Last month, CURA had the opportunity to participate in the Women in Data Science Camp hosted by the Translational Data Analytics Institute. This is the second annual camp that introduced young women grades 8-10 to data science and analytics. CURA's Outreach Coordinator Katie Phillips had the opportunity to introduce these bright young ladies to the world of GIS.

In our sessions, campers rotated between several stations focused on data science. In these sessions campers were introduced to different fields in data science and how it is used to address real-world problems. Katie's presentation was focused around what CURA does and how we use spatial analysis to help researchers across campus and in our local community with their spatial analysis needs. Katie also introduced the campers to the powerful spatial analysis tool Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and gave a presentation on the OH/LEX tool* CURA helped to create. Katie also showed the campers some really cool old maps provided by Jan Wagner in the Gardner Family Map Room at Thompson Library. Finally, Katie told the campers the importance of young women taking an interest in data science. Based on the insightful questions and interest in GIS, the field of data science will be flooded with young women in the future! 

*To read more about the OH/LEX Project check out our February 2019 Newsletter