FARR-STEM Program

Acronyms

FARR-STEM – FAIR in machine learning, AI Readiness and Reproducibility of research for the Sciences, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics

FAIR Principles – Principles which encourage the Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reusability in data management practices.

AI – Artificial Intelligence

Application Opening Date

We intend to add a link here and prominently on this web page sometime in Mid April 2026. Please check back then!

Program Summary

The FARR-STEM program seeks to teach students

  1. data foundations
  2. the fundamentals of research data management and the FAIR principles
  3. AI basics for advancing in any STEM degree field in a four-year college.
A Lego man stands with a circuit board, symbolizing creativity and innovation in a playful manner.

The emphasis of FARR-STEM will be on materials science, in connection with the NSF-HDR Institute for Data Driven Dynamical Design. We will recruit three to five students and one faculty member representative from each of the four Philadelphia area community colleges. These include:

  • Community College of Philadelphia (CCP)
  • Bucks County Community College (Bucks CCC)
  • Delaware County Community College (DCCC)
  • Montgomery County Community College (MCCC)

Lessons will cover data organization, data quality, file management for mixed data types, and foundational metadata skills using real objects and simple schemas such as Dublin Core. Students will gain experience describing artifacts with controlled vocabularies and normalizing data tables to improve consistency and reuse. They will also explore introductory AI tools for metadata extraction, comparing machine-generated outputs with authoritative vocabularies to understand typical errors and the importance of human validation. Throughout the sessions, students will engage in discussions, collaborative exercises, and brief report-outs to reinforce learning.

Agenda and Accommodations

The FARR-STEM program will consist of:

  • Five (5) hours a week of self paced online exercises for six (6) weeks
  • One day event on Drexel campus

Accepted students to the program can also expect the following accommodations

  • Travel expenses are fully covered
  • $100 honorarium/participation award will be granted to the accepted students
  • A certificate of completion

Expectations and Selection criteria

What follows are the criteria that program administrators will be looking for in student applicants:

  • Students must be currently enrolled in one of the four Philadelphia area community colleges listed above:
    • Community College of Philadelphia (CCP)
    • Bucks County Community College (Bucks CCC)
    • Delaware County Community College (DCCC)
    • Montgomery County Community College (MCCC)
  • Students should have an interest in the STEM field
  • No experience in Data Science or Material Science is required, however we do expect a base level of technical ability which includes
    • Basic experience and skills in utilizing and navigating a laptop or desktop computer
      • mouse use
      • computer keyboard use
      • navigating a computer operating system like macOS, Windows, ChromeOS, or Linux desktop environments like GNOME or KDE Plasma for any distribution, etc.
    • Basic experience and skills in using spreadsheet software such as Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, LibreOffice Calc, etc. (we do not expect spreadsheet formula experience)