[Corebotanyfaculty] Fwd: New "Computational Data Science" program at the academic senate

[Bpschair]

Hi all, I am forwarding an email from the CNAS Executive Committee regarding a proposed Data Science program in BCOE.  I encourage you to read the email exchange and weigh in at the upcoming Senate meeting on Tuesday at 1 pm.

patty

Patricia Springer
Professor and Chair, Department of Botany and Plant Sciences
University of California
Riverside, CA  92521

pspringer at ucr.edu<mailto:pspringer at ucr.edu>
bpschair at ucr.edu
951-827-4413 (Chair's office)
951-827-5785 (Faculty office)
http://plantbiology.ucr.edu



Begin forwarded message:

From: Janet Franklin <janet.franklin1 at gmail.com<mailto:janet.franklin1 at gmail.com>>
Subject: Fwd: New "Computational Data Science" program at the academic senate
Date: May 22, 2022 at 5:44:54 PM PDT
To: Bpschair <bpschair at ucr.edu<mailto:bpschair at ucr.edu>>

Hi Patty
Can this be forwarded to the faculty?
Thank you

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

From: Theodore Garland <theodore.garland at ucr.edu<mailto:theodore.garland at ucr.edu>>
Date: May 22, 2022 at 4:34:02 PM PDT
To: Denise Correll <denise.correll at ucr.edu<mailto:denise.correll at ucr.edu>>, CNASDEAN <cnasdean at ucr.edu<mailto:cnasdean at ucr.edu>>, Studentdeancnas <studentdeancnas at ucr.edu<mailto:studentdeancnas at ucr.edu>>, Adler Ray Dillman <adler.dillman at ucr.edu<mailto:adler.dillman at ucr.edu>>, Esra Kurum <esra.kurum at ucr.edu<mailto:esra.kurum at ucr.edu>>, LifeSciDean <lifescidean at ucr.edu<mailto:lifescidean at ucr.edu>>, Frederick Hamann <frederick.hamann at ucr.edu<mailto:frederick.hamann at ucr.edu>>, Hailing Jin <hailing.jin at ucr.edu<mailto:hailing.jin at ucr.edu>>, Janet Franklin <janet.franklin at ucr.edu<mailto:janet.franklin at ucr.edu>>, anand.ray at ucr.edu<mailto:anand.ray at ucr.edu>, PHYSCIdean <physcidean at ucr.edu<mailto:physcidean at ucr.edu>>, Quinn McFrederick <quinn.mcfrederick at ucr.edu<mailto:quinn.mcfrederick at ucr.edu>>, Richard J Debus <richard.debus at ucr.edu<mailto:richard.debus at ucr.edu>>, Richard J Hooley <richard.hooley at ucr.edu<mailto:richard.hooley at ucr.edu>>, agray at ucr.edu<mailto:agray at ucr.edu>, Stephen Robert Kane <stephen.kane at ucr.edu<mailto:stephen.kane at ucr.edu>>, Agdean <agdean at ucr.edu<mailto:agdean at ucr.edu>>, Helen May Regan <helen.regan at ucr.edu<mailto:helen.regan at ucr.edu>>, Wee Liang Gan <weeliang.gan at ucr.edu<mailto:weeliang.gan at ucr.edu>>, lsales at ucr.edu<mailto:lsales at ucr.edu>, Simon Groen <simong at ucr.edu<mailto:simong at ucr.edu>>, Paul De Ley <pdeley at ucr.edu<mailto:pdeley at ucr.edu>>, Rachel Alvarez <rachel.alvarez at ucr.edu<mailto:rachel.alvarez at ucr.edu>>, Ronda G Inzunza <ronda.inzunza at ucr.edu<mailto:ronda.inzunza at ucr.edu>>, Howard Judelson <howard.judelson at ucr.edu<mailto:howard.judelson at ucr.edu>>
Cc: Yehua Li <yehuali at ucr.edu<mailto:yehuali at ucr.edu>>, Bahram Mobasher <bahram.mobasher at ucr.edu<mailto:bahram.mobasher at ucr.edu>>
Subject: Fwd: New "Computational Data Science" program at the academic senate


Dear Members of the CNAS EC,
I would urge you to send this information on to the faculty within your departments.
Sincerely,
Ted Garland

