The Dominguez Center for Data Science

Anyone can download a model. What they can’t download is a mentor who pushes back on their assumptions, or a teammate from a different discipline who sees the problem differently. That’s what happens at the Dominguez Center. We teach students to use the most powerful tools of their generation, and to bring the judgment those tools will never have.”

— Kelly McConville, director of the Dominguez Center for Data Science

THE PROBLEMS THAT DEFINE THE NEXT CENTURY WON’T FIT NEATLY INTO ANY ONE DISCIPLINE. NEITHER WILL THE DATA.

Most institutions make students choose between breadth and depth, theory and practice, the liberal arts and a profession. Bucknell refuses that trade-off. The Dominguez Center for Data Science is where the refusal becomes real.

The DCDS is a bridge across all three colleges. Where data meets the humanities. Where engineering meets management. Where a question about a playing field and a question about a food pantry use the same tools and demand the same rigor.

Investing in the DCDS gives it the flexibility to take on work that matters, from sports analytics to data for social good. Breakthrough research and undergraduate learning don’t happen in separate buildings here. They happen at the same table.

The DCDS makes career readiness a promise to every Bucknell student, not a privilege for a few.  Students take on high-touch, real-world projects that build essential analytical skills. Through AI and emerging technologies, every Bucknellian learns to be more than a user of technology. They learn to direct it. To question it. To lead with it.

That is the Bucknell Advantage. Graduates with the agility to lead in a data-driven world, and the judgment no algorithm can replace.

People & Talent

THE BEST TECHNOLOGY IN THE WORLD STILL NEEDS A TEACHER.

Data science is taught by people. Learned alongside people. Practiced for people. Endowing the leadership, faculty and student roles at the DCDS builds the human infrastructure behind a high-touch, transformative education. It is a direct investment in the career readiness and lifelong potential of every student it reaches.

• Students who do the work, not just study it. Through the JoAnn Patrick-Ezzell ’75 & Andrew Ezzell Data Science Student Fellows Program, undergraduates from every academic discipline take on real-world projects with real stakes. They don’t wait for a job to learn the skills. They build them here. Today, more students are ready for this work than there are fellowships to fund it. Every new fellowship closes that gap. 
• Faculty mentors who bring their research into the room. Three endowed professorships and an expanded corps of named faculty fellows across all three colleges give the Center the breadth to take on complex, high-impact research in close connection with their students. These are teacher-scholars. They don’t leave their scholarship at the door. They bring it into the classroom.
• AI fellows who turn coursework into discovery. An AI post-doctoral fellow leads themed projects in the Emerging Tech and AI Lab and teaches the courses that build on them. Each fellow mentors up to 15 students per semester, guiding them from first question to finished work in AI, robotics and data for social good. 
• Recent graduates help train the next generation. Two-year AI & Data Post-Baccalaureate Fellows mentor student projects, build AI resources and lead workshops, so the Center reaches more students than ever. The fellows gain real experience and leadership at the start of their careers. Not just a first job. A launch. 

No student does it alone. That is the point.

Innovation & Programs

THE BREAKTHROUGHS LIVE IN THE INTERSECTIONS.

The Center is an interdisciplinary bridge and an incubator, turning knowledge into consequence.

1. AI Foundations, for every Bucknellian. An expanded set of courses gives every student foundational technical competence, critical thinking and ethical awareness about artificial intelligence as part of their curriculum. 
2. The Emerging Tech and AI Lab. An incubator where post-doctoral researchers mentor student teams on high-impact projects in topics like AI, robotics and data for social good. Its projects push past the edges of the standard curriculum and into work with real consequences. 
3. The Performance Analytics Initiative. A partnership between Bucknell Athletics and the DCDS that pairs student data fellows with varsity programs. Together they analyze real-time optical tracking and biomechanical data to sharpen training, reduce preventable injuries and refine game tactics. The student-athlete who wins on Saturday and the data fellow who helped them do it are learning the same lesson.
4. Career pathways in AI and emerging technology. A partnership with the Center for Career Advancement connects what students build at the DCDS to the employers hiring for those skills, so fluency in AI shows up on a résumé and in an interview. 

Infrastructure & Community Impact

AMBITION THIS BIG NEEDS A HOME WORTHY OF IT.

Student demand for data science has outgrown the Center’s current space. The DCDS must grow with it, in a physical footprint that matches its role at the center of a Bucknell education.

• A new home. A $2+ million initiative to build a modern, highly visible center at the heart of campus. It will be an incubator for cross-college collaboration. A stage for student-faculty research showcases. A gathering place for interdisciplinary workshops that draw in every college.
• Industry-standard tools. High-performance computing, optical tracking technology and cloud-based management platforms, so students train on the same tools they will use on day one of their careers.

The right space doesn’t just hold the work. It invites more students in.

Data for Social Good

DCDS Student Fellows partnered with Bucknell’s Center for Community Engaged Leadership, Learning & Research and the Union-Snyder Food Hub to collect and analyze data on food insecurity in the region. The work turned numbers into neighbors. It showed students what data is for, and who it can serve.

Investment & Naming Opportunities

THIS IS NOT A TRANSACTION. IT’S A PARTNERSHIP.

To secure the Center’s ability to open its doors to more students, Bucknell invites philanthropic partners to invest in the following priorities.

• Director: $6 million
  • Funds and names permanent leadership for the Center, with budget-relieving program support.
• Professorships (3): $5 million
  • Funds and names top teacher-scholars leading DCDS research across disciplines.
• Data Scientist: $3 million
  • Funds and names deeper student engagement through direct project work with fellows.
• Center Home: $2+ million
  • Supports and names a highly-visible, named home for cross-college collaboration at the heart of campus.
• Faculty Fellows: $1.25 million
  • Funds named positions so research reaches across arts & sciences, engineering and management.
• Student Fellows Program: $1 million
  • Named fellows funding student research and project support, in perpetuity.
• AI Post-doctoral Fellows: $164,000 per year
  • Current use support for post-docs leading AI lab projects and courses.
• AI & Data Post-Baccalaureate Fellows: $250,000 per year
  • More mentors to support more projects and more students through two-year graduate fellowships. 
• Program Support
  • Funding for student programming, travel, AI and community-impact projects.

The Ripple Effect 

ONE GIFT. EVERY CLASS THAT FOLLOWS.

An investment in the DCDS doesn’t stay in one center. It compounds across every corner of the University.

• Graduates who land with purpose. Bucknell holds itself to a clear standard: every graduate in a meaningful role within six months. The DCDS prepares students for the conversations that define their careers — technical, financial and human — so they’re ready not just to get a job, but to lead in one.
• Faculty who choose Bucknell. Endowed positions help Bucknell attract and keep world-class teacher-scholars who choose to teach in classes small enough to matter.
• A model the nation will study. The DCDS positions Bucknell as a national pioneer in applied data science within an undergraduate liberal arts and professional setting.