Undergraduate Data Science Major

The technological revolution has led to an explosion of data in domains of knowledge including medicine, policy, social sciences, commerce, and the natural sciences. Petabytes of data are being collected from a myriad of instruments, like sequencing machines for genomics and mobile devices for quantifying social interactions. In addition to driving research, data are shaping the way people work, live, and communicate. Correspondingly, new methodologies have emerged to power intelligent systems, make more accurate predictions, and gain new insight using the large volumes of data generated by scientists, entrepreneurs, and analysts.

The field of Data Science has emerged to respond to the data revolution, and the necessity to responsibly store, process, analyze, and interpret data. Transdisciplinary by nature, Data Science draws on numerous fields including statistics, computer science and applied mathematics, and also incorporates topics in privacy and ethics, philosophy of science, and economics to better understand the impact of data on society. Therefore, the Data Science curriculum combines computational and analytical skills, extensive knowledge in the domain of application, communication skills, and an emphasis on ethical considerations.

The data science program offers BA and BS degrees, as well as a minor. The minor program in data science is intended to equip students with computational and analytical comprehension and tools that will allow them to work on a variety of data-driven problems in any discipline while emphasizing important issues in data privacy, ethics, and communication. The major has several tracks that can serve different interests. Students have the possibility to pursue a program suited for a double major, and/or suited for graduate studies in data science and related fields. Students majoring in Data Science as well as those who are majoring in other fields of study and want to complete a minor in Data Science are encouraged to discuss their course choices with the Director of Undergraduate Studies.

Students majoring in Data Science as well as those who are majoring in other fields of study and want to complete a minor in Data Science are encouraged to discuss their course choices with Assistant Director of Undergraduate Data Science Studies Maria Lema.

For more information, see the Committee on Data Science website.