From Saturday, June 12 to Friday, June 25, 2021, Howard University and Mathematica sponsored the Summer Institute in Computational Social Science, held virtually at Howard University. The purpose of the Summer Institute was to bring together graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and beginning faculty interested in computational social science. The Summer Institute was for both social scientists (broadly conceived) and data scientists (broadly conceived).
The instructional program involved lectures, group problem sets, and participant-led research projects. There were also outside speakers who conducted computational social science research in a variety of settings, such as academia, industry, and government. Topics covered included text as data, website scraping, digital field experiments, machine learning, and ethics. There were ample opportunities for students to discuss their ideas and research with the organizers, other participants, and visiting speakers. Because we are committed to open and reproducible research, all materials created by faculty and students for the Summer Institute were released open source.
Participation was restricted to Ph.D. students, postdoctoral researchers, and untenured faculty within 7 years of their Ph.D. We welcomed applicants from all backgrounds and fields of study, especially applicants from groups currently under-represented in computational social science. About thirty participants were invited, and participants were expected to fully attend and participate in the entire program.
SICSS-Howard/Mathematica was groundbreaking for a number of reasons. Most notably because it was the first Summer Institute held at a Historically Black College and University (HBCU). It also had the benefit of a deeply invested partner, Mathematica. Finally, SICSS-Howard/Mathematica also had the benefit of a topical focus on antiblack racism and inequity.
Application materials are due 11:59pm EST on Wednesday, March 31st.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, all events took place online.
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