What if Statistics and social science graduate students worked together on new research?
The Statistics grad students want to try it out. I went over to brainstorm with them about D-Lab. Now they've organized a "mixer." This is their first step toward building out collaborations.
Come shape what might happen. It's Monday, April 8, in the D-Lab Convening Room, 356 Barrows. Lunch is provided for the first 20 to RSVP.
The Statistics grad students are really interesting to talk with. Collaboration is part of their mindset. They've been working with teams in other departments across campus. Why is there less flow over to the social sciences? A lot of the data they'd want to work on is social. And there's been a lot of flow in the other direction. Two thirds of Berkeley students who have gotten MAs in Statistics the last two years (other than Statistics' own PhD students) have been in the social sciences.
High on their agenda: Defining good terms for collaboration. They're interested in longer-term engagements on the scale of a publishable paper, with a reasonable shot at co-authorship or similar rewards on both sides. This is not about "Quick, answer my question!" or "Fix my analysis!" -- there are other ways to do that (the Stats consulting service or D-Lab's consulting).
What would the world look like with collaborations like this reaching deep into the social sciences? Come find out.
