Data Science, BS

Print Degree Planner (opens a new window) |

The Bachelor of Science in Data Science at UHD is an inter-disciplinary degree built on a foundation of mathematics, statistics and programming. It will prepare students for careers in which extracting meaningful and actionable intelligence from data is vital. Students of this program will learn to: gather, prepare and explore data; represent and transform data; compute and model with data; make scientific, informed and ethically sound decisions using data; and visualize and present data to both general and expert audiences. Due to the translational and transferable nature of these skills, the successful graduate of this program will qualify to work in practically any industry where big data sets have been, or could be, gathered and analyzed to make informed decisions. Additionally, successful graduates would be prepared to enter Masters level programs in Data Analytics, Data Science, Applied Mathematics or Statistics. Examples of government and industry areas where data science is being used include: defense, education, energy, finance, medical, natural language processing, social sciences, behavioral economics, search engines, robotics, facial and voice recognition software, and many more.

The degree offers several special features. First, the requirements for this degree will qualify the student for a Minor in Mathematics and a Minor in Statistics. Second, in order to gain depth in at least one content area, the degree requires a concentration in a particular discipline - Biology, Computer Graphic/Digital Design, Computer Science, Criminal Justice, Cyber Security, Discrete and Combinatorial Mathematics, Engineering Analysis, Finance, Operations Management, Psychology, Scientific Computing or Sociology. Third, to account for the abundance of morally difficult situations a data scientist may encounter in practice, the degree requires at least two course in ethics. Finally, hands on experience working with data using the latest and most relevant software will be imbedded throughout the curriculum, blending theory with practice at every step. This idea is encapsulated by the four course Data Science Sequence, where every stage of the Data Science Pipeline will be blended together in project based settings with increasing levels of sophistication.

The degree requires a minimum of 120 semester credit hours (SCH) with at least 12 SCH at the 4000 level or higher. These hours are divided into the following areas; UHD Common Core Requirements, Mathematics Requirements, Data Science Requirements, Ethics Requirements, Discipline Focus Requirement, Minor Requirement and Electives.

Program Outcomes

Upon completion of the Bachelor’s Degree in Data Science, students should be able to:

Collect, organize, clean, sort, combine and query large data sets.
Apply algorithms from mathematics, statistics, data mining, statistical and machine learning to data science projects.
Identify and interpret actionable Information from raw data.
Make informed, mathematically valid and ethically sound decisions based upon analysts of data.
Visualize and communicate results of any part of the data science pipeline effectively to a variety of audiences.

Degree Requirements

Common Core Requirements (42 hours)

Students must complete the 42 hours of Common Core Requirements. Consult the UHD catalog’s “Common Core Requirements ” for a list of approved courses meeting each requirement.

Major Requirements

CS 1311 - Introduction to computing with Python
CS 2311 - Data Structures and Algorithms with Python
DATA 2401 - Data Science I
DATA 3401 - Data Science II
DATA 3402 - Data Collection, Transformation and Curation
DATA 4319 - Statistical and Machine Learning
or
CS 4319 - Statistical and Machine Learning
MATH 2305 - Discrete Mathematical Structures
MATH 2421 - Differential and Integral Calculus with Applications
MATH 2422 - Linear Algebra & Multivariable Calculus with Applications
MATH 3302 - Probability and Statistics (These three hours are counted in the Common Core Requirements and not counted here)
MATH 3423 - Advanced Linear Algebra and Optimization
STAT 3333 - Statistical Inference
STAT 4303 - Decision Mathematics or STAT 4311 - Operations Research
STAT 4310 - Applied Regression
At least one additional course from the following: DATA 3334 , DATA 4395 , MATH 3314 , MATH 3317 , MATH 3318 , MATH 3408 , MATH 4308 , STAT 4300 , STAT 4307 , STAT 4309 , STAT 4318 , STAT 4397 , CS 3306 , or other departmentally approved course.

Ethics Requirements

Domain Focus Requirement (at least 12 SCH)

To gain depth and contextualization in a particular discipline of study in which Data Science skills are used, the student must complete a sequence of four courses (at least 12 SCH) in the same domain or specialization. Examples include:

Biology: BIOL 1301/1101 and BIOL 1302/1102, at least 6 additional hours of BIOL (14 SCH)
Chemistry: CHEM 1307/1107, CHEM 1308/1108, CHEM 3301/3201, and CHEM 3302/3202 OR CHEM 3330/3130 (17-18 SCH)
Computer Science: CS 1410, CS 2410, CS 3304, at least 3 additional hours of upper level CS (14 SCH)^*
Discrete and Combinatorial Mathematics: MATH 3309, 3312, 3314, 4308, (12 SCH)
Finance: ECO 2301, ECO 2302, FIN 3305, FIN 3309 (Approval required from Marilyn Davies College of Business Advising) (12 SCH)
Operations Management/Research: BA 3300, MGT 3301, MGT 3332, and MGT 3314 OR STAT 4311 (Approval required from Marilyn Davies College of Business Advising) (12 SCH)
Psychology: PSY 1303 and PSY 3320, at least 6 additional hours of PSY (12 SCH)
Scientific Computing: MATH 3301, MATH 3408, MATH 4301, STAT 4397 (13 SCH)
Other departmentally approved domain focus options

^*Together with the Data Science Requirements, this leads to a Minor in Computer Science.

Electives

Electives can be freely chosen.

Minors

The required courses satisfy the minor requirements for mathematics as well as the minor requirements for statistics.