(compelling music)
- Big data has transformed
our entire society.
We are creating new data about ourselves.
So every click that we
click on the internet,
every transaction that we create,
everything that you are doing in time now
is quantified in some way as data.
We are also creating so much more of it
than we have ever created in history.
- Problem Statement.
How can the existing Purdue Transit System
better suit the needs of
the student population,
you know, thinking about these type of goals,
optimizing time traveled,
increased mobility coverage. Right?
We've been looking at, hey,
there's some stops that don't
seem to be used very much,
and there're some other areas
that don't really have good coverage.
We need to be about to call those out
and highlight those, right? - on maps
that we've been looking at.
- I never knew what
kind of impact data could have
on the world.
Really we're doing all
this like a data analysis
on bus routes.
That impacts 40,000 students on campus,
so it's really cool that we're working
with that kind of data.
- Cummins is giving us real data.
They're giving us real, a real project
that hopefully will impact
the future of Purdue,
and that's what I've been
kind of wanting to do
is make an impact either
at Purdue or at a company.
The question is then,
what's the effectiveness of
the stops in the bottom left
where it's low coverage
and it's low usage?
So it's not covering a lot of area,
but then it, what, but it's not seeing like a
high usage rate there either,
meaning that, that is that stop necessary?
(compelling music)
- I'm Mark Daniel Ward.
I'm a Professor of Statistics,
and I'm directing this new
data mine initiative on campus.
It's a way for students to learn
about the data sciences
while they're learning
about their discipline.
It's also residential initiative
where the students are all living together
in Hillenbrand Hall,
taking their seminars in the dormitory
in the residence hall where they live.
You see students interacting,
their laptops open, connected to servers,
working on data analysis,
working in teams, you know,
communicating and talking with each other
about what they're working on.
- So the questions we were trying to ask,
is there a part of campus with more need
for transit stop than another,
and are there any areas campus
that we're not seeing any transit need?
- I would love for you to not only think
about the analysis and how the analysis
went from start to end,
but also what questions
could someone walk away
understanding after they talk with you
for five or 10 minutes.
You know, you can almost tell a story in a sense.
- Throughout all of this,
I'm really just trying to develop
these data scientist skills.
And really, I just want
to build that intuition, you know,
looking at data, seeing what's wrong.
What can I do with this?
- The Integrative Data Science Initiative
has been developed in the past year
at Purdue University
so that when the students leave,
they are these critical consumers
and critical researchers of data
within the relevant discipline
that they're interested in.
- I have freshmen in the group.
There's juniors in the group.
There's data science majors.
There's non-data science majors.
They've got two engineers in the group
that normally I wouldn't
be able to work with,
but because of the data
mine and corporate partners
I get an opportunity to work with,
and kind of just work on my
communication skills as well.
- Data underpins everything at this point,
and thinking critically
about what that means
for yourself, for your long-term outcomes
is really what critical data literacy is
and thinking about what data
science means for yourself.
- Data can't just be by itself.
It has to show some kind
of human connection.
If we just spout out some statistics,
not everyone's going to
understand what does that mean?
but really we're just
trying to tell a story
about humans and how they interact
pretty much in data science.
- Those skills are fundamental
in order to succeed
in society today.
So we would like to see
those skills for everybody
at the university.
And then we will also get
you the level of skills
that you need in order to succeed
at your career and your professional goals
with data science as well.
(whooshes)
