M. Elizabeth Karns is a lawyer and epidemiologist. Her teaching is directly connected to her practice, which has focused on statistical evidence, occupational illnesses, assault and harassment injuries, and reproductive harms. Professor Karns has been involved in every aspect of the data life cycle, from initial design to post-event forensic evaluations. Her work on data science ethics brings together professional practice norms, individual values, and organizational goals. Professor Karns is currently developing a virtual reality experience based on the unintended consequences of automated fraud detection.
Overview and Courses
Data scientists have the power to alter the lives of millions of people. With this tremendous responsibility, they also face great pressure from colleagues and stakeholders to maximize results, productivity, and team cooperation.
In this certificate program, you will build sophisticated ethical reasoning skills that are essential for professionals working with data in today’s workplace. First, you’ll determine the sources of your own ethics and identify the subtle "micro-ethics" issues that occur every day. Then, through case studies and real-life scenarios, you’ll learn how to appropriately respond to and correct these issues.
Throughout the program, you will explore the interplay between daily ethical data choices and global issues including fairness, justice, privacy, and consent. You will also integrate existing principles, practices, and codes of conduct with the “virtue ethics” framework. Finally, you will apply these skills to the use of low-stakes mechanisms to raise ethical concerns and foster ethics in the workplace. By the end of this program, you will be prepared to balance stakeholder concerns with the impact of your work and continue building a purposeful, ethical framework to guide you in your role and beyond.
For the best experience in this program it is recommended to take these courses in the order that they appear.
Course list
In this course, you will examine the foundations of ethics in both people and organizations. By acquiring the skills to identify the sources of your own ethics, you will strengthen and clarify your ethical stance in the workplace. Through this lens, you will deploy “micro-ethics” in a decisive, purposeful way to situations you might encounter as a citizen in diverse communities such as teams, professional associations, organizations, or employers. This process will be informed by a survey of the “virtue ethics” framework along with mechanisms that help you handle ethical dilemmas. By the end of this course, you will have the necessary foundation to engage with ethics on a deeper level in your personal and professional contexts.
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View Course Details- Feb 19, 2025
- Jun 11, 2025
- Oct 1, 2025
When a data project leaves your hands, the ethical choices you made will travel with it, and those choices can sometimes lead to significant consequences. In this course, you will apply your knowledge to situations where seemingly small ethical choices made by individuals result in large, “macro-ethics” problems of fairness, justice, privacy, and consent. You will trace the data science lifecycle to anticipate consequences and discuss the importance of transparency and accountability in your work. Finally, you will practice applying moral imagination to a data lifecycle and ecosystem then develop recommendations for monitoring and intervention based on that context. By recognizing the connections between desk-level choices and world-level impacts, you will acquire the skill to move your data science work in a positive direction.
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View Course Details- Mar 5, 2025
- Jun 25, 2025
- Oct 15, 2025
What can you do to cultivate the right ethical choices? This course addresses this question by delving into the concept of “virtue ethics” and how it is applied in practical situations. You will explore how the virtue ethics framework relates to existing principles, practices, and codes of conduct in data science as well as how it can be used to inform decisions. First, you will develop the skill to analyze your own habits so they support your beliefs about your ethical character. You will then apply these concepts to a work setting, recognizing the guidelines that exist for your professional practice. Finally, you will discover how to navigate common situations where ethics are at odds with your professional goals or client needs, including situations when organizational ethics and individual ethics are unaligned. By integrating these concepts in practical ways, you will be set up with the tools and practices needed for success in your role and beyond.
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View Course Details- Mar 19, 2025
- Jul 9, 2025
- Oct 29, 2025
Managing the dynamic between individual and organizational ethics can feel complicated without the proper tools and foundations. In this course, you will be introduced to the necessary tools to understand and engage with these frequently opposing contexts. You will apply virtue ethics concepts across individual, team, and organizational levels to create an environment that encourages all stakeholders to thrive. You will discover techniques for cultivating habits, reviewing processes for ethical flags, creating low-stakes mechanisms to raise ethical concerns, and building an ethical climate in performance reviews. Finally, you will engage with workplace practices around ethics, identifying strategies for handling situations in which ethics are central, including deploying rewards for ethical practices. By the end of this course, you will have the tools necessary to apply ethical concepts in workplace settings, helping you manage the dynamic between individual and organizational ethics to help every stakeholder succeed.
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View Course Details- Apr 2, 2025
- Jul 23, 2025
- Nov 12, 2025
How It Works
Format
All Online
Time Commitment
2 months with 3-5 hours of study per week
Cost
$2,999
Learn From Top Minds
Courses are developed by Cornell faculty.
Power Your Career
Gain today’s most in-demand skills to stand apart.
Flexibility Fits Your Life
Learn on your schedule without stepping out of your job.
Small-class Experience
Participate in facilitated discussions and live sessions with industry peers.
Real-world Projects
Apply learnings and insights to your work to make an impact right away.
Personalized Feedback
Enjoy meaningful feedback on assignments from expert facilitators.
Format
All Online
Time Commitment
2 months with 3-5 hours of study per week
Cost
$2,999
Learn From Top Minds
Courses are developed by Cornell faculty.
Power Your Career
Gain today’s most in-demand skills to stand apart.
Flexibility Fits Your Life
Learn on your schedule without stepping out of your job.
Small-class Experience
Participate in facilitated discussions and live sessions with industry peers.
Real-world Projects
Apply learnings and insights to your work to make an impact right away.
Personalized Feedback
Enjoy meaningful feedback on assignments from expert facilitators.
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Faculty Author
Senior Lecturer, Social Statistics, Cornell ILR School
Key Course Takeaways
- Identify the individual ethics that you practice in everyday data decision making
- Develop and improve your ethical work practices
- Recognize the macro-level ethical problems of bias, fairness, and justice in data science
- Identify responsible practices within an organization and navigate situations when organizational ethics and individual ethics are unaligned
- Apply virtue ethics concepts across individual, team, and organizational levels
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Download a Brochure
Not ready to enroll but want to learn more? Download the certificate brochure to review program details.“
I like to think outside of the box, and this program from eCornell helped me conceptualize how I want to approach data problems going forward. I was able to actually apply new course concepts to my work, rather than simply repeat steps with different values.
‐ Mark T.
What You'll Earn
- Data Ethics Certificate from Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science
- 40 Professional Development Hours (4 CEUs)
Who Should Enroll
- Data and machine learning scientists
- Data bank managers and curators
- Model and algorithm developers
- Data protection managers and privacy stewards
- Ethics officers
- Statisticians
- IT managers and technology consultants
- Data and business analysts
- Software developers and programmers
- Quality and security engineers
- Compliance professionals
- Lawyers
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Data Ethics
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