Starting in 2021-22, undergrads can focus studies on ‘rapidly evolving’ field
Data science is more than a hot tech buzzword or a fashionable career; in the century to come, it will be an essential toolset in almost any field.
Tomorrow’s data scientists will need to combine a deep understanding of the field’s theoretical and mathematical foundations, computational techniques and how to work across organizations and disciplines.
Through the new undergraduate major in data science available in the 2021-22 academic year, University of Chicago College students will learn how to analyze data and apply it to critical real-world problems in medicine, public policy, the social and physical sciences, and many other domains. Students can select data science as their primary program of study, or combine the interdisciplinary field with a second major.
The new major is part of the University of Chicago Data Science Initiative, a coordinated, campus-wide plan to expand education, research, and outreach in this fast-growing field.
“It all starts with the University of Chicago vision for data science as an emerging new discipline, which will be reflected in the educational experience,” said Michael J. Franklin, Liew Family Chairman of Computer Science and senior advisor to the Provost for computing and data science. “We are expanding upon the conventional view of data science—a combination of statistics, computer science and domain expertise—to build out the foundations of the field, consider its ethical and societal implications and communicate its discoveries to make the most powerful and positive real-world impact.”
Students will be able to choose from multiple tracks within the data science major, including a theoretical track, a computational track and a general track balanced between the two. All paths prepare students with the toolset they need to apply these skills in academia, industry, nonprofit organizations, and government.
Building upon the data science minor and the “Introduction to Data Science” sequence taught by Franklin and Dan Nicolae, professor and chair in the Department of Statistics and the College, the major will include new courses and emphasize research and application. Through the new Data Science Clinic, students will capstone their studies by working with government, non-profit and industry partners on projects using data science approaches in real world situations with immediate, substantial impact.
“The courses will take students through the whole data science lifecycle, with all the concepts that they need to know: data collection, data engineering, programming, statistical inference, machine learning, databases, and issues around ethics, privacy and algorithmic transparency,” Nicolae said. “But for data science, experiential learning is fundamental. Students will partner with organizations on and beyond campus to advance research, industry projects and social impact through what they have learned, transcending the conventional classroom experience.”
Since it was introduced in 2019, the data science minor has drawn interest from UChicago students across disciplines. Students from 11 different majors, including all four collegiate divisions, have chosen a data science minor. David Biron, director of undergraduate studies for data science, anticipates that many will choose to double major in data science and another field.
“We designed the major specifically to enable students who want to combine data science with another B.A.,” Biron said. “We expect this option to be attractive to a fair number of students from every major at UChicago, including the humanities, social sciences and biological sciences.”
A new vision for data science
The data science major was designed with this broad applicability in mind, combining technical courses in machine learning, visualization, data engineering and modeling with a project-based focus that gives students experience applying data science to real-world problems. The centerpiece will be the new Data Science Clinic, a capstone, two-quarter sequence that places students on teams with public interest organizations, government agencies, industrial partners, and researchers.
“The Data Science Clinic will provide an understanding of the life cycle of a real-world data science project, from inception and gathering, to modeling and iteration to engineering and implementation,” said David Uminsky, executive director of the UChicago Data Science Initiative. “UChicago students will have a wide variety of opportunities to engage projects across different sectors, disciplines and domains, from problems drawn from environmental and human rights groups to AI-driven finance and industry to cutting-edge research problems from the university, our national labs and beyond.
“This hands-on, authentic learning experience offers the real possibility for the field to grow in a manner that actually reflects the population it purports to engage, with diverse scientists asking novel questions from a wide range of viewpoints.”
