Summer@ICERM is a residential undergraduate research program hosted at the Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics at Brown University. Led by experienced faculty and graduate student teaching assistants, participating undergrads will spend seven weeks learning how to collaborate, engage in data science, and conduct research as a team. The goal of Summer@ICERM 2025: Building Useful Insights from Local Data through Sustainable partnerships (BUILDS) is to introduce students with limited experience to the field of data science through projects related to issues such as global food systems, food production, and food security.

Imagine you are making recommendations to a coffee shop about how to decide how much milk to purchase each week, based on data they have collected. You might be working with coffee shops in three different places that all have similar problems, but don’t have exactly the same information or needs. If your team can build a flexible enough solution so that your client can input local information about their situation and get a recommendation, your solution will potentially be useful to a larger variety of coffee shops.

Data science is the process of turning information into insights. In this program, you will learn to address local and global data science challenges broadly related to the theme of food posed by community partners. Your goal will be to develop flexible solutions that could work for community partners who have similar challenges but different local contexts. Faculty leaders will help you learn how to communicate your solutions to audiences that may not have a technical or data science background. They will also provide information and encourage you to think about how the things you are learning might connect to future educational pathways, internship opportunities, and careers.

While all undergraduate data science beginners from any major are welcome, rising sophomores are encouraged to apply.