2024 PREDOC Summer Course: Using Big Data to Solve Economic and Social Problems
The PREDOC Summer Course: Using Big Data to Solve Economic and Social Problems is an eight-week, tuition-free course providing a culminating award of $2,000 to successful participants. A goal of the program is to remove barriers to access to research and doctoral careers in quantitative social science, and cultivate an inclusive classroom experience where different ideas and experiences interact productively. This virtual course is designed to prepare rising undergraduate sophomores and juniors with the coding, research methodology, and professional skills that are relevant for pursuing a research career in the quantitative social sciences. We want students to be well-equipped to find their own research pathways, whether they lead to a pre-doctoral position or graduate study.
The 2024 PREDOC Summer Course will give you the opportunity to:
- Discover what a research career really looks like
- Ask and answer a meaningful question about society
- Learn to analyze large, real-world data sets
- Network with other students considering a research career
- Present your work at our annual summer conference in Washington D.C., hosted by the Federal Reserve Board of Governors
- Earn a culminating stipend award of $2,000
Students will attend a coding boot camp during the week of May 27* and synchronous remote course meetings from June 4 – August 3 (with a break the week of July 1). The in-class time commitment will be Tuesdays and Thursdays, 8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. EDT; professional development meetings on Wednesdays 8:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. EDT; and an estimated additional four hours/week outside of the class period working on a final project. *To ensure everyone's success in the course, all students must participate in coding boot camp sessions during the week of May 27, 2024. Exact times will be determined in consultation with the course participants.
The course’s capstone is an in-person research conference in Washington, D.C. running from August 2-3. Transportation costs will be covered for all participants.