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

Summary

STPP is collaborating with the College of Engineering, Michigan Institute for Data Science, and the Detroit Community Technology Project to reimagine the undergraduate computer science curriculum to include sustained attention to social, moral, equity, and policy dimensions of data and technology. The funded project focuses on both undergraduate and postdoctoral training in public interest technology.

The funded project focuses on both undergraduate and postdoctoral training in public interest technology. Postdoctoral fellow Johanna Okerlund received training in the equity, justice, and policy dimensions of data and technology, and alongside Parthasarathy and co-investigator H.V. Jagadish, professor of computer science and director of the Michigan Institute of Data Science, is helping rework University of Michigan’s undergraduate computer science curriculum to include sustained attention to social, moral, equity, and policy dimensions of data and technology. This project is unique because it will bring community concerns explicitly into curriculum development, through engagement with the Detroit Community Technology Project.

University of Michigan’s undergraduate computer science department is the largest in the country, which will ensure that the project has broad impact.

Funding partners

This project has received a challenge grant from the Public Interest Technology University Network (PIT-UN), with additional support from the College of Engineering, Michigan Institute for Data Science, and the Ford School of Public Policy.