Program Details

This program requires 12-15 hours or more of learning time per week. It is a rigorous 8-week online certificate program running from June 21 to August 15. You will have the opportunity to engage with Cornell faculty in weekly live sessions, as well as office hours and tutoring sessions hosted by facilitators and Cornell students dedicated to helping you succeed.

This program will cover R programming topics ranging from introductory overviews of functions, vectors, matrices, and data frames to statistical analysis like multiple regression, all through the lens of policy issues such as income; racial and educational inequalities; the COVID-19 pandemic; and crime, policing, and incarceration.

  • High school students interested in data science or social change
  • Rising high school juniors, seniors, and recent grads
  • Students aged 16 and older

While people from any country may participate, courses are presented in English. Participants must have well-developed English communication and reading comprehension skills to participate in and benefit from the program.

Since this is an online program that contains R programming content, you will need access to an online New York Times subscription, a laptop or desktop computer with the Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Microsoft Edge browser, and access to wifi/ the internet. This program is not supported on tablets.

This is a non-credit certificate program, you will not receive academic credit. However, you will earn the Big Data and Big Policy Problems Pre-College Certificate from Cornell’s Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy.

You will receive a complete or incomplete on the program.

Registering for the Program

Space in the program is limited, so it is important to enroll as early as possible (before June 12th is recommended).

This is the only currently scheduled running of the Big Data for Big Policy Problems Pre-College certificate program. Given this, there will not be an opportunity to transfer, or reschedule your course. However, should you be unable to complete the program, your payment is fully refundable if you drop the course within 30 days of your registration.