Data Science

Associate Professor Daniel W. Engels, Co-executive Director

Professor: Ira Greenberg 
Associate Professor: Daniel W. Engels
Assistant Professor: Eric C. Larson
Clinical Professor: Mark E. Fontenot

The M.S.D.S. degree is an interdisciplinary program that combines courses from SMU’s Dedman College, Lyle School of Engineering and Meadows School of the Arts. The program is delivered online to provide access to working professionals and students located around the world. The program gives students who are prospective data scientists an enriched background in computer science, statistics, strategic behavior and data visualization. Graduates will be able to form relevant questions, collect and analyze appropriate data, and make informed decisions regarding the question of interest. Course instruction includes oral and written communication skills and the basics of database structure, including building, maintaining and securing databases. The website (www.datascience.smu.edu) has additional information, and the academic calendar is at www.smu.edu/registrar (“Academic Calendars and Course Catalogs” link).

Admission Requirements

Applicants to the M.S.D.S. program must hold a bachelor’s degree in statistics, applied mathematics, computer science, engineering or other quantitative discipline. An application fee is required. Additional requirements are as follows:

• A basic understanding of a programming language (R, JAVA, C++, Python or similar programming language).
• Calculus I and II. Business calculus does not meet this requirement.
• A completed online application, with the following:
  • Three letters of recommendation.
  • A statement of purpose.
  • All official academic transcripts.
  • An official GRE graduate school admission test score, which may be waived if a prospective student has five or more years of industry-related experience or has earned a master’s degree in a related field.
• A satisfactory TOEFL English language proficiency test score (minimum 90) is required for an applicant whose native language is not English.

Programs

Master

• Data Science, M.S.D.S.   

Courses

• MSDS 6110 - Immersion   
• MSDS 6120 - Capstone 1A   
• MSDS 6130 - Capstone 1B  
• MSDS 6210 - Immersion  
• MSDS 6306 - Doing Data Science   
• MSDS 6370 - Statistical Sampling   
• MSDS 6371 - Statistical Foundations for Data Science   
• MSDS 6372 - Applied Statistics: Inference and Modeling   
• MSDS 6383 - Econometrics   
• MSDS 6390 - Visualization of Information   
• MSDS 6391 - Visualization of Information and Creative Coding II   
• MSDS 7330 - File Organization and Database Management   
• MSDS 7331 - Data Mining   
• MSDS 7333 - Quantifying the World   
• MSDS 7346 - Cloud Computing   
• MSDS 7349 - Data and Network Security   
• MSDS 8310 - Above and Beyond   
• MSDS 8390 - Special Topics in Data Science   (*updated* 2/6/2018; effective Spring 2018)