The plan of study is 30 credit hours. It includes six core courses and four specialization courses.
Core Courses
- INFO-I 501 Introduction to Informatics
- INFO-H 611 Mathematical and Logical Foundations of Informatics
- LIS-S 511 Database Design
- PBHL-B 670 Introduction to Biostatistics in R (or INFO-I 590 Introduction to Statistics in R, or PSY 60000 Statistical Inference, or INFO-B 518 Applied Statistical Methods for Biomedical Informatics)
- INFO-H 515 Statistical Learning (prerequisite: PBHL-B 670 or PSY 60000)
- INFO-H 516 Cloud Computing for Data Science (prerequisites: graduate database course and programming experience)
Students may test out of INFO-H 611 and LIS-S 511. Students do not receive credit toward their required 30 credit hours by testing out of a course. However, they may instead replace the course with a specialization course or approved elective.
Specialization Courses
- INFO-B 505 Informatics Project Management
- INFO-H 517 Visualization Design, Analysis, and Evaluation (prerequisite: programming experience)
- INFO-H 518 Deep Learning Neural Networks
- INFO-H 519 Natural Language Processing with Deep Learning or INFO-B 643 Natural Language Processing for Biomedical Records and Reports
- INFO-H 695 Thesis/Project in Applied Data Science
- INFO-I 595 Professional Internship
- INFO-P 502 Modeling Crisis
- LIS-S 506 Introduction to Research or INFO-I 575 Informatics Research Design
- NEWM-N 510 Web Database Development
Students may replace specialization courses with approved electives with the permission of the program director.
Thesis or Project
The Thesis/Project is available to highly motivated students ready to carry out publishable research. Students must prepare a prospectus and gain a commitment from a primary faculty advisor with research interests in data science by the end of the first semester. By the end of the second semester, students must complete a course on research design and methods (e.g., INFO-I 575, LIS-S 506, or STAT 514).
The thesis or project must be completed in two semesters or in a semester and summer. Thesis students register for a total of 6 credits and project students register for a total of 3–6 credits of INFO-H 695 Thesis/Project in Applied Data Science. Students are required to prepare and defend a research proposal with a timeline of deliverables in addition to the thesis or project.