The Berkeley Lab Director’s Apprenticeship Program: Interdisciplinary Pathways to Machine Learning and Data Science (BLDAP:IPMLDS) is a project-based high school STEM (Science Technology Engineering Mathematics) program designed to help participants develop 21st century skills, learn about Berkeley Lab’s research activities, receive college and career guidance, and develop a STEM network in a real-life work environment. The program seeks to remove barriers, such as a lack of access to professional networks and work-based opportunities, by providing strong connections to the scientific community at Berkeley Lab.
Our cohort of around 20 students will complete an intro to Python/data science/machine learning course as part of the program. The students will be entering the program with little to no experience coding. The curriculum will cover the following topics: data types, variables, lists, conditionals, loops, numpy arrays, pandas (input/output of dataframes, indexing, slicing, manipulating columns, statistics, various functions for exploratory data analysis), and data visualization with matplotlib. Towards the end of the program, students will apply their knowledge on data sets using data from various Berkeley Lab research projects. Students will also work on machine learning applications.
We are seeking TAs for our intro to Python/data science course. TAs will work with small groups of students, answering their questions and providing guidance as they work through coding exercises using Jupyter notebooks. TAs will also be asked to grade and provide feedback for weekly challenge notebooks collected from students.
Various dates are available from June 18th to July 16th. A separate sign-up sheet with specific dates and times will be shared with volunteers, and volunteers can sign up for any dates/times that work best for them. The program will be on site, and we ask volunteers to also join us in-person.
All volunteers participating in K-12 programs must complete an online working with minors course (~90 minutes), sign and submit a CANRA form, and pass a background check.
For any questions please contact K-12 Instruction and Content Manager, Alisa Bettale (abettale@lbl.gov).
