Program Overview

Graduate Data Science Certificate Program

The Graduate Data Science Certificate Program is open to all graduate students at the University of Michigan. The goal of the program is to improve graduate students research skills by exposing students to the foundations of data science and artificial intelligence (AI) and allowing them to gain basic data science skills that can be applied to a wide range of fields of graduate research.

Overview

The program provides interactive data and AI-centered training and involves 9 credits of courses and 3 credits of experiential training that requires a poster presentation or written report on data analytics. The program is open for enrollment in both fall and winter semesters. U-M graduate students from any field are eligible to enroll.

Program Structure

• Foundations: Understanding of core data science principles, assumptions, and applications
• Applications: Hands-on experience with modeling tools and technology using real data
• Electives: Courses might have a narrow scope but go deeper on a topic of special interest (Alternatively, students may take another Foundations or Applications course upon approval)

Academic Requirements

There are three fundamental requirements for earning a Graduate Data Science Certificate:

1. Nine graduate credit hours of coursework in approved courses: These courses are designated by three categories: Foundations, Applications, and Electives. Students are required to choose at least one course each from the Foundations and Applications categories. Only one course may be double-counted (up to 3 credits) with the students core degree program.
2. A data science related experience (3 credit semester equivalent, over 160 hours of work): This can take the form of non-credit activity like a practicum, internship, or professional project equivalent to a three credit-hour course, or a capstone course designed to serve as a practicum course of at least 3 credits or more.
3. For the 2024 cohort and prior: Students should participate in at least 7-9 data-science specific seminars (1 semester) to enrich their formal didactic training.

Enrollment Prerequisites

Students will need to ensure that they meet any prerequisites for courses they propose to enroll in to fulfill the course requirements.

Completion Competencies

The goal of the program is to ensure all recipients of the certificate gain data science and AI literacy with critical understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the models and tools they deploy in their research.

Application Procedures

The Graduate Data Science Certificate Program is open for enrollment to current University of Michigan graduate students from any degree-granting program at the University.

• Identifying information (Name, UMID, Home Department, current degree program, advisor)
• Proposed Program of Study including proposed courses and proposed practicum
• Personal Statement including data science learning goals, any prior data science experience, and research goals

Application Process for UM Graduate Students in Non-Rackham Graduate Programs

1. Complete the online application form.
2. Go to the Rackham Graduate School Application, click on the button entitled Apply Now.
3. Type Data Science into the search box, and select the following degree program: Data Science Graduate Certificate
4. For the Academic Statement of Purpose, upload a document stating Data Science Program Academic Statement of Purpose not required.
5. In the Recommendation section, write Data Science Program Waived by Dept. in the First Name field.
6. Pay the application fee
7. Inform the committee of the submitted application.