College to offer option of a minor in Data Science starting in Fall 2020

Friday, Feb 14, 2020

The UTA College of Science will offer a minor program in Data Science starting in Fall 2020. The program is primarily intended for science or STEM majors, but students in other disciplines can also benefit from this new minor.

The main goal of the Data Science minor is to help students with their field of study – gaining additional quantitative knowledge and learning tools for analyzing, managing, and presenting data in their disciplines. These skills will be very valuable in the job market.

Data Science is about gaining knowledge and insights from large amounts of data and using these skills in creative ways to solve problems and make decisions. Data scientist and similar job titles have consistently ranked highly in lists of “top 10 jobs” compiled by news outlets and other sources in recent years.

“We are very pleased to offer students the option of earning a minor in Data Science,” College of Science Dean Morteza Khaledi said. “The field of Data Science is growing rapidly, and the demand is strong for highly qualified professionals who can extract useful information from large amounts of complex data. This is something that can help our students enhance their appeal even more as job candidates with potential employers.”

Advantages in the job market are especially likely when the Data Science minor is combined with strong quantitative preparation in the student’s major.

The minor is part of the College’s broader plan to offer a bachelor’s degree in Data Science. The proposal for a bachelor’s degree is now undergoing state regulatory review. When it is approved, students would be able to earn a B.S. in Data Science focused in one of the College’s six departments.

The College of Science’s Data Science minor requires students to take at least 19-20 semester hours of DATA or related courses. The first foundational course, DATA 1401 – Introduction to Scientific Computing 1, is being offered this Spring 2020 semester, and more course offerings will follow in the fall.

DATA 1401 – Introduction to Scientific Computing 1 and 2 introduce a number of operating systems, languages, and tools, using examples and contexts from natural and behavioral sciences, such as Python, Unix, Sparc, SQL, Hadoop, databases, the cloud, scripting, github, portfolio creation, and more.

In recent years, a massive increase in captured data has driven an explosive growth in the demand for Data Science expertise, which presently is in short supply. In preparation for careers in the age of big data and artificial intelligence (AI), acquiring Data Science proficiency, literacy, and skills is becoming indispensable for all science majors.

Industries and research agencies offer excellent, high-paying job opportunities for Data Science graduates. Data Science is consistently rated as one of the best jobs in the United States in terms of the number of job openings, salary, and overall job satisfaction.

The College of Science began offering Data Science courses in Fall 2018. Find more information about the College’s Data Science program at https://www.uta.edu/science/data-science/.