Data scientists have access to your sensitive data—that’s driving more schools to teach ethics

What obligation do data scientists have to be good stewards of the data they’re collecting and analyzing? This type of question has been asked in ethics courses in data science programs for years, though ethics remain a hot topic for the technology industry. That’s because ethical considerations are often still secondary, as companies instead prioritize technological developments to speed up the amount of data collected, analyzed and stored.

“Frankly, there’s really no reason for the industry to act differently,” says Julia Stoyanovich, an associate professor at New York University’s Tandon School of Engineering, adding that the newest generation of engineers is much more aware of the social issues and implications of emerging technologies. “There is a big, big push from these engineers to start changing the practice.”

But the status quo is starting to evolve, as schools incorporate ethics as a more fundamental component in the training of future technologists and data scientists. Some top-ranked programs offer ethics courses as part of their core curricula. The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, which landed the No. 1 spot in Fortune’s ranking of the best online data science programs, offers a course called Ethics and Policy for Data Science. Meanwhile, Duke University offers the course called Data Science Ethics and New York University’s Center for Data Science has one called Responsible Data Science. 

In recent years, there’s been an even higher level of scrutiny, resulting in a major shift in how ethics is being taught within data science programs. Traditionally, any ethics material in technology curricula was still taught by ethicists, sociologists, and anthropologists—and engineers have not always found the content relevant, says Stoyanovich. “Their insight is extremely valuable. But for an engineer, such as myself, it’s difficult to relate to that type of narrative.”

Stanford University is one school that recognized a need for change. The university has been teaching ethics as part of its computer science curriculum for decades, but recently reevaluated who is teaching ethics to technologists. The Engineering School is in its fourth year of offering the course Ethics, Public Policy and Technological Change, which is jointly taught by a philosopher, social scientist, computer scientist, and political scientist. 

“The goal was to help our technical students understand the value trade-offs that are at stake as they design new technologies, and how you deal with some of the consequences of technology,” explains Jeremy Weinstein, the course’s political science professor. For the past four years, the class has consistently enrolled 250 to 350 students each semester that it’s offered. It’s even grown to be offered in the evenings to working professionals.