Program Overview

Certificate in Data Science Statistics

The Certificate in Data Science Statistics is designed to augment students' learning while pursuing a Master's or Ph.D. in a specific domain. Students in the certificate will develop deep technical skills in big data, statistical analysis, and data science; transferable professional skills in communication, collaboration, teamwork, reproducible research, and project management; broad experience collaborating with a wide variety of STEM and non-STEM domain experts in academia, industry, and government; and deep experience applying statistical thinking and data science to answer research questions in the students' chosen disciplinary domain.

Program Requirements

The Certificate will require 6 graduate-level courses of 17 credits:

• Two-semester sequence in Statistical Modeling and Data Science to provide foundations in statistical analysis and data science:
  • STAT 5000 "Statistical Methods and Applications I" (required, offered in Fall and Spring semesters)
  • STAT 5010 "Statistical Methods and Applications II" emphasizing Data Science (required, offered in Spring semesters)
• Two-semester sequence in Interdisciplinary Collaboration to train students to move between theory and practice to apply statistics and data science to solve problems in a variety of fields:
  • STAT 5680 "Statistical Collaboration" (required, offered in Fall semesters)
  • STAT 5690 "Advanced Collaboration" (2 credits, required, offered in Spring Semesters)
• Two courses in the student's STEM domain applying statistics and data science (6 credits)

Admission Criteria

Students who have earned a B or better in STAT 5000, are currently enrolled in STAT 5010 (or who have earned a B or better in STAT 5010), and are currently enrolled in a research-based Master's or PhD program will be eligible to be admitted to the Certificate. Students must also earn a B or higher in STAT 5680 and 5690 and a C or higher in their domain elective courses. The cumulative GPA must be 3.0 or higher. Non-degree students are not eligible for this Certificate. Professional Master's students are not eligible for this Certificate.

Additional Requirements for Applied Mathematics or Mathematics Students

If the student is in Applied Mathematics or Mathematics, a two-course out-of-department sequence in a specific domain is required. These courses can be applied to the Certificate through a petition process if the course sequence has not already received prior approval. The list of approved sequences will build one-by-one as students successfully petition for sequences to be approved. Dozens of possible sequences would satisfy this requirement.