The inaugural cohort of UC Berkeley Social Sciences’ one-year Master of Computational Social Sciences (MaCSS) program has officially begun their studies, marking a new era that blends the technical power of data science with the societal depth of the social sciences.
As a diverse class of 27 students from across the U.S. and around the world, the students embarked on a transformative journey, where they will be trained to harness the full potential of data through an innovative mix of statistics, computing and social sciences methodologies.
Analyzing Social Data
While traditional data analytics relies heavily on computer science and statistics, it often overlooks the societal dimensions that shape our world. The MaCSS program fills this critical gap by teaching students to integrate social science theories into their data analysis, unlocking insights that traditional approaches might miss in preparing students for careers in the private, public, nonprofit and academic sectors. This is the first program of its kind at UC Berkeley, and one of only a few in the nation that bridges data science and social sciences.
“It is increasingly evident that technical solutions are rarely sufficient to solve society’s many challenges,” Berkeley Social Sciences Dean Raka Ray said. “That’s why MaCSS was created. It’s designed to educate a new generation of technologically savvy social scientists, who can go beyond numbers and algorithms; see the story behind the data; and help provide the societal and ethical frameworks within which digital products are created.”
Developed last year, the MaCSS program is created specifically for graduate students with a background in social sciences. The curriculum is carefully crafted to provide students with the practical skills needed to interpret social data — data about individuals, communities and the organizations they belong to — and use those interpretations to solve real-world issues such as gender inequality at work, housing insecurity and geopolitical risk.
“Computing and statistics have created a powerful motor that allows us to analyze more and more complex data in a world awash with data, from smartphones to social media,” said Heather Haveman, who is MaCSS’ faculty director and a UC Berkeley sociology professor. “But we need social science ‘domain experts’ to steer this electric vehicle in the right direction — to understand where the data comes from; how to interpret analysis; and to appreciate the impact of this analysis on individuals, families, communities and regions.”
Innovative Curriculum
The MaCSS curriculum is built on three pillars: statistics, computing tools and techniques and social science knowledge, Professor Haveman said. The program includes a core course on ethics, data and society, as well as a capstone group project where students will analyze data to answer real-world questions and present that analysis to panels of judges.
The skills MaCSS students will learn — proficiency with statistical analysis and computing tools, social science knowledge, and understanding of the ethical issues involved with "big” social data (like data from social media and cell phones) — are becoming increasingly important across various sectors, as availability of big data keeps expanding and tools to analyze that data keep becoming more powerful, Haveman said.
Knowledge of these essential skills will position MaCSS students to excel in a diverse range of fields, including Silicon Valley core tech, healthcare, finance, retail, transportation, education, social services and academia.
The MaCSS program also aims to diversify the data analytics workforce, which is largely male and white or Asian, Haveman said.
“Social science graduates are much more diverse than the tech workforce,” she said. “Their experiences will provide new insights to data analytics teams.”
Inaugural Cohort
Srishti Gojamgunde, a student from Mumbai, India, expressed her excitement about the program’s potential to blend her passion for social good with technical expertise. Gojamgunde, who earned her undergraduate degree in psychology and commerce from the University of British Columbia, said she believes MaCSS will equip her with the right tools to address global challenges, such as sustainability and food insecurity, and prepare her for a career in research or in the nonprofit sector.
“When I graduate from the MaCSS program, I will have not just technical skills, but also be more aware as an individual learning from my peers, who come from a diverse background in the social sciences,” Gojamgunde said. “I’ll be able to work toward solving issues from a very interdisciplinary perspective.”
Another student, Muhammad Muhdhar, who earned his bachelor’s degree in political science and philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin, said he hopes the MaCSS program will lead him to a research role in the consulting field, where he can have an impact on a lot of different industries.
“[MaCSS] combines my research interests with my career interests, and that was really vital to me,” Muhdhar said. “I find that a lot of times in the social sciences, the research part and the part that is applicable are two different things. I felt that this program put that all in one place.”
Alumni Generosity
The MaCSS program was made possible by a $5-million gift from UC Berkeley Social Sciences alumnus, co-chair for Berkeley’s successful Light the Way campaign and Guitar Hero founder Charles Huang, who spoke to students at the MaCSS welcome reception in August.
“This is one of the most innovative, dynamic parts of the economy anywhere in the world that you can participate in,” Huang said. “You found your way to the Bay Area, you found your way to UC Berkeley, you found your way to this master’s program — congratulations.”
As the MaCSS program takes off, it marks not just a new chapter for Berkeley Social Sciences but also for the field of social sciences. The skills and perspectives the first cohort will gain this year will prepare them to enter the workforce as pioneers, ready to solve real-world problems from a societal and data-driven perspective.
