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Washington University will offer a Bachelor of Science or Arts in Data Science degree this fall in response to a major increase in demand for data science knowledge in the industry.

This program is a joint effort between the computer science department in the McKelvey School of Engineering and the statistics department in the College of Arts & Sciences, with a B.A. degree offered through Arts & Sciences and a B.S. degree offered through McKelvey.

A team of four core faculty members including professors of mathematics and statistics Soumendra Lahiri and Jos Figueroa-Lpez and professors of computer science and engineering Marion Neumann and Ron Cytron spent a year planning and developing the degree.

Neumann explained that big data is used widely across a variety of different industries, making the data science major extremely versatile. Data science is solving problems with data, so think of any of your scientific, social or business problems that you might have, and you will use data to solve the problem, Neumann said.

Figueroa-Lpez added that the current high levels of demand for data scientists made developing this degree a priority for the University.

It was realized, not only [by] the University, but the whole academic community, that there is a need for students that are better prepared [for] some applications in some industries [that] require handling data in an efficient way, in a meaningful way, so there is a huge demand for these students, Figueroa-Lpez said.

To address the needs of a myriad of industries like technology, finance, medical fields, nonprofits and more, the program gives students both the computational tools to process large data as well as statistical and mathematical knowledge for collecting, analyzing, interpreting and presenting that data.

We want the students to have a very rigorous mathematical background or training, Lahiri said. At the same time, we want the students also to be very proficient in handling all of those computing tools.

Neumann explained that a major advantage of this program is that it allows students to learn important skills in the fields of both computer science and statistics, without requiring them to take extraneous courses for a double major.

Instead of double majoring in [computer science] and statistics, youre getting a smaller set of courses that brings you in the right direction, Neumann said. You can essentially do a single major where you kind of are guided towards picking the corrector a good setof courses that equips you with all you need for data science.

Specialized courses include Statistics for Data Science I as well as a Practicum, which gives students an opportunity to apply their knowledge to a domain like sports, finance or medical data in the form of internships, research work or seminar-style lectures from experts in the field.

Sixteen students are currently enrolled in the inaugural Statistics for Data Science I class this fall. Since it is the introductory course for the major, students of all years and backgrounds can enroll. Students may declare a data science major or second major, though computer science majors are not allowed to declare data science as their second major. Both a data science minor and an accelerated masters program are also in the works.

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WU to offer data science major as joint program in McKelvey and Arts & Sciences - Student Life