Collaborative master’s program in data science announced

Students looking to use computational and statistical techniques to extract actionable knowledge from Big Data can now apply to the University of Michigan’s Master’s Program in Data Science.

Developed and taught collaboratively by the faculty of the CSE Division of EECS in the College of Engineering, the Department of Statistics in the College of LSA, the Department of Biostatistics in the School of Public Health, and the School of Information, the Data Science master’s program is now accepting applications for Fall 2018.

The field of Data Science offers excellent career paths for people with the right skills, ranging from business analysts across a variety of industries, to novel IT careers, to working on scientific research teams. For such careers, students require solid training in an array of computational and statistical analysis.

“We are very excited to be offering this unique collaborative program, which brings together expertise from four key disciplines at the University in a curriculum that is at the forefront of data science,” said HV Jagadish, Bernard A. Galler Collegiate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, who chairs the program committee for the program.

The program is designed to ensure that students develop appropriate statistical skills, such as those taught by the Statistics and Biostatistics departments, and computational and information science skills, such as those taught by the Computer Science and Engineering Division and the School of Information.

In addition to developing these core methodologies, students in the program will gain practice in applying their skills to address problems in specific application domains.

Students in the program will also benefit from an affiliation with the Michigan Institute for Data Science (MIDAS).

Nationally, there is a pressing need for data scientists, and in fact for people with every level of data science training. Harvard Business Review called it “the sexiest job of the 21st century.” The employment tracking service, Glassdoor, named it the “best job of the year” for 2016.

The Department of Statistics is administering the new master’s program. Interested students can learn more and apply from the the Statistics website.

The Data Science Master’s Program joins the University’s undergraduate program in Data Science, which was launched in 2015. That program is jointly offered and administered by Computer Science and Engineering through the College of Engineering and by the Department of Statistics in the College of LSA.