ANNOUNCEMENTS
Applications for the FinDS Summer Program 2025 are open.
Generous National Science Foundation Scholarships are available.
Beginner Program
Dates: June 2nd - June 20th, 2025
Location: UT Austin campus & online
Deadline: April 23, 2025
Advanced Program
About FinDS
FinDS is an innovative program that is designed to provide high school students with a strong base in the Mathematical Foundations of Data Science. The FinDS program is offered in two levels.
For the beginners program, we do not expect a prior background in data science. A strong background in algebra and a willingness to work hard is all that is required to participate in the program. The program is appropriate for any student who has taken Algebra 2. Even college students seeking a solid background in the foundation of data science are welcome to apply.
The FinDS Advanced program is suitable for those who have participated in FinDS Beginners or equivalent programs and will cover advanced topics in Algorithms and Machine Learning.
Solidifying the Pillars of Computer & Data Science
Computer Science and Data Science are not just about coding, building systems, or crunching data. The pillar of computer science and data science lies in its mathematical foundation. Success in higher studies in computing requires solid backgrounds in Probability, Graph Theory, Calculus, and Linear Algebra. Without probability there won’t be any public-key cryptosystems, without graphs there won’t be any Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, without calculus, there won’t be any gradient descent algorithms that have transformed Machine Learning, and without linear algebra, there won’t be any Google search engine.
FinDS is a unique summer program sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) supported EnCORE Institute that will solidify students‘ education in the mathematics behind data science. Upon completion of the course, students will be ready to understand some of the most beautiful innovations of computer and data sciences and can enroll further in a year-long program for advanced education in computer algorithms and machine learning.
The instructors of the course are world-renowned Computer Science and Data Science professors from the University of California San Diego, the University of California Los Angeles, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Texas Austin. They have over twenty years of experience in research and education in computer science and have won numerous prestigious national and international awards. The course will have both virtual and in-person offerings. Generous scholarships are available from NSF.
Participating Universities
University of California, San Diego
University of California, Los Angeles
University of Pennsylvania
University of Texas at Austin
Highlighting Professor Rajiv Gandhi
We bring in the passion to educate and create a next-generation of college students with solid mathematical foundations in Data Science. Listen to the TED-X talk by the lead instructor Prof. Rajiv Gandhi (FinDS Beginners) from the University of Pennsylvania how he transformed students.