Ethical Data Management

The rise of artificial intelligence, increasing data quantities and variety, and the demand for research data access have spurred a collaboration at Purdue University to shape data management competencies for “next- generation researchers.” Purdue’s Libraries, the School of Engineering Education (ENE), and the Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) received $542,660 from the National Science Foundation to develop data lifecycle ethical management (DLEM) competencies in undergraduate researchers.

DLEM focuses on managing data throughout its lifecycle—from creation to quality assurance to storage/ preservation to reuse—with an emphasis on ethical handling. Over the past 20 years, researchers have been required to create data management plans to ensure public access to research data. Wei Zakharov, Ph.D., the project’s Principal Investigator and an associate professor at Purdue, emphasized the importance of equipping researchers to produce easily shareable and reusable research outcomes and data.

The three-year project has three main goals: to assess undergraduate researchers’ competencies in data lifecycle ethical management, to develop and implement educational resources and curricular modules to support these competencies, and to integrate these competencies into undergraduate research practices.

Undergraduate research at Purdue occurs through various models, including faculty apprenticeships, student-led projects, course- based projects, and student organizations. Collaborators on the project include Purdue’s Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) and the Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) program. Purdue ECE Prof. and VIP Program Director Carla Zoltowski noted the importance of teaching ethical data management and decision-making strategies.

“Many of the VIP teams involve data and utilize AI/ML approaches to address their research and design challenges, so it becomes incredibly important for the teams to learn and implement ethical data management and design/research decision-making strategies given the real-life implications of the projects.”

The project will benefit thousands of undergraduate researchers at Purdue, enhancing their ability to engage in ethical research practices.