New Data Science Major
Posted: 2019-10-28 10:39:49 Expiration: 2019-11-11 10:39:49
The UW System Board of Regents approved a new data science major Friday, opening the door for University of Wisconsin–Madison undergraduates to study a field tied to one of the country’s fastest-growing professions.
Students may immediately begin taking courses that will count toward the new degree. Beginning in fall 2020, students will be able to declare the major within the School of Computer, Data & Information Sciences (CDIS), home to the departments of Statistics and Computer Sciences and the Information School. The newly created school – along with the American Family Insurance Data Science Institute established earlier in 2019 – are part of UW–Madison’s commitment to leading research and education in information technology and big data.
Students majoring in data science will learn to apply computational, statistical, and mathematical methods to data in order to solve real-world problems. Data science courses will hone skills for managing, processing, modeling and presenting data, and teach critical thinking skills for addressing social and ethical issues related to data-driven and algorithmically aided decision making.
These skills and competencies are in great demand as public agencies, private businesses and non-profit organizations consider how to use data to tackle social issues, solve business problems and answer complex questions. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the rise of data science needs will create 11.5 million job openings by 2026.
-- Campus and Visitor Relations: Information Services Specialist