As students at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University tackle their coursework during the 2022-23 academic year, they have a new major to consider: data science.
For the past 15 years, the math and computer science departments at Saint Ben’s and Saint John’s collaborated in offering a numerical computation degree. The idea was to use math, computer science and a third discipline – chemistry or physics, for example – to give students a modern bent on the explosion in data available today and increasing in the future.
“Data is the new black gold,” said Bob Hesse, a math professor who is co-chair of the new data science program, along with Imad Rahal, chair of the computer science department. “Numerical computation never had our intended success. We noticed students who pursued the num comp major were selecting courses that anywhere else would be a data science major. So, we realized we should revamp, focus the course selections, and relabel the major as data science.”
The new major should not be confused with the data analytics minor available at CSB and SJU. That program, launched two years ago, is intended to complement a major, whether in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), social sciences or humanities. The minor gives students the tools to analyze, make visualizations and tell the story behind data.
The data science major, by contrast, is for students who not only want to use the tools but also modify or make new machine learning algorithms. If you enjoy math, statistics and programming, and you want to use all those tools, this is the major for you.
“I once was one of those students who loved math but really did not know what to do with it, and that was the one thing that stopped me short from committing to a math major,” said Rahal, who earned a computer science degree in 2001 from Lebanese American University, followed that with a master’s and doctorate from North Dakota State University, and has been a faculty member at CSB and SJU for more than 17 years. “I took a lot of math, and I took a lot of computer science and I felt ‘This is stuff I can use. This is stuff I can find a job with.’ Our students really shouldn’t be worried about job prospects and, if you want to continue with math, by all means do so. But my belief is that data science will be a wonderful career preparation and you’re probably going to get snatched right away with the expertise you have.”
Those futures may be in business, industry, research or education. Data scientists discover new knowledge and aid in the decision-making process in virtually every major field. Positions include administrators, business IT analysts, clinical data managers, data analysts, data architects, data engineers, machine learning engineers, marketing analysts, mathematicians and statisticians. According to Fortune, data science jobs are a top pick for Generation Z, and Harvard Business Review said the field is one of the most popular of the 21st century.
Sean Landman ’10 is a good example of what’s possible. He earned a degree in numerical computation, used it as a springboard to master’s and doctorates in computer science at the University of Minnesota, and is now a research manager at Medtronic. He specializes in data science and algorithm development for diagnostics and monitoring of cardiac disease.
“I don’t think I even knew about the numerical …….