# Computational Social Science Training Program

> **NIH NIH T32** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY · 2022 · $249,381

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
The Computational Social Science Training Program (CSSTP) at UC Berkeley provides training in advanced
analytics to predoctoral students in the social and behavioral sciences studying health topics covered by the
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute for Child and Human Development. CSSTP is a new program that
combines Berkeley's long-standing strength in quantitative social and behavioral science with its nationally-
recognized campus programs in data science education, practice, and research. It will serve five entering
trainees per year over five years. The training faculty includes 22 social scientists who have exemplary records
of developing and applying novel statistical methods to health-related social/behavioral science problems, as
well as 13 data scientists who are leading figures in the foundations of mathematics, statistics/biostatistics, and
computer science. Trainees, who will be drawn from a diverse pool of students in six social science doctoral
programs, are provided with a rigorous and tailored program designed to teach a team science-based approach
to problem solving and to emphasize the analysis of intensive or voluminous longitudinal data and high-density,
large sample or population level agency databases. Each trainee is supported by a dual-preceptor model in
which s/he is provided with a social sciences faculty mentor and a data science mentor who help to facilitate the
trainee's progress through the program. CSSTP trainees are provided with community space at the Berkeley
Institute for Data Science (BIDS), a dynamic multi-disciplinary data science research center, where trainees
work alongside other data science fellows in residence. After completing their first-year course requirements in
their home departments, trainees formally enter the program in their second year of graduate school, devise an
individual development plan, and take a core two-semester course in computational social science, team-taught
by training faculty. This course introduces students to essential data science methods and tools, including
Python programming, data management, natural language processing, machine learning, causal inference, and
responsible conduct and reproducibility of research, through lectures, in-depth discussion of social science
applications, and small group learning exercises. In the following year, students apply these skills through
placements on collaborative health-related research teams or labs on campus and/or with external industry
partners, thus developing skills in advanced analytics through research practice involving the development and
implementation of new methods. Additional training tailored to student needs and interests is provided through
elective courses, a weekly computational social science workshop series, and ongoing working groups at the
Berkeley Institute for Data Science and the Social Science D-Lab, a campus hub for data science training and
research for social scientists....

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10401415
- **Project number:** 5T32HD101364-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY
- **Principal Investigator:** David James Harding
- **Activity code:** T32 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $249,381
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-05-01 → 2025-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10401415

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10401415, Computational Social Science Training Program (5T32HD101364-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10401415. Licensed CC0.

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