Chaminade University announced Thursday that it has received a $10 million grant from the National Science Foundation, which will support new pathways into data science careers for students in Hawaii and across the Pacific region.
“This is a grant that is centered around the idea of how we can use data science to support progress of the sustainable development goals of the United Nations,” Helen Turner, biology professor and research director for Chaminade’s United Nations Sustainability Center and principal investigator of the grant, told Pacific Business News.
“These goals are a blueprint for the whole planet, and we are particularly interested in how data science can support those goals here in the Pacific region.”
The five-year long grant project will help Chaminade’s new United Nations sustainability center, CIFAL Honolulu, and data science program launch the university’s new Alliance Supporting Pacific Impact through Computational Excellence, or ALL-SPICE.
The $10 million grant will help with the three primary functions of ALL-SPICE, which include workforce development, education, and helping students get real world experience in the data science field.
The grant will also help ensure students in Hawaii have access to data science careers which is one of the most in-demand jobs in the United States right now, according to Dr. Turner.
“All my colleagues are getting phone calls almost everyday asking, ‘Do you have a data science student?,” said Rylan Chong, assistant professor of data science and director of the data science program at Chaminade University.
“It’s a very in-demand career in Hawaii particularly, and employers are asking for graduates faster than we can produce them,”he said.
The ALL-SPICE program begins this September. The grant is part of a $39 million effort to establish four new NSF INCLUDES Alliances across the country.
