Pacific Alliance for Low-income Inclusion in Statistics and Data Science
Established in 2022, the Pacific Alliance for Low-income Inclusion in Statistics and Data Science (PALiISaDS) aims to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. PALiISaDS features seven public universities located along the western coast of the United States ("the Alliance"). Funded by the National Science Foundation, PALiISaDS offers a cohort-based bridge program for statistics and/or data science majors through their last two years of undergraduate study and first year of graduate school. PALiISaDS scholars receive need-based scholarships of up to $10,000 per year, as well as academic and career support. Students enter the program in their penultimate year of undergraduate studies (either as rising juniors or transfer students) and are eligible to receive a third year of funding when continuing on to eligible graduate programs within the Alliance. The support provided by PALiISaDS helps to bridge undergraduate and graduate programs in statistics and data science and includes an array of community-building activities, faculty and graduate student mentoring, help with grad school applications, and much more.
Beyond financial support, PALiISaDS offers an extensive set of academic and interpersonal support initiatives, including:
Community building (within and across institutions)
Professional development
Grad school preparation, including a pre-grad summer bootcamp
Annual meeting for all seven participating schools
Mentoring by graduate students and faculty
Alliance Institutions
University of Washington
PALiISaDS@UW is hosted in the Department of Statistics, and the current site director is Abel Rodriguez. Two undergraduate programs and five graduate programs are involved in this initiative:
You can learn more about PALiISaDS@UW here!
The University of Washington Center for Evaluation & Research for STEM Equity (CERSE) will conduct research about how the PALiISaDS program supports students on their educational and professional pathways in statistics and data science, particularly concerning community assets and supports students bring into their programs and access during their studies. The research is led by Dr. Erin Carll at UW. CERSE focuses on conducting high quality research and program evaluation to improve equity and broaden representation in STEM fields, with special attention to higher education.
University of California, Santa Barbara
PALiISaDS@UCSB is hosted in the Department of Statistics and Applied Probability, and the current site director is Mike Ludkovski. The following programs are involved in the initiative:
University of California, Irvine
PALiISaDS@UCI is hosted in the Department of Statistics, and the current site director is Daniel Gillen. The following programs are involved in the initiative:
California State University, Monterey Bay
PALiISaDS@CSUMB is hosted in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, and the current site director is Judith Canner. The following programs are involved in the initiative:
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
PALiISaDS@Cal Poly is hosted in the Statistics Department and the current site director is Andrew Schaffner. The following programs are involved in the initiative:
California State University, East Bay
PALiISaDS@CSU East Bay is hosted in the Department of Statistics and Biostatistics, and the current site director is Ayona Chatterjee. The following programs are involved in the initiative:
San Diego State University
PALiISaDS@SDSU is hosted in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics and the current site director is Kyle Hasenstab. The following programs are involved in the initiative: