The College of Arts & Sciences and the McKelvey School of Engineering developed a new major that efficiently captures the intersection of mathematics and statistics with computer science for data science. The second major provides an opportunity to combine data science with another degree program.
Students who declare this second major must fulfill the core course requirements and electives listed below. In addition, students need to meet the ethics and professional responsibility requirement as well as the practicum requirement. No courses may be double-counted; for example, a course used to fulfill a technical elective cannot also fulfill the practicum requirement, even if the course is listed in both categories below. All courses taken to meet any of the degree requirements cannot be taken on a Pass/No Pass basis.
Data Science Core Requirements (CR)
Data Science Technical Electives
Four courses can be chosen from the list of approved electives given below, with the following caveats:
- At least one course from Statistics and Data Science (at the 4000 level or above)
- At least one course from Computer Science & Engineering (at the 4000 level or above)
- At most one course at the 2000 level
List of Approved Data Science Technical Electives
Computer Science and Engineering
Statistics and Data Science
Mathematics
Course List | Code | Title | Units |
| MATH 4501 | Numerical Applied Mathematics | 3 |
| MATH 4502 | Topics in Applied Mathematics | 3 |
| MATH 4560 | Topics in Financial Mathematics | 3 |
| MATH 5223 | Geometry/Topology III: Differential Geometry | 3 |
Electrical and Systems Engineering
Course List | Code | Title | Units |
| ESE 3590 | Signals, Data and Equity | 3 |
| ESE 4031 | Optimization for Engineered Planning, Decisions and Operations | 3 |
| ESE 4150 | Optimization | 3 |
| ESE 4270 | Financial Mathematics | 3 |
| ESE 5130 | Large-Scale Optimization for Data Science | 3 |
Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering
Course List | Code | Title | Units |
| EECE 2020 | Computational Modeling in Energy, Environmental and Chemical Engineering | 3 |
Linguistics
Course List | Code | Title | Units |
| LING 3250 | Introduction to Computational Linguistics | 3 |
Ethics and Professional Responsibility Requirement (EPR)
- 3 units of courses from the following list:
List of EPR Course Options
Practicum Requirement
- Students must complete an approved comprehensive data science project or experience for their practicum requirement. The practicum must be approved by the committee of data science faculty.
- We recommend to complete the practicum experience prior to the last semester of study. It is important that practicum plans be submitted for review prior to starting the project or coursework to ensure the proposed work is sufficient for the objectives of the practicum. After-the-fact approvals are possible but not guaranteed.
- Appropriate practicum work is possible via the following pathways:
- Independent Study (CSE 4001 Independent Study or SDS 4000 Undergraduate Independent Study)
- Project-focused courses, including (but not limited to) CSE 4109 Introduction to AI for Health, CSE 4307 Software Engineering Workshop, CSE 4504 Software Engineering for External Clients, and SDS 4135 Applied Statistics Practicum. Students should contact course instructors in advance to identify the degree of agency the student will have over project selection and requirements.
- Internships related to data science can be used to fulfill the practicum. Internships (paid or unpaid) cannot count for credit, but they can satisfy the practicum requirement.
- To initiate the approval process, majors through the McKelvey School of Engineering should contact the CSE undergraduate coordinator in the CSE department, and majors through Arts & Sciences should contact the Undergraduate Director(s) and the Academic Coordinator in the Department of Statistics and Data Science.