Schedule
Schedule for DS190, Capstone in Data Science, Pomona College, Fall 2026
Here is your roadmap for the semester!
On some days, there are assignments due. Pay attention to due dates as you are graded entirely on turning in assignments on time (reasonable person test).
You will give two presentations. One will be ~10 minutes, informal, and take place during regular class times. The final presentation will be ~20 minutes, more formal, and take place during reading days or during finals week.
Five class periods will be based on disciplinary data science ethics. You are expected to read the pre-class materials and be an active participant in the class discussion.
Attendance and class participation is mandatory.
| date | topic | assignment | readings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 9.1.26 |
introductions + syllabus + logistics + pre-course survey | Introduction | |
| Week 2 9.8.26 |
EDS - CS/engineering/chemistry Julie Modero |
capstone topic | Read op-ed by Prof. Medero and Prof. Hawkins from Harvey Mudd’s LILAQ lab Read the EPA Air Quality Index (AQI) Basics and Using Air Quality Index pages Skim the explanation of how NowCast is calculated, don’t worry about understanding the details, just get an impression |
| Week 3 9.15.26 |
EDS - philosophy Julie Tannenbaum |
annotated bibliography | And Justice for All: New Introductory Essays in Ethics and Public Police, 1982, eds. Tom Regan and Donald VanDeVeer Chapter 9 Utilitarianism, Dan Brock |
| Week 4 9.22.26 |
check-ins + citations + scripting + Git | Writing & Presenting BibTeX example .bib file |
|
| Week 5 9.29.26 |
EDS - CARE & FAIR | Carroll, S. R., Rodriguez-Lonebear, D., & Martinez, A. (2019). Indigenous data governance: Strategies from United States Native Nations. Data Science Journal, 18(1), 31. https://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2019-031 Carroll, S.R., Herczog, E., Hudson, M. et al. Operationalizing the CARE and FAIR Principles for Indigenous data futures. Sci Data 8, 108 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-021-00892-0 Data Accessibility CARE & FAIR |
|
| Week 6 10.6.26 |
EDS - ecology Marty Meyer |
1st outline | what does the journal require? can you get the data? what is required from the author? (PLOS ONE, Ecology and Evolution, Ecology, Invasion Biology + your field) what are pre-study expectations? (CONSORT for randomized controlled trials, TREND for non-randomized trials, PRISMA for systematic review and meta-analyses, CARE for case reports, STROBE for observational studies, STREGA for genetic association studies, SRQR for qualitative studies, STARD for diagnostic accuracy studies, ARRIVE for animal experiments) |
| Week 7 10.13.26 |
presentations | section draft | |
| Week 8 10.20.26 |
fall break no class meeting |
one-on-one check-ins with Prof Hardin | |
| Week 9 10.27.26 |
presentations | ||
| Week 10 11.3.26 |
presentations | introduction or 2nd section | |
| Week 11 11.10.26 |
presentations | ethics component | |
| Week 12 11.17.26 |
presentations | ||
| Week 13 11.24.26 |
Thanksgiving break no class meeting |
project draft due Monday 11.23.26 | |
| Week 14 12.1.26 |
EDS - linguistics Ernesto Gutiérrez Topete |
Bender, Emily M., Timnit Gebru, Angelina McMillan-Major, and Shmargaret Shmitchell. 2021. On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots: Can Language Models Be Too Big? Proceedings of the 2021 ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency,610–23. FAccT ’21. New York, NY, USA: Association for Computing Machinery. Beacken, Gabrielle, and Matthias Becker. 2025. Chatbot Grok Doesn’t Glitch—It Reflects X. Tech Policy Press. Holliday, Nicole. 2025. If Not Language, Why Language-Shaped? TikTok video. |
|
| Week 15 12.8.26 |
wrap-up | final presentations | 12.10.26 (2-5pm) or 12.14.26 (2-5pm) |
| 12.14.26 | final write-up | final write-up |
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