Reading to Write, Writing to Read, and the Development of Skills in Data Translation

There have been many discussions about the nature of data science and the training of data scientists. Common to these discussions is the recognized demand for data scientists who can communicate effectively to stakeholders. More recently, data translator has been identified as a needed role on data science teams for which it is difficult to find appropriately skilled people. Students in our undergraduate programs in statistics and data science typically enroll in these programs because of their interest and aptitude in mathematical and computational problem solving. How do we improve their communication skills to help fill the need for data translators? We describe ways we have integrated reading and writing in an undergraduate capstone course with the goal of developing the required skills.