Audio by Gabby Gerster
Beginning in fall 2027, Cal Poly will offer a bachelor’s degree in data science, according to a Cal Poly press release.
Cal Poly has offered data science as a minor since 2016, but students now have the option to choose data science as their major. The minor has reached or nearly reached capacity every year, according to the press release.
The 120-unit major will be a combination of computing with mathematical and statistical training, combining coursework and faculty from the College of Engineering and the Bailey College of Science and Mathematics, according to the Cal Poly press release.
The major will offer three concentrations: mathematical foundations, statistical modeling and machine learning engineering.
Associate professor of statistics, Kelly Bodwin, is involved in the planning of the curriculum to turn the minor into a major. The faculty worked on planning for around three to four years, according to Bodwin.
For those who choose to major in data science, Bodwin said she hopes students learn the inner workings of data models enough to justify their use during application.
“It’s something that AI can’t super replace,” Bodwin said. “AI can do a good job once you’ve done analysis, and it can tell you what happened and interpret it, but deciding what’s worth trying is very hard. It takes a lot of data intuition and also knowledge of how the model works.”
With data science’s introduction as a major, it will no longer be offered as an option for a minor, but Bodwin said most of the students who have been minoring in data science have already practically been completing a double major.
“I do want to give credit to the cross-disciplinary minor because [the major] really isn’t super different classwork than the minor and these students have been doing that and getting only minor credit for years,” Bodwin said.
This year’s current freshmen are the last group able to complete the minor.
Sonal Jadal, a statistics sophomore with a minor in data science, said she has mixed opinions on the introduction of data science as a major.
“If I came in knowing that I wanted to do data science, I would have probably chosen that as my major, but that said, I would have to have the fundamentals down from high school,” Jadal said. “I think it is a stronger and better bet to do the stats major and do data science as my minor because the stats courses are so fundamental to understanding data science.”
Jadal said she hopes the data science major continues to emphasize statistical literacy.
“Sometimes the statistical methods and foundations can kind of get lost, but it is so important that students know what they’re doing when they’re learning their technical skills and stuff in their major, and that they’re still required to take those stat courses,” Jadal said.