Rachel Saidi Professional Website

PROFILE

With over 23 years of dedicated service at Montgomery College, Rachel Saidi built a robust career in the Mathematics, Statistics, and Data Science Department, where she currently serves as the Data Science Program Director and Advisor. She spearheaded the creation of the A.S. in Data Science, developed a regular Data Science Speaker Series for the college, and played a pivotal role in co-creating the A.A. in Business Analytics.

Recognized for excellence, she has received awards such as the NISOD Excellence Award and the Faculty Outstanding Service Award multiple times. Her commitment to mentorship is evident from six years of participating with Montgomery College’s Learning Assistants program and in the Academic Data Science Alliance (ADSA) mentoring program, for which she received an award for Excellence in Mentoring in 2023. As an active advocate for data literacy, she has met with Maryland congressional representatives and collaborated with ASA policy staff to advocate for the bipartisan Data Literacy Act. Her leadership extends beyond the college as a member of various academic committees, such as ADSA’s Leadership Committee, MAA’s CRAFTY committee, ASA/AMATYC Joint committee, and the AMATYC DataFest for Two-Year Colleges Director. She is a versatile and accomplished professional in the field of mathematics, statistics and data science education.

  1. Saidi R, Burn H, Baumer B, Black J, Deb D, Drozda Z. Building Ramps and Pathways to Data Science in K-12, Minority-Serving Institutions, and Two-Year Colleges. Scatterplot. 2024 September 04; 1(1):-. Available from: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/29932955.2024.2395091 DOI: 10.1080/29932955.2024.2395091

  2. Muhammad R, Saidi R. Applications in Linear Algebra: Bridging Data Science with Mathematical Foundations. Scatterplot. 2024 July 17; 1(1):-. Available from: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/29932955.2024.2370620 DOI: 10.1080/29932955.2024.2370620

  3. Glantz M, Johnson J, Macy M, Nunez J, Saidi R, Velez C. Students’ Experience and Perspective of a Data Science Program in a Two-Year College. Journal of Statistics and Data Science Education. 2023 June 20; 31(3):248-257. Available from: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/26939169.2023.2208185 DOI: 10.1080/26939169.2023.2208185

Selected Presentations

  • Invited to present What does a Data Science Program Look Like at MC? (Nov 2024)

  • Invited to present Tableau workshop for ASA/AMATYC webinar Introduction to Data Science Technology Tools: A Virtual Workshop for Curious Two-Year College Teachers (July 2024)

  • Invited to present multiple workshops at a 2-day conference for Two-Year College Data Science Initiative (TYCDSI) (June 2024)

  • Invited to present What is Next? at ASA’s eCOTS panel discussion (June 2024)

  • Invited to present at Montgomery College’s first annual Business Analytics Conference (April 2024)

  • Invited to present at SIGCSE Data Storytelling Workshop Panel (March 2024)

  • Invited to present as a part of a panel discussion at ADSA’s Annual Conference in San Antonio, TX: Data Science Curriculum and Policy Administration (Nov 2023)

  • Invited to present Building a Data Science Program at a TYC and Data Science Pathways in K-12 and Beyond at AMATYC’s Annual Conference in Omaha, NE (Nov 2023)

  • Invited to present at MAA as a panelist for STATPREP Workshops (2021)

  • Professor in the Math, Statistics, and Data Science department at Montgomery College, Rockville, MD (2015 - present)

  • Data Science Program Director at Montgomery College (2020-present)

  • Editorial Board Member for Mathematics Association of America (MAA) publication, Scatterplot Journal (2023 - present)

  • Director of AMATYC DataFest for Two-Year Colleges for the American Mathematical Association of TWo-Year Colleges(AMATYC) (2023 - present)

  • Planning Committee Memeber USCOTS (US Conference on Teaching Statistics) for American Statistical Association (ASA) (2024-present)

  • Writing Committee Member for Revisions to College GAISE (Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education) (2024 - present)

  • Member ASA/AMATYC Joint Committee on Statistics and Data Science (2024-present)

  • Member Curriculum Renewal Across the First Two Years (CRAFTY) for MAA (2023-present)

  • Co-Chair Statistics and Data Science ANet for the American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges (2022-2024)

  • ADSA Leadership Team for *Academic Data Science Alliance (ADSA) (2022-2023)

  • Award for Excellence 2023 National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD)

  • Excellence in Mentoring 2023 Academic Data Science Alliance (ADSA)

  • Outstanding Faculty for Excellence in Teaching 2022 Montgomery College

  • Joint grant awardee: Exploring the relationship between law enforcement and the community it serves 2020 University Systems of Maryland First in World (USM FIW)

  • Smithsonian Fellow 2017 Montgomery College

  • Award for Excellence 2015 National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD)

  • Outstanding Part-Time Faculty for Excellence in Teaching 2014 Montgomery College