The Data Mine

Role(s)	• Located in the heart of Purdue University, The Data Mine gives hundreds of students from a wide variety of backgrounds and majors, both graduate and undergraduate, the opportunity to learn data science skills and apply them to research projects. • Our most popular track is Corporate Partners, where a team of students works on a real, data-centered, academic-year project with a corporate mentor, faculty mentors, and peer mentors. Corporate Partners description: https://datamine.purdue.edu/corporate/ • In TEConomy’s 2020 BioCrossroads report (https://biocrossroads.com/artificial-intelligence-and-advanced-analytics-in-indiana/), they characterized The Data Mine as a “signature example of industry-facing, immersive talent pipeline program” (p. 55), and “an example of a developing world class DSE [Data Science Education] program that is organized around industry engagement and immersive skills-building in data sciences that can serve as a model for other universities” (p. 86).
Mission	The Data Mine is a living, learning and research-based community created to introduce students to data science concepts and equip them to create solutions to real-world problems. Members of The Data Mine are part of a team, living, studying and ultimately, performing data-driven research together. The Data Mine is part of Purdue University’s Office of the Provost and is designed to train students across all majors with the data literacy needed to succeed in a data-driven world.
History	2014-19 – Statistics Living Learning Community funded by a $1.5 million NSF grant for 20 sophomore students per year. These 102 students produced more than 175 journal articles and conference presentations/posters on topics ranging from human development and family studies to marine biology and image processing. 2018-19 – The Data Mine was piloted with 100 undergrad students with one Corporate Partner 2019-20 – The Data Mine rolled out to ~600 undergrad students with 12 Corporate Partners 2020-21 – The Data Mine continued to serve ~600 undergrad students and ~70 grad students with 26 Corporate Partners 2021-22 – The Data Mine had ~800 undergrads and ~100 grad students; 45 Corporate Partners. First year of Indiana Data Mine (IDM) funded by Lilly Endowment. 2022-23 – The Data Mine had ~1000 undergrads and ~100 grad students; 55 Corporate Partners. IDM continues to grow and The National Data Mine Network (NDMN) is launched to support 100 students per year at Minority Serving Institutions.
Org	• Professional Staff of 24 • Director and three Managing Directors (Corporate Partners, Academics & Outreach, Data Science) • One Operations Manager • One Administrative Assistant • One Business Development Administrator • One Senior Manager of Expansion Operations • One Senior Program Administration Specialist • One Program Administration Specialist • One Budgets and Contracts Manager • Three Corporate Partner Technical Specialists • Two Corporate Partner Advisors • Two Senior Data Scientists • One Data Science Technical Specialist • One Associate Research Engineer • One ASL Interpreter and Strategic Initiatives Coordinator • One Guest Relations Administrator • One Instructional Specialist • One ASL Instructor • Additional faculty mentors, support staff, and teaching assistants Leadership (all can be reached at datamine@purdue.edu): • Maggie Betz: Managing Director Corporate Partners (betz@purdue.edu) • David Glass: Managing Director Data Sciences (dglass@purdue.edu) • Katie Sanders: Operations Manager (kmpechin@purdue.edu) • Rebecca Sharples: Managing Director for Academic Programs & Outreach (rebecca@purdue.edu) • Mark Daniel Ward: Director (mdw@purdue.edu)
Board	The Data Mine has an External Advisory Council (https://datamine.purdue.edu/corporate/), with rotating representatives from Corporate Partners.
Finance	• Corporate Partnerships • Grants, including Lilly Foundation and National Science Foundation • Office of the Provost, Purdue University
Data Source	• Corporate Partners provide data for their projects. Students usually sign NDAs. • Publicly available data used for training purposes in the data science skills seminar. • Faculty provide mentoring and data for research projects.
Data Access	Data goes through a process including a data sharing agreement and security review. The formal process is managed through Purdue’s Office of the Executive Vice President for Research and Partnerships.
Tech Capabilities	• Secure cluster computing resources available through Purdue’s Research Computing (RCAC). • Data Scientists on staff can help plan projects.
Projects	• Examples of Corporate Partners projects: https://datamine.purdue.edu/symposium/welcome.html • Our Examples Book, which includes the data-infused seminar material taught to all students: https://the-examples-book.com
Future Focus	• The Data Mine is a program that embodies Purdue’s vision of offering Data Science for All. • The Indiana Data Mine is a statewide expansion, supporting regional opportunities for students in a way that also addresses the workforce talent needs in the state of Indiana. • The National Data Mine Network is a nationwide expansion, with more than 100 Minority Serving Institution partners. The NDMN enables students at MSIs to have access to Data Mine courses, research opportunities, and industry partnerships.
Talent Development	• Talent development is our primary goal—we want to empower data scientists of the future. • Students from all majors need to have strong data science skills.
Data Sharing Agreements	Sponsor Acknowledgment: https://datamine.purdue.edu/corporate/docs/sponsoracknowledgment.docx
Selected Publications	• Gundlach E and Ward MD. The Data Mine: Enabling Data Science Across the Curriculum. Journal of Statistics and Data Science Education. 2021; 29(1):1-14. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/10691898.2020.1848484 • Betz M, Gundlach E, Hillery E, Rickus J, Ward MD. The Next Wave: We Will All be Data Scientists. Statistical Analysis and Data Mining: The ASA Data Science Journal. 2020 July 25; 13(6):544-547. Available from: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/sam.11476 DOI: 10.1002/sam.11476 • Hillery E, Ward M, Rickus J, Younts A, Smith P, Adams E. Undergraduate Data Science and Diversity at Purdue University. Proceedings of the Practice and Experience in Advanced Research Computing on Rise of the Machines (learning). PEARC ‘19: Practice and Experience in Advanced Research Computing; 28 0 19; Chicago IL USA. New York, NY, USA: ACM; c2019. Available from: https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3332186.3332202 DOI: 10.1145/3332186.3332202 • Parker L, Ward, MD. Aligning Institutional Support for Student Success: Case Studies of Sophomore-Year Initiatives. Skipper T, editor. University of South Carolina: National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience & Students in Transition; 2019. Purdue University: Statistics Living Learning Community. • Yavuz F, Ward MD. Fostering Undergraduate Data Science. The American Statistician. 2018 June 05; 74(1):8-16. Available from: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00031305.2017.1407360 DOI: 10.1080/00031305.2017.1407360

¶ The Data Mine (TDM)
1301 Third Street, West Lafayette, IN 47906-4206 https://datamine.purdue.edu Contact: Mark Daniel Ward, datamine@purdue.edu	Education and Research

¶ The Data Mine (TDM)