Data Science

Learn more about Data Science at Valpo online.

Associate Professor Tiffany Kolba (director).

Administration

This program is administered by the Department of Mathematics and Statistics in consultation with the Department of Computing and Information Sciences.

Students who complete the Data Science major will have fulfilled the major field requirements for the Bachelor of Science degree.

Data Science is considered an interdisciplinary program. See page 352 for more information.

Objectives

A data scientist analyzes complex systems and solves real world problems through the analysis of data, and in particular, very large sets of data. Many scientific disciplines, our economy, and even our providers of streaming entertainment increasingly rely on data. According to the Data Science Association, components of the field of Data Science include “predictive/prescriptive analytics, algorithm design and execution, applied machine learning, statistical modeling, and data visualization.”

Because of the interdisciplinary nature of Data Science, a student wishing to obtain a Bachelor of Science in Data Science must take courses in Data Science and from the partner disciplines of Statistics, Mathematics, and Computer Science. Additionally, students should explore an area of application through selection of one or more courses from an appropriate field, as described below. Students are strongly encouraged to take a minor or a second major in their applied field of interest.