Capacity Accelerator Network

The Capacity Accelerator Network (CAN), funded by data.org, is a consortium of diverse higher education partners, including historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), minority-serving institutions (MSIs), and Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs), to amplify social impact through data science. The consortium is a collaborative effort to broaden participation in the talent pipeline, serve communities of highest need, and maximize opportunities for scalability and transferability of this new model. The consortium creates scalable curricula and a Data Science Experiential Learning Deployment Playbook, providing information on how to identify and scope projects, and how to build trust with Social Impact Organizations (SIOs) through data science.

Team

Kewon Bell is Project Manager for the Capacity Accelerator Network grant at the Data Science Institute. He has 20 years of Project Management experience and previously served as the Print Program Manager for UChicago. He has a Bachelors in Management from Northern Illinois University and is DEI Workplace Certified with a concentration in Recruitment & Retention and Community Outreach.

Rahim Rasool is a Data Scientist supporting the work on Capacity Accelerator Network (CAN). He also works with social impact organizations in increasing their data capacity and implementing data science projects. Rahim got his BE in Electrical Engineering from National University of Sciences and Technology and MS in Computational Analysis and Public Policy from the University of Chicago.

David Uminsky joined the University of Chicago in September 2020 as a senior research associate and Executive Director of Data Science. He was previously an associate professor of Mathematics and Executive Director of the Data Institute at University of San Francisco (USF). His research interests are in machine learning, signal processing, pattern formation, and dynamical systems. David is an associate editor of the Harvard Data Science Review. He was selected in 2015 by the National Academy of Sciences as a Kavli Frontiers of Science Fellow. He is also the founding Director of the BS in Data Science at USF and served as Director of the MS in Data Science program from 2014-2019. During the summer of 2018, David served as the Director of Research for the Mathematical Science Research Institute Undergrad Program on the topic of Mathematical Data Science.

Before joining USF he was a combined NSF and UC President’s Fellow at UCLA, where he was awarded the Chancellor’s Award for outstanding postdoctoral research. He holds a Ph.D. in Mathematics from Boston University and a BS in Mathematics from Harvey Mudd College.

Partners