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Yehua Li <yehuali at ucr.edu<mailto:yehuali at ucr.edu>>
Date: Sun, May 22, 2022 at 4:18 PM
Subject: Re: New "Computational Data Science" program at the academic senate
To: CNASDEAN <cnasdean at ucr.edu<mailto:cnasdean at ucr.edu>>, PHYSCIdean <physcidean at ucr.edu<mailto:physcidean at ucr.edu>>, Theodore Garland <theodore.garland at ucr.edu<mailto:theodore.garland at ucr.edu>>, Laura Sales <lsales at ucr.edu<mailto:lsales at ucr.edu>>, Esra Kurum <esra.kurum at ucr.edu<mailto:esra.kurum at ucr.edu>>, Kirill Shtengel <kirill.shtengel at ucr.edu<mailto:kirill.shtengel at ucr.edu>>, Dana Simmons <dana.simmons at ucr.edu<mailto:dana.simmons at ucr.edu>>, Kenneth Barish <kenneth.barish at ucr.edu<mailto:kenneth.barish at ucr.edu>>, Owen Long <owen.long at ucr.edu<mailto:owen.long at ucr.edu>>, <peter.atkinson at ucr.edu<mailto:peter.atkinson at ucr.edu>>, Bahram Mobasher <bahram.mobasher at ucr.edu<mailto:bahram.mobasher at ucr.edu>>
Cc: Statistics Senate Faculty <Statsenate at lists.ucr.edu<mailto:Statsenate at lists.ucr.edu>>

Dear Colleagues and CNAS leadership,

I would like to write to follow up with Bahram's message. I was told that the BCOE Dean is mobilizing all of their faculty to push this program through, so it is important for CNAS to consider the proper response. I would like to share the Statistics side of the story and past developments of the event.

This BCOE solo DS MS proposal has been out there for almost 2 years and it was revised and resubmitted last year. It has created a lot of friction between CS and Statistics, the two departments who worked closely to co-created the Data Science undergraduate program.

We were shocked and saddened when CS first decided to propose a DS master program alone in 2020. It is well-known that DS is interdisciplinary, and it is WRONG for CS/BCOE to claim it as their own territory. After the proposal was rejected by CNAS EC for the first time in early 2021, Jun Li and I from Statistics had a meeting with Vassilis and Christian from CS. We identified a few statistics courses in their proposed program, and suggested letting Statistics teach these classes and maintain the program as a collaboration between CS/ BCOE and Statistics/CNAS. We were then told BCOE already proposed those classes, would soon have them in their catalog, and had scheduled their own faculty to teach them. They had the entire program thought through and would not make fundamental changes.

As a compromise, Vassilis proposed to change the name of the program to 'Computational Data Science' and promised to help us develop a CNAS-led 'Analytical Data Science' when Statistics recovers from the headcount loss we were suffering. This was back in the summer of 2021, when Statistics lost 3 lecturers and a few faculty due to separation and retirement, and Dan had just become VPAP (we effectively lost another faculty member). The department had so few faculty and were stretched so thin, we had no strength to develop yet another program. We had an external undergraduate review in Spring 2021, where the review team also warned us that the department is on the brink of collapsing and we should not take on any new programs unless we get new hires. To show our goodwill to continue the existing collaboration with CS on the DS undergraduate program, and not letting our shortage-of-faculty situation stop a ready-to-go program, we decided not to stand in their way.

I later discussed these issues with our Divisional Dean Wadka. He told me any agreement such as what Vassilis promised me (CS lead a MS in Computational Data Science first, and Statistics lead a MS in Analytical Data Science when we recover our faculty size) needs to be reached at the Deans' level and written in a MOU, which I realize is the right way to go. Chairs and Directors come and go, any understanding between the two departments and the two colleges needs to be documented. Bahram's message also made me realize that Statistics is not alone in this fight, other important parties in CNAS also have a say in this matter!

Another recent development is that CS (lead by Mariam, Vassilis and others) and Statistics (lead by Analisa, Xinping and others) jointly secured a $1million NSF training grant, where part of the goal is to develop a pathway to DS Master degree. It makes it even more strange that CS will develop this MS program alone. This past couple of weeks, we just hired two excellent new faculty and our shortage-of-faculty crisis is also alleviated to an extent.

We would like to thank the CNAS leadership and our colleagues in the CNAS EC for their effort to keep us in the MS in Data Science program, where we rightfully belong. I hope after all these events, CS and Statistics should work together to develop a real data science program.

