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“So we need teachers, ones that are interested in learning data science and willing to go through the growing pains of being able to learn something new. And we need pathways. We need pathways to get students interested in things, to know about data science and know what it is, into high schools.”

In this episode, we engage in a conversation with Professor Solomon Russell from El Camino College, a community college in Southern California. Professor Russell shares his journey from teaching computer science to his dedicated focus on advancing data science education, discussing the challenges and successes of introducing data science at the college level. He reflects on the diversity among students entering the data science classes and the disparities in completion rates, highlighting strategies to bridge the knowledge gap and ensure student success. Delving into his ongoing work, including the development of an intermediate data science class for community college students and securing grants to expand data science education, he underscores the importance of ethics, equity, and community building in this field.

“I really think education is about liberation, right? Liberating, like different ways that you thought in the past, liberating other people, liberating your future, like the people that come after you. So to be able to make people more conscious through data science—I think that's a huge win. But ultimately, even beyond data science, I just want people to find what they're passionate about…like, I'm a dancer, so I always think that everybody has a dance.”

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