Program Overview

The Department of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences Degree Program prepares students for employment in the private or public sector, graduate school, and scientific research. Studying Mathematics naturally develops quantitative thinking and analytic problem solving, skills with universal application. Demand will always be high for individuals with these universal skills to solve society’s diverse and complex problems.

Students majoring in Math have two choices: the Concentration option or the No Concentration option. No Concentration students choose their own upper division courseload, while Concentration students take a set of upper division courses chosen by the department to best fit their Concentration. Students can choose to concentrate in Applied Mathematics, Data Science, Mathematics Education, Pre-Actuarial Math, Operations Research, Statistics, Computational Mathematics, and Pure Mathematics. Students can complete one Concentration or several.

Data Science Concentration

Data Science is the art and science of transforming raw data into deliverable data products in order to help businesses or government agencies make more informed decisions. The Concentration in Data Science consists of eight major components:

• Data Visualization
• Scientific Methods
• Statistical Modeling
• Statistical Computing
• Real-world Data Applications
• Data Consulting
• Data Research
• Data Technology

The Concentration in Data Science prepares students for a job as a Data Scientist, as well as provides a strong background for many other careers.

Because Data Science is a rapidly expanding field, creating a high demand for Data Scientists, the Department of Mathematics is committed to developing partnerships with the local business community, not only to assist with their data analysis needs, but to demonstrate the value of our math majors.