May 20, 2024  
2024-2025 Graduate Catalog 
    
2024-2025 Graduate Catalog

Data Science, M.S.


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The plan in Data Science leads to the Master of Science degree. This plan is designed to equip students with the capability of integrating a wide spectrum of interdisciplinary knowledge and skills to uncover and utilize data to produce, apply and communicate value-adding intelligence for organizations and the society, in various key technical, analytical, architectural and managerial positions.

Requirements


Data Science Basic Preparation


Students entering the Master of Science in Data Science program should hold a bachelor’s degree with a background in programming, preferably Python, and probability and statistics. Students without the necessary background can take the following two foundation courses. GRE is required but can be waived by the admission committee.  GRE is not required for students with a master’s or Ph.D. degree, or undergraduate with a bachelor’s degree from an accredited U.S. university.

Additional Information

None of the above courses may apply to the graduate degree.

Students may select from the thesis option or the extended course work option. The thesis option requires 33 credit hours of graduate work and the extended course work option requires 36 credit hours.

Core Requirements (21 hours)


The following courses, or approved substitutions, are required for both the thesis option and extended coursework options

Additional Information


With the approval of the faculty adviser, students who have taken an equivalent course of a core required course in their undergraduate study will not need to retake the course. Instead, the required course will be replaced by an additional 3 credit hours of elective courses.

Data Science Thesis Option (12 hours)


Six hours of approved related courses

Six hours of DASC 6939 - Master’s Thesis Research Credit Hours: 3

Additional Information


Students interested in pursuing the thesis option are encouraged to take DASC 5939  (Independent Study in Data Science) during their first year in order to write up their thesis proposals (with the sponsoring of a faculty adviser). All electives must be approved before enrolling.

Data Science Extended Course Work Option (15 hours)


Students desiring to follow the extended coursework option must successfully complete the capstone project course (DASC 6838 ) and 12 hours of approved electives.

Additional Information


DASC 6838  must be taken after completion of the required core and during last 12 hours. All electives must be approved before enrolling.

Data Science Specializations


Data Science students pursuing the extended course work option should select 9-12 credits of courses in one of the following three specialization areas.

Additional Information

Computation and Systems Specialization


Bioinformatics Specialization


Additional Information

BIOL 4341 and BIOL 4351 have other BIOL courses as prerequisites. A student who has already taken this course in undergraduate study should take an additional elective course below.

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