BS in Data Science

A rapidly growing field providing students with exciting career paths and opportunities for advanced study, Data Science combines the computational and inferential ways of thinking and doing to enable the collection, exploration, and analysis of datasets for the purpose of identifying patterns, drawing conclusions, and making predictions about underlying, often-complex real-world processes.

Data Science is inherently interdisciplinary given the diversity of disciplines needed to understand and model these processes, which may span natural, physical, social, economic, and humanistic dimensions.

The Data Science BS program in the Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences at Boston University is a rigorous program that covers the foundational as well as the applied dimensions of Data Science by focusing on aspects of mathematics, statistics, algorithmics, informatics, and software engineering that are relevant for analyzing and manipulating voluminous and/or complex data.

To gain a deep appreciation of the human and social contexts, the regulatory and institutional structures, and the ethical and professional practices that shape technical work around computing and data science, the program equips students with the knowledge and skills needed to carry out the full cycle of data-driven investigative inquiry in real-world settings.

The program is designed to provide students with ample opportunities to pursue a minor in another school or college in a discipline for which data-driven inquiry is prevalent—from natural, biomedical, social, and management sciences to arts and humanities.

The learning outcomes of the Data Science BS program are anchored in foundational, applied, integrative, and in-the-field training. As part of their foundational training, students develop mastery of the capabilities and limitations of the principal methodologies of data-driven, model-based prediction and decisionmaking.

As part of their applied training, students develop the skills necessary to assemble computational pipelines and deliver reproducible data analysis of massive structured and unstructured datasets. As part of their integrative training, students develop the ability to assess the social impacts of data-centered methods, including adherence to policy, privacy, security, and ethical norms.

As part of their in-the-field training, students leverage the skills and knowledge they acquired throughout the program to synthesize and complete a real-world capstone project curated through CDS Impact Labs and co-Labs, in collaboration with various internal and external partners.

Toward these objectives, the Data Science BS requires completion of at least 64 credits toward the major, including fourteen 4-credit courses covering the foundational, methodological, and applied dimensions of data science, as well as completion of a 4-credit capstone or practicum experience project—all completed with a grade of C or higher.

With this preparation, graduates from the Data Science BS program will be ready to contribute to the art, science, and engineering of the data-driven processes that are woven into all aspects of society, economy, and public discourse. They will be ready to pursue careers in which they contribute to the synthesis of knowledge through methodical, generalizable, and scalable extraction of insights from data, as well as to the design of new information systems and products that enable actionable use of those insights toward discovery and innovation in a wide range of application domains.