Find the story in the numbers.

a female student photographed with a colorful data-visualization overlay

UIC will teach you to find the most valuable thread in any data. Heading link

Data science, a new major launched at UIC in 2021, gives you the ability to distill massive pools of data down to the insights that are most meaningful — and then tell that story to the people who need to hear it.

Not sure what you want your college major to be? If so, data science might be the perfect choice. Think of it as a general toolkit that will turn you into a numbers-driven analyst and storyteller, skills that you can apply to almost any area of life that calls out to you.

As a UIC data science major, you’ll get to take courses across three colleges: engineering, liberal arts and sciences, and business. You’ll also get to customize the major to your interests by combining your general knowledge of data science with one of nine concentrations, from healthcare to social technology to industrial operations. When everyone wants you to pick one college major “or” another, data science offers a resounding “and.”

A student asks questions of popular professor Dale Reed

 

Here are just a few examples of where you can put a UIC data science education to work, and the questions that data scientists in these fields might answer.

  • Music

    Which users are listening to which songs on Spotify? How can streaming services make recommendations to keep people listening?

  • Public health

    Where do clusters of certain diseases exist in Chicago? Can mapping those illnesses reveal possible environmental causes that should be investigated?

  • Urban planning

    Based on the city’s shifting population, which neighborhoods will need more services in the next decade? Where will we need better transit or new schools?

  • Social media

    How do viral videos and popular posts propagate through a social network? What features spur people to click or share?

  • Finance

    How can we program advanced computer models that can accurately predict market trends or the actions of groups of investors?

  • Genetics

    Which genetic markers are correlated with certain illnesses, and how can we use that information to develop innovative treatments?

  • $103K average annual data scientist salary (source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)

  • 650% job growth in data science from 2012 to 2017 (source: LinkedIn)

  • #2 best job in America on Glassdoor's list for 2021

Learn more about the data science major at UIC Heading link

Start your application! Visit the admissions website

I know I want to be in this field because I enjoy using an analytical approach to solving things.

Kaylynn Arrington  |  UIC senior and data science major