{"id":207994,"date":"2023-12-18T07:37:49","date_gmt":"2023-12-18T12:37:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=207994"},"modified":"2023-12-18T07:38:54","modified_gmt":"2023-12-18T12:38:54","slug":"graduate-program-offers-usda-fellowship-in-data-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2023\/12\/graduate-program-offers-usda-fellowship-in-data-science\/","title":{"rendered":"Graduate Program Offers USDA Fellowship in Data Science"},"content":{"rendered":"

Students applying to the master\u2019s program in agricultural and resource economics (ARE) in UConn\u2019s College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources<\/a> who are interested in data science can also apply for a USDA National Needs Fellowship.<\/p>\n

The USDA National Needs Fellowship<\/a> in Data Science was established last year through a grant to the department to help address an unmet need for agricultural and resource economists with an expertise in data science.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe USDA feels there is a dire need for this type of skill across the U.S.,\u201d says Farhed Shah, associate professor and director of graduate studies in ARE.<\/p>\n

Anyone applying for the master\u2019s may indicate on their application that they would like to be considered for the USDA fellowship.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great opportunity to recruit top students in a critical area of national need,\u201d Rigoberto Lopez, professor and member of the ARE graduate committee, says.<\/p>\n

The funding supports students for both years of the master\u2019s program providing them with a tuition waver and a stipend of $18,500 per year. Applications are due January 15, 2024. The funding is limited to U.S. citizens or nationals.<\/p>\n

UConn will recruit seven students in total over the course of three years.<\/p>\n

UConn\u2019s program is the only agricultural economics program in the country currently offering a specialization in data science.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudents have access to a unique program that will train them for the future in a national priority area,\u201d Lopez says.<\/p>\n

ARE faculty have been involved in the development of data science programs at UConn since the beginning, with faculty, such as Nathan Fiala and Charles Towe, serving on the founding committee and teaching in the program.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have always been an integral part of data science at the University of Connecticut since day one,\u201d Lopez says.<\/p>\n

Shah says they evaluate applicants based on prior experience to data science or related fields such as math, statistics, and computer science, GRE math scores, and demonstrated motivation to pursue a career in data science.<\/p>\n

In addition to the core courses all master\u2019s students take, fellows will also take data science electives within and outside of their home department. They will also complete a research-based capstone.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur other master\u2019s students have the option of just doing a coursework-oriented master\u2019s or a research-oriented master\u2019s,\u201d Shah says. \u201cThese folks don\u2019t have that option. They will have to do some research in which they will be expected to apply the tools they\u2019ve learned as part of the program.\u201d<\/p>\n

This program will prepare students for data science careers in the public or private sector, or a PhD program.<\/p>\n

The Department received another USDA National Needs award for watershed management in 2011. This program supported five students who have since gone on to work in high-level positions at organizations such as the Trust for Public Land and the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources.<\/p>\n

UConn\u2019s program currently supports two USDA fellows: Cam McClure \u201823 \u201825 (CAHNR) and Lindsey Orr \u201823 \u201825 (CAHNR).<\/p>\n

McClure had been applying to data science master\u2019s programs, but with the USDA fellowship, the ARE program was the perfect fit.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt aligned incredibly well with what I wanted to do,\u201d McClure says. \u201cI had an interest in both data science and the environmental economics side of it. So, this was a fantastic way to align two interests that I had that I didn\u2019t fully realize I could do together.\u201d<\/p>\n

As part of their fellowships, Orr and McClure are working with UConn\u2019s Zwick Center for Food and Policy Research on various research projects.<\/p>\n

McClure has been working on waste and trash initiatives in Connecticut and is starting a new project looking at estuary land along the Long Island Sound.<\/p>\n

Orr is also working on waste research, investigating how giving grants to promote recycling could impact rates in communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did originally get into this major because I was interested in environmental economics and sustainability,\u201d Orr says. \u201cSo, there\u2019s a lot of different areas that appealed to me from food policy to energy to environmental preservation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Students who are part of the fellowship have the opportunity to take courses outside the department in their areas of interest, such as the fundamentals of data science and research design and methods.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was really cool to develop these skills to use later on, but also for me to be someone who was not an engineering major and to get to sit in class and learn about managing databases,\u201d Orr says. \u201cI feel like that\u2019s a really unique opportunity. I feel like it’s going to allow me to get a lot closer to what I want to do and learn some really interesting things.\u201d<\/p>\n

This work relates to CAHNR\u2019s Strategic Vision area focused on <\/em>Ensuring a Vibrant and Sustainable Agricultural Industry and Food Supply.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Follow <\/em>UConn CAHNR<\/em><\/a> on social media<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Students receive a tuition waiver and $18,500 annual stipend developing skills in a national priority area<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":207995,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2297,2224],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2140],"class_list":["post-207994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agricultural-resource-economics","category-cahnr"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-15 01:13:51","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207994"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207994\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":207997,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207994\/revisions\/207997"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/207995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207994"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=207994"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=207994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}