Legislation Spotlight: FRI Course Credits for SDS Majors

Written by romina torabi

legislation by neena varanasi

Meet the brains behind the legislation: Neena Varanasi, a Sophomore Statistics and Data Science Major

This spring semester, many Freshman Research Initiative (FRI) students at UT Austin will have the opportunity to delve deeper into unanswered questions. For many students, this experience is their first opportunity to explore the research world and potentially discover their passion. FRI streams allow students to earn credits for chemistry and biology labs. Unfortunately, not all majors, such as Statistics and Data Science, benefit from this course credit. Proper course credit is critical in making research more manageable for students with busy schedules. 

Neena Varanasi, an NSC member, seeks to address this issue through her legislation that allows more SDS and computer science students to earn relevant credits through FRI streams. Varanasi’s legislation was first inspired when she noticed very few of her fellow SDS majors participating in her stream, Big Data Biology, despite the content’s alignment with their degrees. Many of them were deterred from continuing in FRI after the first semester, as they had to take 17-19 hours of coursework in addition to their FRI course to meet their degree plan. 

Part of Varanasi’s legislation allows students to earn credit for CS303E, an introductory programming course, by joining streams like Big Data Biology. This is because many students already know the materials covered in the CS303E class before coming to UT Austin. By receiving this credit through their streams, students can avoid taking repetitive classes and spend that time learning more advanced topics.

Although students are not required to participate in FRI streams, it is worth noting how important research could be for students with a major like Varanasi’s. By having early exposure to research at a tier-one research institution, students can advance their understanding of statistical and data analysis, and cultivate a passion for data-driven discovery which is necessary for today’s job market. Varanasi’s legislation will help make research more accessible to students, allowing them to gain valuable professional experience.

To bring this legislation to life, Varanasi has presented her proposal to Dr. DePue, and she is working closely with administrators as she awaits further steps from the SDS and CS departments. This collaboration ensures that FRI’s academic content aligns with SDS standards. The success of this legislation relies on outreach to SDS students so that they are aware of the credits they can earn from FRI. NSC seeks to help with this outreach once the legislation passes, ensuring that future freshman SDS majors can take advantage of the new course credits. Overall, Varanasi’s proposal promises a diverse research community to make UT’s FRI program accessible to a range of students with ambitious minds allowing them to thrive in both research and academics.