PELLA — Central College has added two new data science disciplines starting Fall 2022.

Central’s new interdisciplinary data science track teaches students skills in programming, modeling, machine learning, data visualization, and statistics, and teaches them how to evaluate how data can be used to solve new problems.

The Central Faculty has created a data science focus in response to changes in the data science industry and high demands on the workforce. Data science skills can be used in many areas such as politics, business, economics, and sports. Students are encouraged to take coursework outside their major in other areas where data science can be applied.

Central’s program is unique because most universities offer one major program called Data Science. Two different tracks give students greater flexibility and focus and can be tailored to their background and professional interests.

“This allows students to approach data science from a different skill perspective,” says math professor Russ Goodman. “A computer science major with a data science track allows students to enter the world of data science while focusing on skills like coding and working with databases.”

“A mathematics major with a data science track exposes students to coding, but also improves their data science skills with a solid background in statistics and mathematical modeling, which are key ingredients for working in data science. I will,” he adds.

“The collection and interpretation of big data pervades every industry,” says math professor Wendy Weber. “Our students learn a variety of statistical and data tools, including Python, R, advanced spreadsheet skills, applied statistics, data visualization, and machine learning. We are not going to teach our students one thing because it is probably not the one thing they will need or use forever.We want our students to be It focuses on how coding works and how data is stored so that you can be flexible through

The Central Bachelor of Science in Computer Science with Data Science and Mathematics with Data Science prepares graduates for careers as data analysts working with raw data. Data scientists working on real-world business problems. A data engineer working with real-time data. A data modeler that builds database structures. A data architect who creates databases for storing and retrieving data.