View Program - 2022 Population, Evolutionary, and Quantitative Genetics Conference

Over the last seven years, I have been involved in the creation of several programs at SF State University to increase the number of biology and biochemistry students that learn coding and data science skills. With my colleagues, I work hard to make sure that all our computational classes and programs are welcoming to students from groups underrepresented in (computational) research. We run two part-time summer programs and the following academic programs: the PINC minor (CS for undergrads), the GOLD certificate (data science for MS students), and the gSTAR certificate (biotech/ML for Bio/Chem/CS students), with support from NSF and Genentech. Together, these programs now reach about 200 students each year. The success of these programs shows that biology students at SFSU, which are majority women of color and include many first-generation students, are very interested and highly successful in learning computational skills—we just need to create more inclusive classes that speak to more students.

Coding and data science programs for every biology student