Diversity & Inclusion Initiative



Diversity & Inclusion Initiative

New York University has initiated a number of diversity and inclusion initiatives to facilitate the goal of building a culture that respects and embraces diversity, inclusion, and equity. NYU President Andrew Hamilton shared a statement of NYU’s commitment to these values:

“Not only important to cherish for their own sake, but because they are also vital for advancing knowledge, sparking innovation, and creating sustainable communities. They should be indispensable elements of an NYU education on all of our campuses. A diverse population encounters and appreciates all perspectives of an issue with a wealth of different approaches to confront it. The result is a higher quality of debate, and a more excellent and advanced academic enterprise.”

In addition to the university-wide initiatives, the Center for Data Science has also set out to build a culture and environment that embraces diversity and inclusion as we recognize the importance of these ideals in advancing innovation and knowledge in the field of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.



Center for Data Science D&I Commitment

Fostering an Ongoing Dialogue

Transparent and honest dialogue among students, faculty, researchers, staff and leadership is the tool by which we are creating a truly diverse and inclusive community at CDS. Without open communication, we as a community cannot grow, challenge our preconceived notions, and truly welcome people from all backgrounds. Based on this belief, CDS is committed to:

  • Ensuring the CDS Diversity and Inclusion Committee has sufficient support to do its work and continue to meet every month
  • Including students and research representatives in CDS Diversity and Inclusion Committee processes, specifically by inviting student and research representatives to committee meetings on a semesterly basis.

Building A Diverse Community

It is crucial to form a community that represents a breadth of backgrounds and experiences, especially as data scientists. To ensure that our contributions to the realm of data science are unbiased, we must create a community that as best as possible represents the world we live in. CDS is therefore committed to:

  • Continuing the effort to diversify the CDS community by attracting, recruiting, retaining, and engaging students, faculty, researchers, and staff members from diverse backgrounds;
  • Developing a research internship program as a way to connect and engage underrepresented groups in STEM;
  • Expanding the CDS Partners Program’s Diversity Initiative to provide financial support for students.

Building an Inclusive Community

It is not enough to simply recruit diverse students, faculty, researchers, and staff. It is our responsibility to create an environment where people from all walks of life are respected, heard, and feel that their experience and perspective is valued. To this end, CDS is committed to:

  • Collaborating closely with NYU’s Office of Global Inclusion, Diversity, and Strategic Innovation to provide continuous diversity and equity education to ensure community inclusion
  • Supporting student organizations and activities that foster a sense of belonging to the CDS community


Center for Data Science Diversity and Inclusion Activities

Center for Data Science has participated in various admissions fairs and STEM diversity conferences in order to reach a diverse group of prospective students. CDS has: 

2020

  • Supported students, researchers, and faculty to participate in the 2020 Grace Hopper Annual Conference.

2019

  • Participated in Great Minds in STEM to connect with Latinx students who are studying STEM.
  • Attended the SACNAS National Diversity in STEM Conference to promote CDS’s graduate programs to underrepresented STEM students.
  • Participated in New York University Graduate and Professional School Fair.

2018

  • Attended the Idealist Graduate School Fair in Washington DC, and the National Diversity College Fair in Boston to reach diverse prospective graduate students.
  • Took part in Beckman Scholar STEM Symposium and STEM Opportunities Fair at Barnard College.

2017

  • Participated in New York University Graduate and Professional School Fair.

In addition to these admissions activities, the Center for Data Science: 

  • Created a Diversity and Inclusion Committee that meets on a regular basis;
  • Leveraged the Diversity Initiative supported by the Partners Program to provide financial support to approx. 25 underrepresented graduate students;
  • Gave a talk, presented by Faculty, Prof. Andrea Jones-Rooy, to NYU College and Career labs, which is designed to serve economically disadvantaged, first-generation college-going, and historically underrepresented students from New York City schools;
  • Provided the support for the establishment of CDS Women in Data Science student group;
  • Hosted events with Women in Data Science NYC meet-ups;
  • Collaborated with NYU Courant GSTEM to help provide mentoring resources to female high school students who are interested in STEM;
  • Supported the student-led community-building group, Leadership Circle. 



Where We Are Now…


1 Our first male African-American student graduated in May 2018.

2 Our first female African-American student graduated in May 2020. The student was a recipient of the DeepMind Fellowship, which was facilitated by the CDS Partners Program. She was recently covered in the Philadelphia Tribune.

3 CDS hosted an underrepresented minority faculty fellow in 2017-2019.

4 We maintain an excellent gender balance in our MSDS program, with a fraction of women significantly larger than in other STEM degrees like Computer Science and Mathematics. Over the last years we came close to or exceeded the 50% mark.




Our Partners Program

One of the main objectives of the CDS Partners Program is to provide scholarships and financial aid to talented students who may not have the resources to pursue a graduate degree in data science. We also support faculty and research staff through this initiative, as the recruitment and inclusion of all levels of academia is imperative for our holistic approach to diversity and inclusion. Diversity pipelining, or connecting with students earlier in their academic careers, is extremely important to us at CDS. The CDS Partners Program facilitates more opportunities to provide mentorship to high school and junior high students interested in STEM. The inclusion of students with differing backgrounds leads to a higher quality program and research. Your support of the CDS Diversity & Inclusion Initiative can help make the Center for Data Science a more diverse and inclusive population. If you would like to know more about the Partners Program, please contact the Head of External Relations, Loraine Nascimento.