Cal NERDS

STEMinist Intro to Data Science Bootcamp


    UC Berkeley Intro to Data Science STEMinist Coding in Boot Camps. These exposure boot camps have expanded from UC STEM students to other communities, such as NSF LSAMP/NSF LSMCRE students. Many of our STEMinist participants don’t have any data science experience and/or no coding experience. This experience is made up of two boot camps (101 and 102) to help introduce undergraduate and graduate students to the field of data science, while gaining experience with coding. Each day will comprise of professional development, coding, and meeting data science role models. In addition, we are also excited to be launching our new STEMinist.berkeley.edu in the future, which will feature our student participants. NSF CAMP/NSF LSAMP/NSF LSMCRE, and community college students are encouraged to register.
    • Our next STEMinist boot camp will be in May of 2023. Sorry for the delay, we are working on a big student-centric web project right now, it is phase 2B of STAR.berkeley.edu. We are building a faculty engagement opportunity tool. So we are pausing this temporarily till after the launch of phase 2B.

    Some of STEMinists from cohort 8

    Some of our STEMinists from cohort 8

    January 2022 flyer
    January 2022 flyer


    Business Skills Workshop Added to Provide Additional Support to STEMinists
    Thanks to wonderful companies such as Kaiser Permanente and Climate.com, we hosted an afternoon of professional development for our student communities that include interviewing skills, business etiquette, networking, and LinkedIn coaching. We hope to layer in these types of events for our future cohorts as an additional professional development opportunity,
    Here are some of our STEMinist comments from this experience:
    “I felt Trisha’s (of Kaiser Permamente) professionalism and polished character was inspirational and I want to practice presenting myself like her.”
    “Talking about interviewing questions with other people has been really enlightening. It’s given me perspective on what to prepare for with interview questions/ideas on how to answer them.”
    “I love the psuedo-life elevator pitch with the working professionals. I think it was a great opportunity to network as well as practice our pitch. I like the first impression exercise as well.”
    “I walked away with a better sense of how to approach a job recruiter and how to pitch/advertise myself in a more effective way.”
    “Being able to hear feedback and experiences from other people made me feel motivated to keep looking for a greater network and more opportunities.”
    A few of our Cohort #1 STEMinists
    A few of our Cohort #1 STEMinists

    What are our STEMinists are saying about their Intro to Data Science Bootcamp experience with us?
    • “STEMinist was an amazing way to learn the fundamentals of data science and go through professional development. I’ve never been around so many people who care about me personally and are willing to go through so much effort with me individually to make me a better, stronger, person.”
    • “At the end of the three days, I felt like I had gained an entire toolbelt of skills. I was introduced to a new coding environment in R, a new field of study in Data Science, re-examined what I really wanted in an internship and career, and found a loving, supportive, nerdy community where I felt I like I could belong.”
    • “I learned more in 3 days than I did in an entire semester on how to work with various data software! The fact that I was fully accommodated with sign language interpreters for the entire STEMinist experience is the main reason for that, and has given me a new appreciation on the value of data science.”
    • “STEMinist made the idea of entering into the real world after college much less stressful and it greatly prepared me in ways to prepare and put my best self out there.”
    • “From three days of workshop, STEMinist help me to understand what and how to prepare myself to get into Data Science field. The experiential workshop, role models from tech industry, and data science training were very practical and engaging.”
    • “Now a last-semester senior, there have not been many times these past four years I have been truly inspired or encouraged to believe in myself, or given the confirmation that I am capable of more than I think. But this program was able to do that and help me regain confidence.”
    • “STEMinist helped me discover a new field (data science) that I never even considered prior to the program. I was afraid of anything involving coding or math, but the supportive and responsive curriculum and class environment allowed me to see that this is something I CAN do. I feel empowered to pursue further data science courses now that I have had an introduction.”

    About Our Initiative
    According to the American Association of Women only 26% of computing professionals are women (Belec, 2016). STEMinist provides data science training, R or Python coding, and career preparation to UC Berkeley STEM female low-income and/or underrepresented minority undergraduate and graduate students. If you are not a student but part of our campus community and are interested in STEMinist please text Director Diana Lizarraga. This opportunity helps participants pivot into internships and job opportunities in the tech industry. Goals include developing a tech industry ready workforce, providing insight into tech-related career trajectories, connecting with positive female industry role models, career preparation, and creating hands-on experiences with data science and coding. In two sessions, students can gain a basic introduction to Data Science, develop a network, and gain professional development tools. We are fortunate to have collaborated with various partners for our coding and professional development including Author of “Get The Job You Love: An easy to follow guide to help students get the career they want” and LinkedIn Coach Marjorie Weingrow, Pandora, Facebook, Kaiser Permanente, Climate.com, LinkedIn, Dropbox, etc.
    UC Davis STEMinist Cohort
    UC Davis STEMinist Cohort

    STEMinist Cohort 6 (August 2017)
    STEMinist Cohort 6

    PROGRAM ELEMENTS | Data Science Training
    • Data Science Perspectives from Role Models

    • Data Tools and Techniques: Python coding or R Coding

    PROGRAM ELEMENTS | Career Prep & Community Building
    • Diversity Ecosystem Building (for in-person sessions)

    • Professional Development (ex: elevator pitch, networking, LinkedIn strategies, resume development, etc.)

    STUDENT COMMITMENT
    For 2023, you must attend your session (10 am to 2 pm PST on both days), which will be virtual using Zoom.


    Additional Information (note for questions please contact Diana Lizarraga, #510.778.5165)

    • Boot camp Student cost: FREE

    • Student participants will need to register with their UC campus ID (or if you are an NSF LSAMP/NSF LSMCRE, community college student, or a student from another university) .

    • We will ask you to share your campus, Director’s name and contact info so that we can grow our outreach efforts.

    • Students will need their own computer for each session. In addition, we will ask you to download software before the start of the first session.

    • We intentionally keep our in-person sessions small, around 25-30 students but our virtual zoom boot camps can be around 100 students.

    • Prerequisites: Algebraic concepts including an understanding of functions and variables, and how to graph linear functions.

    • It is a plus (but not required) if you have some knowledge in Calculus (Math 1A/B, 16A/B), Statistical Probability (Stat 134), Linear Algebra (Math 54), Computer Science (CS 61A/B), and/or Business (UGBA 10).

    • Twitter | @CalSTEMinist