The DATA Science Credential

Combining the “What” with the “Why” & “How”

The Data (Data-Acumen-Theory-Application) Science Credential in Economics helps Economics majors receive in-demand data skills, guided by theory, applied to economics. Completion of the credential requirements allows students to obtain:

Practical and Marketable Skills
Introduction to programming languages (e.g., R/Python) commonly used in applications of data
science, and practical data skills: collecting, scraping, cleaning, merging, processing, and visualizing
data, descriptive analysis, optimization, and supervised/unsupervised statistical learning.

Synergy, Application, and Experience
Gain experience in combining these data skills with foundational knowledge of economics to frame
and solve economic questions using real data from finance, industry, government, health,
environment, among others.

Credential Requirements
The Credential requirements include completion of three courses and attendance at the Credential Speaker events.

• Three Courses*
  • ECON 370: Economic Applications of Data Science
  • ECON 470: Econometrics
  • ECON 573: Big Data and Machine Learning
    • or ECON 571: Advanced Econometrics
    • or ECON 575: Applied Time Series Analyses and Forecasting
  • *Courses offered in Fall 2023
    • ECON 370 (one section):           MW 1:25 p.m. – 2:40 p.m.
    • ECON 470 (two sections):        TR 11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m., MW 11:15 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
    • ECON 573 (one section):           TR 2:00 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.
    • Note: Sections of ECON 470, ECON 571, & ECON 573 are planned for spring 2024.
• Seminar Series: Attendance at seminars (minimum: 4) of invited speakers from industry to learn about the practice of data science and to provide opportunities for career networking.
  • Speaker Series
    • Spring 2023
      • Kang Jian, Teladoc Health
      • Ju Hyun Kim, Blue Cross Blue Shield
      • Josh Patterson, Voltron Data
    • Fall 2022
      • Laura Perkins & Josh O’Donnell, AlixPartners
      • Gyasi Dapaa, Indeed
      • Sean Olson, Booz Allen Hamilton
    • Spring 2022
      • Philip Nutsugah & Christian Welin, Cox Communications
      • Wade Kimbrough, Volatility Protocol
    • Fall 2021
      • Nickolai Riabov, Airbnb
      • Yanik Lacroix Torrent & James Cardiff, West Jet
      • Stella McMullen, Zillow

• Data Science Competitions: Optional participation with a team of students in competitive challenges to explore and analyze a provided data set to answer important economic questions.

If you are interested in the DATA Science Credential in Economics, please fill out this FORM.

The credential is officially conferred to a student at the end of the semester in which all requirements are met.