Baylor Libraries' Data Sciences Initiatives Support Illuminate

As Baylor University fosters the growth of innovation in undergraduate and graduate programs through Illuminate – the University's academic strategic plan – data sciences has emerged as a core academic initiative. Data sciences have become a requisite tool for researchers in numerous disciplines, like the sciences, humanities, social sciences and health research.

Baylor’s emphasis on data sciences create a unique opportunity for faculty and students to put their research in larger contexts and understand correlations with other research. Thanks to the leadership of Josh Been, digital scholarship librarian, and Christina Chan-Park, science and engineering librarian, Baylor Libraries are uniquely positioned to support this campus-wide endeavor.

In explaining data sciences, one can imagine a recipe where ingredients are research data points from various fields and disciplines which are combined using tools and techniques to create a final dish. The dish acts as the final data visualization that allows for researchers to pull information from their data that was unseen and inaccessible previous to applying data sciences. According to Been, he and the other Baylor librarians work with research data throughout the entire research process and use data analyzation tools to answer research questions.

Mastering those tools is key to making Baylor faculty more competitive in the world of grants and external funding. For example, funding for digital humanities projects was previously awarded primarily for digitizing collections. Now, researchers need to show they are doing inventive work with the digitized content.

“If there are gaps in your knowledge or skills from what you want to do or what you can do, that is where these teams of librarians can provide that support,” said Been.

While STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) research has traditionally laid claim to data sciences due to the quantitative nature, the Libraries see the value of transforming research in the humanities, including music, art, religion, history, English and languages. Ellen Filgo, assistant director for the department of research and engagement, notes that Baylor’s strength in the humanities gives the University a unique opportunity to apply data sciences principles in new and exciting ways.

“Data interact with disciplines we may not always expect and in ways that aren’t always expected,” Filgo said. “Visualizing data can help create a story and fill in gaps in scholarship.”

The University Libraries recently launched two major data sciences initiatives for students and faculty that work to make Baylor’s research shine. The Fundamentals of Data Research Fellowship is an intensive summer program mixing applied research methods and tools with structured and unstructured data. The fellows, graduate students and faculty in humanities disciplines receive a stipend and in-depth training on the use of tools and techniques to get more out of their research data.

The Data Scholar Program is a series of workshops available to all Baylor researchers who want to increase their data sciences skills. Participants can earn a data scholar certification that adds value to their resumes and research.

These initiatives, led by Been, are possible through a team of librarians including Chan-Park, Eileen Bentsen, humanities liaison librarian, Sinai Wood, associate professor and documents librarian, and Vedana Vaidhyanathan, health and life science librarian.

Been is working with Dr. Stephen Reid, professor at Truett Theological Seminary, and Bill Hair, religion and philosophy librarian, to apply data sciences to the Book of Psalms, an exciting project for the Libraries which supports Illuminate’s pillar for an educational Christian environment. The team is working to identify “fuzzy citations” – citations that are vague in some way, making it unclear of a user’s original intent – in transcribed slave narratives from the University of North Carolina’s public archive. Been, Reid and Hair are seeking grant funding to hire a postdoctoral theology researcher to specify the ways the two resources intertwine with one another.

As Baylor’s faculty and staff discover the many ways Illuminate will shape the future of scholarship on campus, the Libraries’ data sciences initiatives are poised to provide crucial training and resources to a campus whose scholars – from STEM fields to the humanities – are looking for innovative ways to harness the hidden potential of “big data” in service to humanity.

Learn more about the Baylor Libraries Digital Scholarship initiatives at blogs.baylor.edu/digitalscholarship.