Mar 29, 2024  
College Catalog 2015-2016 
    
College Catalog 2015-2016 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Data Science Minor


The requirements for the minor are as follows:

Two courses in each of the three areas below.

  1. Computing
    *COMP 123 - Core Concepts in Computer Science  AND
    * One of: COMP 124 - Object-Oriented Programming and Data Structures  or COMP 302 - Introduction to Database Management Systems  or COMP 365 - Computational Linear Algebra  or COMP 440 - Collective Intelligence  or COMP 484 - Introduction to Artificial Intelligence , or others as approved by the department.
  2. Statistics
    *MATH 155 - Introduction to Statistical Modeling  AND
    *One of: MATH 253 - Statistical Computing and Machine Learning  or MATH 353 - Survival Analysis  or MATH 355 - Bayesian Statistics , or others as approved by the department.
  3. Domain area expertise
    * Two courses in a single domain meeting the following criteria: the courses should be focused around a theme (e.g., bioinformatics) and not a broad discipline AND that theme should
       one that allows the possibility of data science-related activities, either within the courses themselves or in the student’s future career or further education.
    * Pre-approved domain courses are listed below. Proposals for other areas of domain expertise (supported by two courses) will be approved on a case by case basis by the department.

No more than two courses can count toward any other major or minor.
Applied Mathematics and Statistics Majors may not also earn a Data Science Minor.

To ensure a synthesis between coursework in the department and the domain of expertise, all students must complete an integrative essay that either a) discusses an already completed integrative project (a course project, internship, summer research experience, etc), or b) proposes an integrative project in the domain of expertise.

Pre-Approved Domain Courses

Astronomy
PHYS 120 - Astronomical Techniques  and
PHYS 440 - Observational Astronomy 

Bioinformatics
BIOL 260 - Genetics  and COMP 320 - Computational Biology  

Data-Driven Journalism
MCST 114 - News Reporting and Writing  and one of the following:
MCST 355 - Advanced Journalism: Electronic  
MCST 357 - Advanced Journalism: New Media  

Ecology
BIOL 285 - Ecology  and one of the following:
BIOL 342 - Animal Behavior/Ecology  
BIOL 344 - Aquatic Ecology  
BIOL 345 - Field Botany  

Environmental Science and Policy
ENVI 231 - Environmental Economics and Policy  and one of the following:
ENVI 130 - Science of Renewable Energy 
ENVI 140 - The Earth’s Climate System 
ENVI 150 - Climate and Society 
ENVI 160 - Dynamic Earth and Global Change  

Geographic Analytics
GEOG 225 - Introduction to Geographic Information Systems  and one of the following:
GEOG 262 - Metro Analysis 
GEOG 362 - Introduction to Remote Sensing 
GEOG 364 - GIS and Community Partnerships  
GEOG 365 - Urban GIS 
GEOG 366 - GIS for Global Urban Environments 
GEOG 367 - Environmental Geographic Information Systems (GIS) 
GEOG 368 - Health GIS 
GEOG 378 - Statistical Research Methods in Geography  

Neuroscience
NEUR 244 - Cognitive Neuroscience  and NEUR 385 - Mind Reading: Understanding Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging  

Political Analytics
POLI 214 - Cyber Politics  and POLI 269 - Empirical Research Methods  

Quantitative Economics
Two of the following:
ECON 358 - Introduction to Securities Analysis  
ECON 381 - Introduction to Econometrics  
ECON 420 - Quantitative Macroeconomic Analysis  
ECON 485 - Empirical Finance  

Quantitative Public Health
Two of the following:
BIOL 355 - Virology  
BIOL 357 - Immunology  
GEOG 256 - Medical Geography: The Geography of Health and Health Care  
MATH 125 - Epidemiology