Curriculum

Master’s In Data Science Curriculum

Here’s a glimpse into our curriculum: a path from foundational skills to industry application, carefully designed to transform students into capable data scientists ready for real-world challenges.

1st Year, Semester 1 (Fall)
Databases
Build scalable data systems with SQL and NoSQL databases. Focus on data modeling and analytics.
Programming for Data Science
Basic Python coding and algorithms, numpy, pandas, accessing APIs, and optimization with applications in Machine Learning.
Applied Statistics 1
Descriptive and inferential statistics, Linear regression, Probability theory, Resampling, R implementations.
Data Munging
Methods for gathering, organizing, and reshaping structured and unstructured data for exploratory analysis in R, Python.
1st Year, January
Industry Workshops
Small workshops on current topics organized by industry partners (Lexis Nexis, SAS, NVIDIA)
1st Year, Semester 2 (Spring)
Distributed Computing
Build cloud data pipelines and ML systems: Infrastructure automation with Azure, distributed processing in Databricks.
Machine Learning
Supervised and unsupervised learning using traditional machine learning methods, Python implementations.
Applied Statistics 2
Multiple Linear Regression Models, Model formulation, fitting, selection and evaluation.
Data Viz. & Communication
Interactive graphs for visualizing relationships, Maps, Dashboards, Effective communication & presentation
2nd Year, Semester 3 (Fall)
Deep Learning and AI
Neural Networks, CNNs, RNNs, Transformers, and intro to Large Language Models, vectorDBs, and RAG workflows.
Statistical Modeling
Matrix algebra, Generalized Linear/Additive Models, Time series, Bayesian inference & modeling, Survival analysis.
Practical Data Science
Apply knowledge to real-world datasets and projects, interacting with external sponsors and experts.
2nd Year, Semester 4 (Spring)
Industry Practicum
Work as part of a data science team with one of our industry partners, or use our career center to find your own.

Source · https://www.ncf.edu/academics/grad-applied-data-science/masters-in-data-science-curriculum/