Data and Decision-Making: Ecology and Education

Managing our environment is critical to a sustainable future, but measuring complex processes like biodiversity—the number of species using an environment—is tricky. Biodiversity is the result of many interacting drivers, which vary across space and time. Moreover, the data collected to represent biodiversity processes are highly sensitive to how they are sampled. Forecasting trends has long been fraught with debate. Using the case of insect decline, I’ll explore how integrating data produced by different scientists can improve our ability to manage global change impacts on insect communities.

Self-assessments of ability influence career decisions but are often inaccurate, leading high-achieving individuals to make sub-optimal choices. In fields like computing, inaccurate self-assessments can reduce persistence, including students who may have the potential to succeed. We introduce a self-assessment intervention—two automated instructor emails—for high-achieving undergrads. An experiment shows it doubles the odds that students declare a computing minor, enroll in courses, or apply to be a teaching assistant, boosting confidence, self-assessment, and career intentions in computing.