Data Science

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Every day, human interaction with technology generates enormous volumes of data. This ever-growing collection of information is leveraged in virtually every industry across the globe, including healthcare, government, technology, manufacturing, social media, finance and entertainment.

As a data science student in Duquesne University’s bachelor of science program, you’ll learn practical solutions to a wide array of data-related problems—from those involving small data sets to those involving massive amounts of data. Your curriculum will incorporate the entire data science pipeline, including problem formulation, data collection, high-powered computing, statistical analyses and meaningful interpretation.

As a major, you will become well versed in both the broad strokes and intricacies of data science and will be able to accomplish the following with confidence:

  • Generate, collect, clean, store, manage and process data.
  • Implement data visualization and exploratory data-analysis techniques.
  • Develop statistical and data-based machine learning models at the forefront of data science for addressing a problem of interest. Be proficient in Python and R, with a focus on the best techniques for collaborative coding as a data science team.
  • Interpret model output in the context of real-world solutions.
  • Translate data problems, methods and findings in oral, visual and written formats to any audience.
  • Understand the underpinnings, deficits, and benefits of cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) models.

Data scientists are in high demand in any industry that needs to collect and interpret data—literally every industry on the planet—and data science is third among Glassdoor's 2022 Best Jobs in America. If your goal is to be a data scientist, business intelligence officer or data analyst, this program will put you on the path to the career you’ve envisioned.

The B.S. degree will also serve as an incredibly useful foundation on which to begin a path into graduate work in a number of more advanced areas of related study.

Program Type

Major

Degree

Bachelor's

Duration

4-year

Required Credit Hours

54

"Data science allows you to combine the best parts of math, statistics and computer science to solve problems of all sorts. Even if you don’t have any background knowledge in these areas, the professors at Duquesne provide all the tools to help you learn and succeed."

—Val Koester

Program Requirements

Students in our data science program must complete the below mathematics courses (18 credits):
  • MATH 115 Calculus I
  • MATH 116 Calculus II
  • MATH 215 Calculus III
  • MATH 135 Discrete Mathematics
  • MATH 310 Linear Algebra
You must take all three courses here, plus another from below  (12 credits):
  • MATH 301 Probability and Statistics I
  • MATH 302W Probability and Statistics II
  • MATH 325W Applied Statistics With Regression
Choose one of the following upper-level stats electives:
  • MATH 445 Predictive Modeling and Classification
  • MATH 473 Statistical Computing
  • DTSC 475 Data Mining and Data Science Analytics
The CS core is 12 credits:
  • COSC 170 Computer Programming: Python
  • COSC 216 Data Structures in Python
  • COSC 300 Algorithms
and one of
  • COSC 410 Artificial Intelligence
  • COSC 423 Machine Learning
  • DTSC 110 Introduction to Data Science
  • DTSC 220 Data Visualization
  • DTSC 330 Big Data Analysis/Database Management
  • DTSC 481 Data Science Capstone Project

All data science majors must take at least 8 credits in science coursework that includes one sequence (and corresponding labs) chosen from:

  • BIOL 111-112
  • BIOL 115-117
  • CHEM 121-122
  • or PHYS 211-212
All data science majors must also take
  • COMM 250 Technical Communication
  • DTSC 140 Data Science Professional Development