ranging from homelessness to transit access for people with disabilities.

Following team introductions the ALVA students participated in a campus-wide photo scavenger hunt, taking group photos in front of iconic UW landmarks including Sylvan Grove and the Suzzallo Library. As you can see for the pics below, it was a great time and a perfect way to meet their fellow DSSG participants.

The week followed with a number of tutorials from our eScience data scientists, covering everything from coding objects in Python, to object-oriented design and programming, to an overview of SciPy. With all four DSSG projects coming into full swing, the days are busy and the WRF Data Science Studio is buzzing.