Randy Kochevar brings expertise in STEM education, instructional design, interactive media, data literacy, and science communications to his leadership of EDC’s Oceans of Data Institute (ODI). Trained as a marine biologist, he oversees a portfolio of projects that build K–16 students’ data literacy skills, foster teachers’ data literacy, and create pathways to data science and analytics careers.
Under Kochevar’s leadership, ODI has a growing portfolio of more than 15 projects, funded by corporations, foundations, and federal agencies. Many of these projects help students acquire scientific inquiry and data analysis skills from working with large, authentic science data sets. Others focus on identifying skills, knowledge, and behaviors critical in big data jobs.
A nationally known speaker on the topic of data literacy, Kochevar presented his work on big data careers at the 2019 National Academy of Sciences Roundtable on Data Science Postsecondary Education workshop “Data Science Education at Two-Year Colleges.”
Kochevar holds a PhD in Biology from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.