BU Spark! To Live in CDS
Technology incubator/experiential learning lab moves to new interdisciplinary academic unit
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS -- Boston University’s Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences (CDS) is pleased to officially announce that BU Spark! is now incorporated within the academic unit, as one of its key strategic initiatives. Spark! will be an integral part of Data Science for Good (DS4G), another forthcoming CDS initiative. As part of the organizational change, the director of BU Spark!, Ziba Cranmer, now reports to Associate Provost Azer Bestavros.
Originally housed under the Hariri Institute for Computing, “...it became clear that BU Spark!, as a student-facing, academic-oriented program, should be located under [CDS],” Provost Jean Morrison said in an official memo earlier this year. Upon completion of the new Center for Computing & Data Sciences in 2022, it is planned that BU Spark! will relocate and occupy space there.
Launched in 2017 as a computing and data sciences incubator and experiential learning lab for Boston University students, BU Spark! empowers students to pursue their passions as they relate to innovative uses of computing and data science technologies for entrepreneurship and public good purposes. BU Spark! harnesses the power of real-world experiences for BU’s student community by bringing together students and partners at BU (such as CAS Computer Science, College of Communication, Pardee School, and BUild) with external partners, including Microsoft, Red Hat, and ACLU.
BU Spark! is structured around three pillars: experiential learning, innovation, and inclusion and community. Through the X-Labs, experiential learning is fostered by pairing students with Boston-area organizations to complete a multitude of projects (either for course credit or as a paid on-campus internship). Through the Innovation Fellows Program, cross-college Fellows participate in either a structured innovation curricular experience or paid internship, working in groups on problems on behalf of humanitarian organizations. Finally, the Ignite Student Council connects clubs to each other and coordinates initiatives and events that foster inclusion and innovation in computer science and engineering.
In Associate Provost Azer Bestavros’ words, “Interdisciplinarity is at the heart of all that Spark! does, making it a perfect fit with CDS’ mission—to be a catalyst for synergy and integration of research and education programs in computing and data sciences across the landscape of academic disciplines at BU.” CDS is defined by how its faculty members pursue scholarship and not by what scholarship they pursue. It brings together academics who are doctors and economists, lawyers and marketing experts, education and communications specialists, social scientists and computational humanists, as well as scholars whose academic careers are anchored in computer science and engineering, and in mathematics and statistics.
BU Spark!’s impressive track record speaks for itself: in three years it has seen over 837 students and 208 fellows from 5 schools work with 103 mentors on 170 projects from more than 50 partners. The addition of BU Spark! to CDS’ programming offers exciting opportunities for innovation and partnerships between students, faculty, and the community.