Raechel Walker, a PhD student in the Personal Robots research group, and Professor Cynthia Breazeal are co-authors of a paper titled "Redefining Data Science: Where Transformative Youth Organizing Meets Arts-Based Abolitionist Education," which received the Best Research Paper award at RESPECT '25: Conference for Research on Equitable and Sustained Participation in Engineering, Computing, and Technology.

The paper shows that creating a community-rooted “homeplace”—a supportive space that prioritizes affirmation and safety for learning—is essential to engaging African American students in data science. Through partnerships with social justice organizations and the integration of arts-based abolitionist education and transformative youth organizing, the Data Activism Program connected data science and AI learning to students’ lived experiences. Students learned critical qualitative research methodologies, such as conducting interviews and incorporating art with community members, to document and analyze racial disparities in environmental injustice. This community-centered approach fostered belonging and purpose, transforming data science from an abstract academic subject into a liberatory tool for activism and self-expression.

RESPECT is an Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)-affiliated conference recognizing impactful work in broadening participation in computing.