Thurs 11/6, 4pm, Data Science Initiative Talk: Haru Nazakawa ’24, Phillip Zhou ’24, and Ariana Ravitch '24 - Mapping the Liberal Arts: A Semantic Similarity Approach

[Val Gualdron]

Hi All,

Please join us on Thursday, November 6, at 4 pm in SCCE A131 for a talk as part of the Data Science Initiative speaker series.

Speakers: Haru Nazakawa ’24, Phillip Zhou ’24, and Ariana Ravitch '24

Title: Mapping the Liberal Arts: A Semantic Similarity Approach

Abstract: At many institutions of higher education, students have some freedom to select courses from a broad range of fields to structure their curricula. However, little is known about how they make such choices, their effects on post-graduate outcomes, and how institutions' policies shape these choices. In this project, we develop a method to quantify two key aspects of student course selection, breadth and depth, by applying deep learning and graph theory to text data found in course catalogs. Using 17 years of data from Amherst College, we show that mapping the curriculum as a high-dimensional network based on semantic similarity recovers intuitive relationships between courses cutting across disciplinary boundaries. We then outline how this can be used to study students' course selection and inform curriculum design, and propose an intervention using a web app that visualizes students' graphs to improve advising practices.

Light fancy refreshments will be served before the talk.

Please see the flyer attached.

Feel free to spread the word to faculty, staff, and students.

All our events are listed on https://www.amherst.edu/about/science_at_amherst/data-science-initiative

We hope to see you there! :)

[Matteo Riondato]

Hi All,

This talk is happening today at 4pm, in SCCE A131.

Hope to see you there =)

Thanks, 

Matteo

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Thanks, 

Matteo