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Data Science

Available as a major

Ever wondered how Spotify compiles personal year-in-review playlists every December? Or how crime data maps of different neighborhoods can be so specific? Data science is an interdisciplinary field that lies at the intersection of mathematics, statistics and computer science as well as often partnering with business, engineering and bioinformatics. It is a rapidly evolving field that requires technical skills, critical thinking and strong communication skills.

Student in class

Curriculum & Courses

Sample Course Offerings:

DATA 170: Data Mining
DATA 248: Data Visualization
DATA 350: Databases

student working

What Makes Roanoke Different?

“The two-semester capstone sequence helps students reflect on the skills acquired in the program in order to ask and answer questions about large data sets and use those to help solve the world’s important problems”

Dr. David Taylor, who coordinated the cross-campus development of the major

Student Experiences

Taylor Ferebee Builds Movie Predictor App and Multi-predictor Algorithm

Mathematics and physics major Taylor Ferebee '17 is a huge film buff. (Her favorite movie? "Dirty Harry.") Taylor decided to combine her love of filmmaking with her passion for mathematical concepts. Her initial goal was to create an app that could predict the box office success of a film using artificial intelligence. That goal accomplished, Taylor now has upped the ante: She's creating a working multi-predictor algorithm that she can sell – primarily to very tech-savvy people with very specific interests – by 2020. "I've been looking into predicting health outcomes, specifically of college students," Taylor said.

Taylor Ferebee

Number-crunching Maroon Stat Crew collects, analyzes sports team data

The student crew produces statistics that help find patterns among the players' performances, which help the coaches and teams play more effectively. 

Crew members track a game from Kerr stadium's press book

Real-World Data & Statistics Learning

Careers & Outcomes

In the 2019 CareerCast job rankings, data scientist is No. 1, with statistician at No. 2.

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News

Interested in studying data science at Roanoke College?

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Beyond providing Spotify users with playlists of songs most listened to, professional data scientists solve a wide array of large-scale problems using data. For example, huge traffic datasets can be analyzed to inform governments about needed roadwork and improvements. Medical data can be examined to find a variety of solutions, from reducing misdiagnosis to predicting disease.

Students generally take one of two paths — the theoretical track and the applied track. Our program will prepare students for either one. The theoretical track prepares students for graduate school or working for a technologically advanced company such as Amazon. The applied track, for students who are interested in immediate employment, prepares students to enter the business world. Students learn the language of business and finance, and acquire analytics skills currently used in the workplace.

We offer a major in data science.