Luther College Regents approve a new major at the college--data science

The Luther College Board of Regents has unanimously approved data science as the newest major in the college's curriculum.
 
Data science is the study of how to extract meaning from data.  It's an emerging area of work concerned with the collection, preparation, analysis, visualization, management and preservation of large collections of data and the information it provides. It requires technical skills related to databases, programming, visualization and statistics as well as nontechnical skills such as communication and ethical reasoning.

The new major integrates techniques and theory from many fields including mathematics, computer science, probability and statistics, machine learning, pattern recognition, communication and ethics. The combination of the major's courses and a capstone research experience prepares students to understand and act, combining quantitative analysis with awareness and thoughtfulness.

Students focus on data sources, manipulation and management of data, interpretation of data and the impact of data.  The data science major looks to update critical thinking and problem-solving skills with an enhanced ability for analyzing data and turning information into knowledge.

"The career opportunities for data science grads are virtually limitless," said Luther computer science professor Brad Miller.  Nearly every business, industry and service arena is attempting to understand and leverage a huge amount of digital information that, in most instances, did not exist five years ago.