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Challenge
Founder and President Joyce Hunter launched Data Science Camp Inc. at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) after President Obama's 2013 open data executive order. Agencies were worried about a shortage of data scientists and analysts, and Joyce believed the answer was to reach young people before college.
‘STEAM’ education typically adds the arts to the traditional STEM fields of science, technology, engineering, and math. DSCI has redefined the "A" over time. At USDA, it stood for agriculture, giving the camp its original focus on science, technology, engineering, agriculture, and math. In 2020, Dean Dwane Jones invited the camp to UDC. There, CAUSES added a second "A" for architecture, reflecting its land-grant mission to serve District residents of all ages through programs rooted in urban sustainability and the built environment.
Mapping has always been part of the curriculum, but earlier tools were a hurdle. Learners had struggled with Excel and Tableau, which Joyce described as tedious and frustrating for a generation that thinks visually.
Solution
Joyce first encountered PolicyMap at a hackathon at another HBCU and learned it was already in use at Morgan State and Bowie State University. Wanting UDC learners to have the same opportunity, she contacted PolicyMap about this summer's camp. PolicyMap supported the camp pro bono, giving learners summer-long access and hands-on training.
PolicyMap’s mapping and analytics platform clicked right away. "They got it immediately," Joyce said. Learners could explore demographic, economic, education, health, housing, and environmental data on a map and pull those visuals directly into their capstone presentations. Teams of Learners tackled urban agriculture and food sustainability, renewable energy, water and drought, and hunger and poverty. They compared maps across regions, such as how drought affects vegetation in the Southwest, to shape their research questions and recommendations.
For Dr. Dwane Jones, Dean of CAUSES at UDC, this kind of hands-on work reflects the college's broader goals. "It helps us as a college to ensure our students can integrate technology into real-world topics," he said. "We want them to understand how communities play a role in whatever topic we're discussing."
PolicyMap is proud to support UDC’s Data STEAAM Summer Camp as it prepares the next generation of data analysts and professionals.