Bachelor of Science in Data Science

Why should you consider pursuing a major in data science at uhd? According to the national science foundation, data science is a newly emerging discipline built on a foundation of mathematics, statistics and computer programming that promises to profoundly transform all fields of science and engineering while revolutionizing industries from finance and energy to healthcare and education. 

Become part of the first undergraduate program of its kind in the state of Texas.

• Be prepared to enter the workforce as a respected professional data scientist, with the potential for a very high salary. According to Harvard Business Review, data scientist is "… the sexiest job of the 21st century". According to the Wall Street Journal, it is " one of the hottest corners of the high-tech labor market". According to Glassdoor.com, it is the number 1 "Best job in America".
• Be able to work in areas such as defense, education, energy, finance, medical, natural language processing, social sciences, behavioral economics, search engines, robotics, facial and voice recognition software, neuroscience, and much more.
• Be prepared to enter graduate school for Data Science/Analytics, Applied Mathematics/Statistics, other closely related quantitative fields (and possibly other professional master's degree programs, such as the MBA).

Learn 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 on analysis of data.
• Visualize and communicate the results of any part of the data science pipeline effectively to a variety of audiences.

Degree Requirements

• Catalog Degree Description
• Four Year Degree Plan
• Transfer Information

Common Core Requirements (42 SCH):

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

Data Science Requirements (48 SCH):

• CS 1311 – Intro to Computation with Python (or equivalent)
• CS 2311– Data Structures and Algorithms with Python (or equivalent)
• DATA 2401 – Data Science I
• DATA 3401 – Data Science II
• DATA 3402 – Data Collection, Transformation, and Curation
• DATA 4319/CS 4319 – Statistical and Machine Learning
• DATA 4395 – Senior Project in Data Science (or equivalent)
• MATH 2305 – Discrete Mathematical Structures
• MATH 2421 – Differential and Integral Calculus with Applications                               
• MATH 2422 – Linear Algebra and Multivariable Calculus with Applications 
• MATH 3302 – Probability and Statistics
• MATH 3423 – Advanced Linear Algebra and Optimization            
• STAT 4303 – Decision Mathematics or STAT 4311 Operations Research
• STAT 3333 – Statistical Inference
• STAT 4310 – Applied Regression

Ethics Requirements (6 SCH):

• PHIL 2305 -- Introduction to Ethics
• PHIL 3301 – Moral Philosophy I

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, and at least 12 SCH, in the same domain or specialization. Examples of pre-approved sequences can be found with College of Sciences and Technology advisors or in the MS department.

Minor Requirement: The required courses already satisfy the Minor requirements for Mathematics, as well as the Minor requirements for Statistics.  So students of this degree will earn at least two minors.

Electives (Enough to complete a minimum of 120 SCH): Electives can be freely chosen