Program Overview

Introduction to the Graduate Certificate in Bioinformatics Data Science

The Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (CBCB) offers a Graduate Certificate in Bioinformatics Data Science (BIDS-CERT), an interdisciplinary program designed for working professionals and students interested in fields where systems biology, biomedicine, precision medicine, health informatics, and data science intersect.

Program Overview

The Bioinformatics Data Science Certificate is a graduate-level program that provides students with core competency in data science for real-world applications ranging from genomics to pharmaceutical, health informatics, and biomedical research. The program is designed to meet the needs of working professionals and graduate students, with both online and hybrid courses available. No previous programming or database experience is required, but a familiarity with molecular biology and statistics is recommended.

Academic Outcomes

• Earn a credential from a highly reputable bioinformatics program to advance your career
• Earn graduate-level college credits that can be applied towards a Master's or PhD degree program
• Gain core competencies for rapidly growing bioinformatics job opportunities in fields from genomics, pharmaceuticals, and healthcare to big data analytics
• Learn cutting-edge, state-of-the-art course content from nationally and internationally renowned researchers and practitioners in the field
• Learn in an interactive, experiential, and multidisciplinary team environment that couples lecture-based instruction with hands-on exercises and term projects

Requirements

The course curriculum consists of four graduate-level courses that can be taken in any order, except for courses with prerequisites. Each course will be offered annually during either the Fall or Spring semester. Two eligible courses will be offered each semester, allowing the Certificate program to be completed in as little as one year.

Bioinformatics Data Science Core

The Graduate Certificate in Bioinformatics Data Science requires 12 credits in the Bioinformatics Data Science Core courses. Students must select four courses from the following:

• BINF610 Applied Machine Learning (3)
• BINF620 Big Data Analytics in Healthcare (3)
• BINF640 Databases for Bioinformatics (3)
• BINF644 Bioinformatics (3)
• BINF690 Programming for Bioinformatics (3)
• BINF694 Systems Biology I (3)
• BINF695 Computational Systems Biology (3) *Prerequisite: Programming knowledge (BINF690 fulfills the requirement) **Prerequisite: Graduate level statistics knowledge (BINF667-014 or any 600-level STAT course fulfill the requirement)

Foundational Courses

Students who have been admitted to the Certificate program but have not completed a Foundational Course(s) may be required to do so with a grade of B- or higher before enrolling in a Core course.

• Data Science (3): BINF601 Introduction to Bio Data Science (3)
• Life Science Requirement (3): BISC609 Molecular Biology of the Cell (3) or BISC654 Biochemical Genetics (3)
• Statistics Requirement (3): STAT656 Biostatistics (3) or BINF605 Introduction to Biostatistics w Biomed App (3)