Computing Fellows

About the program and values

Computing Fellows are undergraduate peer academic leaders who help students to engage with computing. Fellows are attached to courses and can develop and lead computational activities, support students in ongoing computational projects, and provide one-on-one consultations with students in those courses. Fellows meet weekly as a cohort and engage with anti-racist computing pedagogy, practice workshops, and build community with each other. 

The program values: 

• accessibility and inclusion in computational fields and methods
• the role of peer-to-peer relationships in improving equity and inclusion in computational fields and methods
• critical and engaged pedagogy
• learning that aims to empower and center students
• interdisciplinary applications of computational thinking  

Computing Fellows are not TAs, rather they help facilitate the exploration of computational methods with a spirit of openness and an emphasis on student agency.

Computing Fellows can be paired with Barnard courses or programs that may or may not have existing computational themes or which would be enhanced by a computational perspective. Instructors can request Computing Fellow(s) to be attached to their course through the form linked below. Computing Fellows can assist in three primary ways, though we are open to discussing other options:

1. Teaching an in-class workshop that explores the topics of the course or program from a computational lens
2. Holding one-on-one conferences with students
3. Holding open office hours to support students working on computational projects

Other modes of fellowing may be possible (including assisting faculty in developing computational projects, holding workshops outside of class for a smaller group of students, etc.). If you are interested in support not outlined here or have questions about how the Computing Fellows program may work for you, please contact us individually or at csc@barnard.edu.

If you'd like to request a Computing Fellow for your course or program, please fill out this form here.

New Computing Fellows are hired each term. Applications for the Fall 2022 term are open now - apply here.

Computing Fellows are expected to be attached to a course or program (like the Athena Digital Design Academy).  Responsibilities may include:

• Communicating with instructor(s) in your attached course
• Communicating with students in your attached course to schedule one-on-one consultation meetings; hosting one-on-one consultation meetings
• Holding office hours
• Leading and developing workshop(s) for your attached course or for the CSC
• Attending weekly training meetings
• Supporting other Computing Fellows as needed

Weekly fellows meetings include a variety of activities and topics, including:

• Training on pedagogy and the role of the peer fellow
• Practicing giving feedback in both one-on-one and group settings
• Leading workshops among your peers
• Reflecting on the relationships between technology, computation, and society

Fellows should have some experience coding and a strong willingness to learn about computational methods and pedagogy. To find more information about the position and to apply, visit csc.barnard.edu/hiring.  Questions? Please contact us at csc@barnard.edu.

Attached courses for Spring 2022 included:

• EDUC BC3250 Education in a Polarized and Unequal Society
  • Fellow supported incorporation of computational and data visualization tools into syllabus and final map-making project.
• COMS BC 1016/1017 Introduction to Computational Thinking and Data Science
  • Fellows held office hours to support students working on course projects.
• HIST BC2366 Climate & History: Intersecting Science, Environment, and Society
  • Fellow led an in-class workshop on visualizing and interpreting historical environmental data.
• EESC BC3300 Workshop in Sustainable Development
  • Fellow supported students on data wrangling and using Python to work with time-series data sets for their final projects.
• COGS GU4051 Natural and Artificial Neural Networks Lab
  • Fellow supported students working on Python and machine learning-based labs.
• EESC BC3800 Environmental Science Senior Seminar
  • Fellow supported students using computational methods in Python and R for their final projects.
• NSBV BC3593 Neuroscience and Behavior Research Seminar
  • Fellow held one-on-one conferences to support students incorporating computational methods into their projects.
• COMS BC3420 Privacy in a Networked World
  • Fellow led an in-class workshop on data reidentification, with “challenge” options for students with coding experience.
• CHEM BC3328 Introductory Organic Chemistry Lab
  • Fellows supported students using computational methods associated with basic techniques of experimental organic chemistry.
• CHEM BC3348 Advanced Spectroscopy Lab
  • Fellows supported students using computational methods associated with laboratory instrumentation and techniques in spectroscopy.
• Athena Digital Design Academy (ADDA) (co-curricular)
  • Fellows helped with weekly in-person meetings, assisted with debugging, technical problems, and the Athena Center’s weekly Community of Practice.

Attached courses for Fall 2021 included:

• NSBV BC1001 Introduction to Neuroscience
  • Fellow led a workshop on visualization and analysis of data from fruit fly circadian rhythm experiments.
• FYSB BC1736 First Year Seminar: Tech & Society: Good, Bad, and Other
  • Fellow led introductory workshop on data reidentification, how anonymous data can be traced back to an individual user.
• EDUC BC3032 Investigating the Purposes and Aims of Education Policy
  • Fellow led workshop on visualizing data about school commute time collected by a student in the course and using such data visualization tools for storytelling and identifying correlations in data.
• EESC BC3050 Big Data with Python
  • Fellows held one-on-one student consultations with each student about how to approach their final research projects using Python for data visualization of an environmental data set of their choosing.
• EESC BC3800 Environmental Science Senior Seminar
  • Fellow held one-on-one student consultations around how to incorporate computational tools into analysis for their senior research theses.
• NSBV BC3593 Research Seminar in Neuroscience and Behavior
  • Fellow was available to provide computational assistance for student research projects.
• Athena Digital Design Academy (ADDA) (co-curricular)
  • Fellows led workshops and hosted office hours to support ADDA students designing websites using HTML and CSS.
• CHEM BC3333 Modern Techniques of Organic Chemistry Lab
  • Fellows assisted students in using specialized organic chemistry software to make theoretical predictions about chemical properties.

Attached courses for Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 included:

• HIST BC2366 Climate & History: Intersecting Science, Environment, and Society
• CHEM BC3328 Organic Chemistry Laboratory
• STEM BC2223 Programming for Behavioral Sciences
• NSBV BC1001 Introduction to Neuroscience
• ARCH UN3312 Special Topics: Mapping the Data-Driven City
• COMS BC3420 Privacy in a Networked World
• FYSB BC1741 Science and Society on Screen
• FYSB BC1736 Tech & Society: Good, Bad, and Other
• EESC BC3050 Big Data with Python
• COMS BC3430 Computational Sound
• COMS BC1016 Intro to Computational Thinking and Data Science

In Big Data with Python, offered by the Environmental Science Department, one student said of the one-on-one consultations offered by a Computing Fellow: “It was super helpful to meet with a computational fellow, I think the best piece of advice [the fellow] gave was to start small and then work your way up to what you want to discover such as the relationship between two sets of data. Although I had a clear goal going into the meeting I think breaking down the pieces was really helpful.”

In Introduction to Neuroscience, a student said: “I really liked learning more about circadian rhythms, and learning how computer science and neuroscience are connected.”

In Organic Chemistry Lab, an instructor said: “Theoretical predictions from the computational hour helped students understand the outcome of hands-on experiments."

In Climate & History, the instructor reported: “The fellow made the class much more interdisciplinary and her contribution had a huge pedagogical impact on students by enhancing their engagement with coding for both science and humanities majors”; and a student noted, “I was never really interested in developing my computing skills but I think this was really useful and we were able to see how data was manipulated.” 

In the first-year seminar Science and Society, one student said about the workshop a Computing Fellow developed:“It definitely encouraged me to try and develop my computing skills. I actually just enrolled in an intro to computer science course over the summer semester."

Past fellows noted: "I learned a lot about how to introduce coding to people who have not coded before...I also learned that I loved coding way more than I thought I did!"