Best,
Yehua


Yehua Li
Professor & Chair of Statistics
University of California at Riverside


On Sun, May 22, 2022 at 3:03 PM Bahram Mobasher <mobasher at ucr.edu<mailto:mobasher at ucr.edu>> wrote:

Dear Yehua
Please feel free to send your message to the following list. Here I forward you my message.
Please feel free not to cc me on the email as your message should go independently from mine.
Best regards
Bahram

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Bahram Mobasher <mobasher at ucr.edu<mailto:mobasher at ucr.edu>>
Date: Sun, May 22, 2022 at 2:08 PM
Subject: New "Computational Data Science" program at the academic senate
To: CNASDEAN <cnasdean at ucr.edu<mailto:cnasdean at ucr.edu>>, PHYSCIdean <physcidean at ucr.edu<mailto:physcidean at ucr.edu>>, Theodore Garland <theodore.garland at ucr.edu<mailto:theodore.garland at ucr.edu>>, Laura Sales <lsales at ucr.edu<mailto:lsales at ucr.edu>>, Esra Kurum <esra.kurum at ucr.edu<mailto:esra.kurum at ucr.edu>>, Kirill Shtengel <kirill.shtengel at ucr.edu<mailto:kirill.shtengel at ucr.edu>>, Dana Simmons <dana.simmons at ucr.edu<mailto:dana.simmons at ucr.edu>>, Kenneth Barish <kenneth.barish at ucr.edu<mailto:kenneth.barish at ucr.edu>>, Owen Long <owen.long at ucr.edu<mailto:owen.long at ucr.edu>>, <peter.atkinson at ucr.edu<mailto:peter.atkinson at ucr.edu>>, Bahram Mobasher <bahram.mobasher at ucr.edu<mailto:bahram.mobasher at ucr.edu>>



Dear colleagues

I understand that Bourns College of Engineering (BCOE) has proposed a new Master degree program in "Computational Data Science" designed by the Computer Sciences department. The planning for this degree program has been opposed by the CNAS Executive committee for various reasons. I understand that the proposal is coming up for vote at the next Academic Senate meeting on Tuesday May 24. This prompted me to write this to provide some background regarding the history of Data Science Master degree program at UCR. A few years ago, I designed and led a Master of Data Science program as a part of the Master on-line (MSOL) program presented by BCOE. This degree program is still ongoing and has been very successful. There have been 292 students registered in the MSOL Data Science program over the last five years, with 95 students graduated so far. The MSOL Data Science program has generated a revenue of $9M since it started. The program is a joint effort between the Statistics, Physics, Computer Science and Electrical Engineering Departments. Given this background, here are my concerns regarding the proposed “Computational Data Science” program:

(1). Data science is a multidisciplinary subject. A successful program in data science needs consultation between different departments on the campus. This cannot be done in isolation. Today, data science covers physical sciences, humanities, business, and health sciences. One should really reach to other departments to find what students really need and develop a program that is distinctive and serves students with different interests.

(2). It is not clear what this degree program will add to what we already have. Two similar degrees both presented from the same college at the same university does not look good unless it is shown they are complementary. What is the target audience and how that differs from many other existing data science courses nationwide?

(3). Data Science, whether conceptual or applied, needs knowledge of statistics. Is our statistics department involved in this program or do they support this program at all?

(4). How does the new proposed program serve our student population and what is its attraction for new students? This needs to be discussed with other UCR colleges so that a better curriculum can be developed to better serve our students. We need to discuss this wider otherwise, causes friction with other departments and colleges.

(5). It is true that Master degree programs bring revenue to the campus and the host college and we have seen that with our ongoing MSOL Data Science program. However, what we need to consider when developing new degrees (above and beyond financial profit) is how well that serves to educate our students in the subject and if it will address the needs and skill shortages in the community.

(6). Finally, the title of the degree "Computational Data Science" is contradictory and redundant, causing confusion. Data Science is a computational field, with the word "computation" embedded in data science. All our Data Science programs ARE computational.

We really need new vision when thinking about new programs. We need to be innovative rather than re-addressing what others have done years ago. I have been leading aspects of data science programs at UCR. I received a $4.5M grant to develop Data Science and educate students in this discipline, have organized workshops and developed many courses in Data Science (PHYS243, PHYS244, PHYS247, PHYS050), have developed Data Science curriculum and have served as advisor and consultant on several Data Science Master programs in other institutions. As a result, I know a bit about the requirements and future directions the field is growing, and how we could be leaders in the field. I don’t know anything about this new course, the curriculum and the target audience. As a result, I do not see how we could vote for it when many concerned departments are left out. This proposal should be tabled until a discussion between interested parties from different colleges and departments on the campus is concluded and the results used to make the program useful for students from all disciplines.

Best regards
Bahram Mobasher

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