Summary: Data science curriculum is on the rise. New research found the subject is the “sexiest,” fastest growing STEM undergraduate major, potentially to ensure American workers can adequately fill Big Data jobs.
One of the most useful advancements in computer science is Big Data. The complex datasets support robust data analysis, capture, curation, and visualization to answer complex problems in real-world situations. A recent McKinsey Global Institute report, however, found there may be 190,000 data science job vacancies due to insufficient supply of skilled labor. Perhaps without coincidence, data science is the fastest growing undergraduate major.
The Harvard Business Review called data science the “sexiest job in the 21st century.” According to a report conducted by Amstat News, the magazine of the American Statistical Association, the number of undergraduate data science programs doubled between 2011 and 2015. As such, data science is now the fastest-growing Science, Math, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) undergraduate subject.
Data science isn’t the only undergraduate subject on the rise, the study also revealed. The number of universities to award undergraduate degrees in statistics also increased from 74 universities in 2003 to more than 110 universities in 2014. With this, the number of advanced degree programs in data science also increased, due to what University of Michigan professors believe is a new mesh between the subjects.
University of Michigan Statistics and Data Science Professors Kerby Shedden and Atul Prakesh told Amstat there was significant crossover between data science and statistics in recent years. Since statistics are now applied to countless computer programs and databases, the professors said statisticians without modern computing comprehension would be at a significant disadvantage in the workplace. So, it isn’t just increasing the availability of data science programs, but curriculum that supports the truly evolving digital space.
The Wall Street & Technology’s Capital Markets Outlook 2015 report supported this claim, and found investment in Big Data correlated positively with an increase in the number of data science programs. Most data science programs are also new. The University of Michigan’s data science program is relatively new. Its first graduating class walked the stage just last year (in 2015). Other programs were newly introduced in January 2015.
Big Data isn’t just important for the tech industry. It powers data management for a number of industries, including finance, healthcare, and government. Shedden and Prakesh said the ultimate goal of data science is to use data to enhance real-world decision-making. And what could be more valuable to the private sector than that?
It is still too early to tell if the surge in data science and statistics programs will balance workforce scarcity, but it’s a start.
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Sources:
http://magazine.amstat.org/blog/2015/08/01/new-undergraduate-data-science-programs-2/
