Program Information

COSAM Data Science & Engineering Program Information


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What is Data Science and Data Engineering?

Data science is a multidisciplinary approach to extracting information from the large and ever-increasing volumes of data collected and created by today’s organizations. Data science encompasses preparing data for analysis and processing, performing advanced data analysis, and presenting the results to reveal patterns to draw informed conclusions. 
Data science continues to evolve as one of the most promising and in-demand career paths for skilled professionals. Today, successful data professionals understand that they must advance past the traditional skills of analyzing large amounts of data, data mining, and programming skills. In order to uncover useful intelligence for their organizations, data scientists must master the full spectrum of the data science life cycle and possess a level of flexibility and understanding to maximize returns at each phase of the process. Auburn currently offers a MS in Data Science and Engineering and an accelerated MS degree for undergraduate students. A graduate certification is upcoming for Auburn graduate students. Details on all these degrees are outlined below.
 

MS in Data Science and Engineering Program Overview

This graduate program prepares students to pursue careers in data science and engineering. Our high‐quality curriculum offers an excellent balance between theory and application, equipping students with foundational skills and state‐of‐the‐art technologies related to the next generation of big data applications. Students will be able to complete this on-campus graduate program in one to two years. This program blends graduate‐level courses in core topics like data mining, machine learning, and statistical learning. The program also offers a wide variety of electives in addition to a required capstone experience, in which students apply their knowledge and skills to a real‐world application scenario.

For eligibility requirements, please see our admissions page.

To complete the program you must take a minimum of 30 credit hours of graduate work past the bachelor’s degree.

An example study plan can be found here. Graduate courses are those listed as level ”6000” and up. Those that are also offered online have a corresponding listing with a course section beginning in "D" (e.g., COMP7300 Dxx). The course section will change from term to term.  

 

Accelerated Bachelor's / Master's Program in Data Science and Engineering - Data Science Track 

An Applied Mathematics - Applied Discrete Math undergraduate student pursuing the Accelerated Bachelors/Master’s Degree in Data Science can take up to nine (9) hours of MATH/STAT coursework at the 6000-level (i.e., MATH 6xx0 and/or STAT 6xx0 electives) while classified as an undergraduate and have it applied to both the student's undergraduate degree and Master’s degree. After completing the requirements for the undergraduate degree, the student then completes the remaining requirements of the MS-DS degree. The requirements for MS-DS are no different for a student in the Accelerated Bachelors/Master’s Degree program than for students admitted directly into the MS-DS program. More information on the required course progression can be found here. 

 

Graduate Certificate Program

The graduate certificate program in either Data Science or Data Engineering entails a total of 12 graduate credit hours. The Data Science certificate requires three STAT courses and one elective from the three COMP courses. Information about the Data Engineering certificate can be found on the Auburn Computer Science department's website. 

Per AU policy, students are not allowed to retroactively add a graduate certificate curriculum. Students must be in the curriculum before the last required course is taken.

 

A detailed flyer with additional information can be found here! 

 

Application Procedure for New Students. For Auburn graduate students wishing to apply, please notify the relevant GPO or certificate coordinator of an intent to pursue the graduate certificate prior to completion of degree program and request admission to the certificate program.

 

 For current students:

  1. If you are a current student who has completed the course requirements, you may retroactively enroll in the GCRT-DSCI program and earn the graduate certificate. If you have already taken some courses from the list, you are encouraged to apply for admission to this new program to obtain the Data Science certificate.
  2.  These courses will double-count towards your graduate certificate and graduate degree.

Application Procedure for Current Students. As current students, you fill out the curriculum change form to add the GCRT-DSCI program into your current graduate degree program. please email me the signed form for further process.

The curriculum change forms are given below:

 

Obtaining the Certificate. After you are enrolled in the GCRT-DSCI program, you should submit the required graduation application if you have completed all the required courses.

 

 

 

 

What You Can Expect  

  • Once admitted into Auburn, you will work with the graduate program officer to create a plan of study:
    • For the Data Science Option, Nedret Billor, graduate program officer – billone@auburn.edu
    • For the Data Engineering Option, Xiao Qin, graduate program officer — xqin@auburn.edu and Clint Lovelace, student services coordinator — clint@auburn.edu
  • For details about the research interests of our faculty members, and other information pertaining to our graduate programs, please visit our website below: