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Academics

Undergraduate Program

The undergraduate program offers BA and BS degrees, as well as a minor. The curriculum emphasizes both foundational topics in data science, statistics and computer science and has focus on responsible data use, communicating with data, and experiential learning.

The technological revolution has led to an explosion of data in domains of knowledge including medicine, policy, social sciences, commerce, and the natural sciences. Data and algorithms are driving research, and shaping the way people work, live, and communicate. Correspondingly, new methodologies have emerged to power intelligent systems, make more accurate predictions, and gain new insight using the large volumes of data generated by scientists, entrepreneurs, and analysts. The field of Data Science has emerged to respond to the data revolution, and the necessity to responsibly store, process, analyze, and interpret data. Data Science draws on numerous fields including statistics, computer science and applied mathematics, and also incorporates topics in privacy and ethics, philosophy of science, and economics to better understand the impact of data on society. Therefore, the Data Science curriculum combines computational and analytical skills, extensive knowledge in the domain of application, communication skills, and an emphasis on ethical considerations.

Students majoring in Data Science as well as those who are majoring in other fields of study and want to complete a minor in Data Science are encouraged to discuss their course choices with the Assistant Director of Undergraduate Data Science Studies. For more information, see the UChicago Course Catalog.