Courses on data science proliferate

New York Times : Data science is a cross-disciplinary study that has developed alongside the enormous amounts of dataâmdash;ranging from online behavior patterns to cancer tissue samples to crime ratesâmdash;produced by modern technology. Data scientists use mathematical models to analyze the data, create visual or narrative descriptions, and then devise ways the data are understood or used. A report by McKinsey Global Institute suggests there will be a half million new data science jobs in the next five years, and 1.5 million executive and support staff jobs that require an understanding of data. Last year average salaries were nearly $90â000 for graduates just out of North Carolina State University’s Institute for Advanced Analytics , established in 2007. Many other universities have established similar degree programs to teach data science skills. To learn how to manipulate data, students take classes in computer science, statistics, math, and analytics, and to focus on the use of data in fields of study that interest them, they take science and social science classes.