Data Science is the science of planning for, acquisition, management, analysis of, and inference from data. At the core of the Data Science experience is a process of obtaining, curating, managing, processing, and exploring data, defining questions, performing analyses, and communicating the results.
The program coursework includes a robust set of hands-on, applied learning experiences, including student projects that are community-based and which incorporate inclusive design practice. Each student will intentionally pursue an area of emphasis/application, in consultation with their academic advisor, to gain expertise with and understanding of the complex social and environmental systems in which the tools of data science may be applied.
Students in the Data Science Program will work with data that relates to local issues. For example, sea level rise data for Humboldt Bay and Crescent City is currently being used in some courses and could further be leveraged in introductory data science courses, weaving a theme throughout several classes to give students a holistic perspective of local challenges and solutions. Beyond place-based data sets, many publicly available data sets are a simple click away, meaning our students can engage with data from the World Health Organization, the U.S. Census Bureau, the World Bank and UNICEF, and many other sets. This brings the world to our rural community and allows our students and faculty to address and solve far-reaching, global challenges.