Data Science is the art and science of transforming raw data into deliverable data products, in order to help businesses or government agencies to make more informed decisions. The Concentration in Data Science consists of eight major components: Data Visualization, Scientific Methods, Statistical Modeling, Statistical Computing, Real-world Data Applications, Data Consulting, Data Research, and Data Technology. The following is a brief description of each component and its relevance and importance to our program.
Transforming raw data into a visual form that tells a "story" is one of the major challenges in the business world. The center piece of our program is the art and science of data visualization with real-world applications.
Our department will provide consulting on data-related problems to the local community. This has the potential of laying the foundation for major data science projects for our students, as well as providing valuable real-world experience.
Many business problems can be modeled using sophisticated advanced statistical methods. We have several faculty with strong backgrounds in statistics, both pure and applied.
Students and faculty alike use powerful statistical software to perform the tedious computations required in data analysis.
Our students work on real-world data problems provided to us by local industry.
Scientific methods are used to analyze and reduce complex data to simpler forms.
The department has several researchers in statistics and operations research. We plan to develop research problems in data science in collaboration with the local community. This will strengthen the academic research program and lay the foundation for a possible future doctorate in Data Science.
The department has access to big data technology, as well as sophisticated data science software. We plan to expand the technology with a Data Science Lab housed in our department and supported by the local business community.
