Graduate Program - Master Track in Data Science
Data Science has become increasingly important in nearly every industry sector and academic field, and the discovery and forecasting of insightful patterns from "Big Data" is at the core of analytical intelligence in government, industry, and science.
The Masters Track in Data Science instills students the skills essential to knowledge discovery efforts to identify standard, novel and truly differentiated solutions and decision making, including skills in managing, querying, analyzing, visualizing, and extracting meaning from extremely large data sets.
Data Science Track Curriculum
The curriculum requirements for the Data Science Track are summarized in this table.
| Requirement | Credit Hours |
|---|---|
| Data Science core courses | 9 |
| Data Science electives | 9 |
| Computer Science core courses, graduate electives, or restricted electives | 12 |
| Orientation Course (CSC 600) | 1 |
| Total | 31 |
Completion of the curriculum requires 31 credits. Students must also satisfy all the MCS requirements. All incoming MCS students must register for an orientation course: CSC 600 (Computer Science Graduate Orientation)
Data Science Core
Three core courses must be taken as follows:
- Any three courses from the list of Algorithmics courses below
Data Science Electives
Three courses must be taken from the three Data Science Course Categories:
- Algorithmics
- Systems
- Applications
Students must take courses from at least two categories
Data Science Course Categories
Algorithmics
- CSC 505 -- Algorithms
- CSC 520 -- Artificial Intelligence I
- CSC 522 -- Automated Learning and Data Analysis
- CSC 720 -- Artificial Intelligence II
- CSC 722 -- Advanced Topics in Machine Learning
- CSC 591/791 -- Graph Data Mining
- CSC 591/791 -- Spatial and Temporal Data Mining
- CSC 591/791 -- Machine Learning for User Adaption
- CSC 591/791 -- Advanced Algorithms
- CSC 591/791 -- Algorithms for Data Guided Business Intelligence
- CSC 591 -- Foundations of Data Science
Systems
- CSC 540 -- Database Management Concepts and Systems
- CSC 541 -- Advanced Data Structures
- CSC 547 -- Cloud Computing Technology
- CSC 548 -- Parallel Systems
- CSC 591 -- Data Intensive Computing
- CSC 742 -- Database Management Systems
- CSC 724 -- Advanced Distributed Systems
- CSC 750 -- Service-Oriented Computing
Applications
- CSC 530 -- Computational Methods for Molecular Biology
- CSC 554 -- Human Computer Interaction
- CSC 555 -- Social Computing
- CSC 561 -- Graphics
- CSC 591 -- Spoken Dialogue Systems
- CSC 591/495 -- Intelligent Game Learning
- CSC 591/495 -- Educational Data Mining
Certificate
Upon completion of the Data Science Track curriculum, students may request an official letter from one of the Graduate Office Staff, or mail [csc-gradoffice@ncsu.edu]. The letter will be on department letterhead, signed by the DGP, and will mention you by name, your degree program, and that you have successfully completed the Masters Track in Data Science.
