Data Science is the study of methods to obtain insight from available data in order to understand, predict, and improve business strategy, products and services, marketing campaigns, medicine, public health and safety, and many other pursuits. Such methods involve elements of both statistics and computer science, with a focus on three foundational components: (i) database management, (ii) statistics and machine learning, and (iii) distributed and parallel systems. The Data Science plan is guided by a joint curriculum committee. This committee is chaired by a director of data science, normally a faculty member chosen from either academic unit with the agreement of both. Along with the director, the committee includes four Faculty of Mathematics representatives, two appointed by each unit. In addition, the associate chair of undergraduate studies for Statistics and Actuarial Science and the director of undergraduate studies for Computer Science serve ex officio on the committee. Curriculum changes introduced by the committee must receive approval from both units before being approved by the Faculty of Mathematics. In addition to chairing the curriculum committee, the director has responsibility for promoting the plan, both internally and externally, and for overall co-ordination. The Faculty of Mathematics offers two honours degrees in Data Science, a Bachelor of Mathematics (BMath - Data Science) and a Bachelor of Computer Science (BCS - Data Science). The Data Science plans are offered jointly by the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science and by the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science. Students in the two plans graduate with a background in both computer science and statistics, taking a combination of required and elective courses that together provide a solid foundation in this emerging area.
Today we’re inundated with information from sensors, digital images, streaming video, satellite and medical imagery, and more. In Data Science at Waterloo, you’ll learn to extract meaningful information from that tsunami of data and use it to predict future trends. You’ll complement your core courses in statistics, mathematics, and computer science with a range of electives from many of Waterloo’s 100 subject areas. When you graduate, you’ll have the skills and knowledge to help governments and businesses make better decisions and smarter strategies. And if you take the co-op stream, you'll have up to two years of work experience on top of that.
