The Data Science minor gives students not majoring in Mathematics the opportunity to explore tools and techniques that might enhance their quantitative research endeavors. In short, the minor should allow students from areas outside Mathematics and Computer Science to be able to effectively collect and analyze data in their respective fields. Courses required for the minor are

• Statistics (3 Hours): MATH 1114 or PSYC 2298
• Programming Skills (3 Hours): MATH 2230/2241 or an approved programming course in Python or R 
• Fundamentals of Data Science (3 Hours): DATA 3000 or MATH 3092
• Discipline-Related Research Methods Course (3 Hours): MATH 3185, 3316; PSYC 3390; SOCI 3900, 3950; ACCT 4400; POLS 3300; NURS 4431
• Research Project (3 Hours): A data-driven senior capstone course, internship, or independent study (3000+) with an approved project.

     Total: 15 semester hours (est.)

Students seeking the minor are encouraged to seek a Summer internship position in programs related to their majors that utilizes computational techniques. Students who are interested in graduate school could consider attending a computational Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU), which is a National Science Foundation program offered at institutions throughout the country in a variety of science fields. Alternatively, these students may wish to engage in an undergraduate research project focused on computational applications in their field of interest, which may be jointly supervised by a research advisor from the student’s field and by a faculty member of the Department of Mathematics.

Students who earn the minor are ineligible to simultaneously earn the minor in Mathematics.