Continuing to offer our students valuable skills and experiences that will position them well for graduate school and careers in data-intensive fields, Gettysburg College is proud to announce the launch of a new data science minor.
“Gettysburg’s new interdisciplinary minor in data science will be open to all students effective January 2020,” said Provost Chris Zappe. “[It] is designed to complement any major and to prepare students for success in a data-driven world.”
Housed within the department of Interdisciplinary Studies, this minor will allow students to gain an understanding of interpreting, integrating, and communicating data.
Rooted in the liberal arts and sciences, the data science minor will combine quantitative methodologies from mathematics, statistics, and computer science with effective communication, interdisciplinary teamwork, social and ethical context, and complementary knowledge from students’ majors.
This minor, paired with any major, will enhance students’ approach to real-world problems in their careers. It will allow them to learn various data analysis techniques, including modeling and identifying trends, as well as gain statistical, programming, and data management skills.
“The minor will also help students to answer questions in an ethically responsible manner in the arts, humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences,” Zappe added.
For example, humanities or performing arts majors could use this minor to develop recommender systems for Spotify Discover, while an arts major could learn how to detect artist forgeries or create novel computer-generated images for animation.
From examining network data from political campaigns to finding patterns in imaging datasets in cognitive neuroscience, students enrolled in this minor will benefit from its data science training to make decisions in a technologically-driven society.
All data science minors will complete three core courses in statistics, data science programming, and applied data science. They will also enroll in three electives, one of which must be outside the student’s major department(s). Only one elective can be at the 100-level, which can include the recently approved Data Science and Society course. Additionally, elective requirements could be met through select study abroad programs.
Gettysburg Alumni Spotlight
Learn more about Gettysburigans who are excelling in Data Science careers.
Laura Gambino ’14
Data Scientist at Omnicom Media Group
“[In marketing], people don’t know the subconscious reasons why they did something, so it’s about uncovering the motivations for why people do things. You use that same scientific process, applied to a different set of questions and problems.”
Read more about Laura Gambino
By Megan Miller
Posted: 12/19/19