Fall 2021 Syllabus - The Data Mine Corporate Partners

If no Data Scientist is assigned to your team, you can email datamine@purdue.edu for support and your question will be directed to the team member who can best support your team.

The data scientists employed by The Data Mine are here to help students with the technical topics and concepts that they will encounter during their projects. The data scientist team has a varied background in topics such as natural language processing (NLP), geospatial information systems (GIS), high performance computing, and machine learning.

Each data scientist is assigned to a specific corporate partner project. A reference table is included below. If you have a question for a member of the Data Science team, please contact the data scientist assigned to your project first. They will bring in other members of the team as needed. They are here to help so don’t be worried when asking questions!

When scheduling a meeting with a data scientist keep in mind that they are designed to be collaborative. The team wants to see any solutions that you’ve attempted and where you may be getting stuck. Also, for more complicated questions it helps to give some advance notice of the topics over email. We aren’t experts in all of data science and some research may be required.

Your Corporate Partner Mentor(s) are employees of the company you are working with. You will meet once a week with them online (unless the company is in West Lafayette, IN or visiting Purdue for a meeting). Please treat all communication with them in a professional manner – they are like your supervisor during an internship. They also act as a product owner and can help to answer questions or find resources for any product specific questions that you have during the project.

Our Corporate Partner TAs will serve as peer mentors and team leaders for each of our projects. Nearly all of our CRP TAs have been in The Data Mine Corporate Partners program in past years and many are returning to the same project. The CRP TAs will lead the weekly student meeting (lab – 2 hours) when you are not meeting with the Corporate Partner Mentor(s). They should also be the first person to go to when you have a technical question or questions about your project.

If no Data Scientist is assigned to your team, you can email datamine@purdue.edu for support and your question will be directed to the team member who can best support your team.

Use this table to send your questions to the most appropriate email.

The Data Mine staff offer office hours by request. Please email the staff to request a meeting. Students are always welcome to stop by staff offices Monday - Friday in MRGN 132 - 146.

50-minute team meeting

This meeting will occur synchronously online via Zoom unless your Corporate Partner Mentors are located in West Lafayette or visiting campus. Online links are shared via a calendar invite at the beginning of the year. You can join this meeting from anywhere, but please follow the “net-etiquette” guidelines below to find a quiet space.

1 hour 50-minute student labs

This meeting will occur in person for all teams. This is dedicated work time with your team members to collaborate on your project and to work as a larger group or as sub-teams. The meetings will be held in 3 separate rooms all located in the Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship at 1201 W. State St., West Lafayette, IN 47906. MRGN is located on the southwest corner of State Street and Jischke Drive. The room numbers are MRGN 129, MRGN 148, and MRGN 206. See Brightspace module “where do I go for class?” to see your specific meeting room.

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Click here to view the Fall 2021 Course Schedule

The general guidelines The Data Mine uses for evaluating your work with Corporate Partners are the following:

The numbers in parenthesis next to the letter grades are the numerical values that will be entered in Brightspace for your Corporate Partners Mentor Evaluation grade.

This course will follow the 90-80-70-60 grading scale for A, B, C, D cut-offs. If you earn a 90.000 in the class, for example, that is a solid A. +/- grades will be given at the instructor’s discretion below these cut-offs. If you earn an 89.11 in the class, for example, this may be an A- or a B

We do NOT accept late work, unless there are extenuating circumstances. It is better to submit a partially done report than nothing at all. Partial credit can be earned for work turned in on time. The electronic submission systems also do not allow for late work. We cannot make exceptions for these items once the submission deadline has passed.

All course material will be posted in the Corporate Partners section of The Examples Book.

All assignments will be submitted through Brightspace or Gradescope

This course permits you, the student to participate in a class project that has been sponsored by a third party other than the University. The University encourages and supports your participation in this practical learning experience. Although your course requirements may include a practical learning project, you are not required to participate in a project that is sponsored by an outside third party. Prior to your participation in a project sponsored by an outside third party, we would like you to carefully consider that your participation (i) may require you to assign your intellectual property (IP) rights to any intellectual property for which a student would retain ownership under the University’s Policy I.A.1 on Intellectual Property and/or (ii) may require you sign a non-disclosure (confidentiality) agreement with the sponsor. If you sign an agreement regarding intellectual property rights or a non-disclosure agreement, you may incur personal liability (with respect to breach of a non- disclosure agreement) or you may lose economic benefits associated with your ownership of intellectual property (with respect to a license or assignment of intellectual property). You are encouraged to retain independent legal counsel for advice on these types of agreements. In addition, if you choose not to sign a non-disclosure or intellectual property rights agreement, you may be reassigned to a different project or you may not be able to participate in The Data Mine Corporate Partners.

It is important to note that you are working on real-world problems that your Corporate Partner is trying to solve. These projects weren’t created as busywork to keep you occupied for 9 months; you have the opportunity to make a real impact with your Corporate Partner. Past work from Data Mine students have been put into production code!

With that being said, the work you do and the data you have access to must be kept fully confidential! Nearly all Corporate Partner students will be required to sign an NDA and/or IP agreement with the company. Even if you do not have to sign an NDA for your project, please keep the project details private. While each NDA will have unique terms, some basics include:

If you must miss class at any point in time during the semester, please reach out to me via email so that we can communicate about how you can maintain your academic progress. If you find yourself too sick to progress in the course, notify your adviser and notify me via email or Brightspace. We will make arrangements based on your particular situation. Please note that, according to Details for Students on Normal Operations for Fall 2021 announced on the Protect Purdue website, “individuals who test positive for COVID-19 are not guaranteed remote access to all course activities, materials, and assignments.”

You are expected to behave in a way that promotes a welcoming, inclusive, productive learning environment. You need to be prepared for your individual and group work each week, and you need to include everybody in your group in any discussions. Respond promptly to all communications and show up for any appointments that are scheduled. If your group is having trouble working well together, try hard to talk through the difficulties—this is an important skill to have for future professional experiences. If you are still having difficulties, ask The Data Mine staff to meet with your group.

Academic integrity is one of the highest values that Purdue University holds. Individuals are encouraged to alert university officials to potential breaches of this value by either emailing or by calling 765-494-8778. While information may be submitted anonymously, the more information that is submitted provides the greatest opportunity for the university to investigate the concern.

The Purdue Honor Pledge “As a boilermaker pursuing academic excellence, I pledge to be honest and true in all that I do. Accountable together - we are Purdue"

Please refer to the student guide for academic integrity for more details.

Purdue University is committed to maintaining a community which recognizes and values the inherent worth and dignity of every person; fosters tolerance, sensitivity, understanding, and mutual respect among its members; and encourages each individual to strive to reach his or her own potential. In pursuit of its goal of academic excellence, the University seeks to develop and nurture diversity. The University believes that diversity among its many members strengthens the institution, stimulates creativity, promotes the exchange of ideas, and enriches campus life. Link to Purdue’s nondiscrimination policy statement.

Purdue University strives to make learning experiences as accessible as possible. If you anticipate or experience physical or academic barriers based on disability, you are welcome to let me know so that we can discuss options. You are also encouraged to contact the Disability Resource Center at: drc@purdue.edu or by phone: 765-494-1247.

If you have been certified by the Office of the Dean of Students as someone needing a course adaptation or accommodation because of a disability OR if you need special arrangements in case the building must be evacuated, please contact The Data Mine staff during the first week of classes. We are happy to help you.

Purdue University is committed to providing a safe and secure campus environment for members of the university community. Purdue strives to create an educational environment for students and a work environment for employees that promote educational and career goals. Violent Behavior impedes such goals. Therefore, Violent Behavior is prohibited in or on any University Facility or while participating in any university activity. See the University’s full violent behavior policy for more detail.

In our discussions, structured and unstructured, we will explore a variety of challenging issues, which can help us enhance our understanding of different experiences and perspectives. This can be challenging, but in overcoming these challenges we find the greatest rewards. While we will design guidelines as a group, everyone should remember the following points:

Any student who faces challenges securing their food or housing and believes this may affect their performance in the course is urged to contact the Dean of Students for support. There is no appointment needed and Student Support Services is available to serve students from 8:00 – 5:00, Monday through Friday. The ACE Campus Food Pantry is open to the entire Purdue community).

Considering the significant disruptions caused by the current global crisis as it related to COVID-19, students may submit requests for emergency assistance from the Critical Needs Fund.

During the last two weeks of the semester, you will be provided with an opportunity to give anonymous feedback on this course and your instructor. Purdue uses an online course evaluation system. You will receive an official email from evaluation administrators with a link to the online evaluation site. You will have up to 10 days to complete this evaluation. Your participation is an integral part of this course, and your feedback is vital to improving education at Purdue University. I strongly urge you to participate in the evaluation system.

You may email feedback to us anytime at datamine@purdue.edu. We take feedback from our students seriously, as we want to create the best learning experience for you!

Any student who has substantial reason to believe that another person is threatening the safety of others by not complying with Protect Purdue protocols is encouraged to report the behavior to and discuss the next steps with their instructor. Students also have the option of reporting the behavior to the Office of the Student Rights and Responsibilities. See also Purdue University Bill of Student Rights and the Violent Behavior Policy under University Resources in Brightspace.

In the event of a major campus emergency, course requirements, deadlines and grading percentages are subject to changes that may be necessitated by a revised semester calendar or other circumstances. Here are ways to get information about changes in this course:

Students with extended illnesses should contact their instructor as soon as possible so that arrangements can be made for keeping up with the course. Extended absences/illnesses/emergencies should also go through the Office of the Dean of Students.

This syllabus is subject to change. Changes will be made by an announcement in Brightspace and the corresponding course content will be updated.