university of wisconsin extended campus Archives - University of Wisconsin Data Science Degree

Face it, you’ve been on the fence about going back to school for a while now. After Googling master’s degree programs in data science here and there, you still feel overwhelmed about deciding if one is better than another. When there’s countless sources of information tugging you in every direction, it’s best to gather your bearings and figure out the most important details you need in order to guide you in the right direction.

Luckily, we’ve done the legwork. Below are the six most important questions to ask before you begin your application to a data science master’s degree program. Think of this as a mental checklist to help you cross off crucial considerations before taking on your educational future:

1. Do I have an interest in or want to strengthen my problem solving, data management, and research skills?

When you have an interest in data science practices and want to grow your hard and soft skills, enrolling in a data science master’s degree program is a promising endeavor. In fact, 2022 Lightcast research shows that data analysis and programming languages are frequently listed in data science job postings, while management, problem solving, and communications round out the preferred soft skills:

Employers want data science master’s degree graduates to be well-rounded professionals, capable of tapping into the technical side of a role while effectively understanding and communicating data to drive actionable insights. With this in mind, it’s to your advantage to find a master’s degree program that not only prioritizes the hard skills of data science, but also the soft skills. When researching program curricula, look for courses such as DS 735: Communicating About Data, DS 760: Ethics of Data Science, and DS 780: Data Science and Strategic Decision Making—all of which expand on skills that are not only needed, but also demanded in today’s data science roles.

2. What are my career goals?

Venmathi Shanmugam, UW Data Science graduate

If you’re looking to be part of a dynamic team in charge of solving real-world problems, or if you want to efficiently draw conclusions from data to better inform actionable business strategies, a master’s degree in data science can set those career goals in motion.

Whether you strive to be a data analyst, database administrator, data architect, strategic business and technology intelligence consultant, or another data-focused professional, the impact of your work can be substantial. For example, Venmathi Shanmugam, a recent graduate of the University of Wisconsin Master of Science in Data Science online program, is the Modeling and Simulations Engineer at the Veterans Affairs office in Austin, Texas. In her role, she manages large amounts of government data pertaining to veterans healthcare and finance. She also holds responsibilities in the supply chain division of her department—using data to positively impact patient needs.

3. Who teaches the data science curriculum?

When enrolling in a graduate school program, you want to feel confident that you are learning from qualified experts in your desired field. A strong data science master’s program is rooted in an interdisciplinary approach, not siloed off to one academic school or department. Diversity in faculty expertise and perspectives is a critical component to consider before applying to a program. Don’t hesitate to research potential faculty members’ background, education, and recently published research studies.

The UW Data Science online program is a prime example of an interdisciplinary approach in action, where students learn from faculty members across six UW System campuses. With advanced degrees in mathematics, marketing, computer science, philosophy, management, statistics, and rhetoric and computer composition, graduate students receive the direct benefits of working and learning alongside UW faculty who are driven to grow and advance from every corner of the data science profession.

4. Does the degree program provide a networking community fueled by collaboration?

It’s important to consider how a data science master’s degree program sets you up to connect with industry leaders during your time as a student and after you graduate. Look for programs that feature an advisory board of data science professionals across business sectors. This collaboration of individuals shows that the program is supported by outside experts who can help you connect with future employers and/or mentors.

The UW Data Science online program boasts an impressive advisory board, where recognized data science leaders have the opportunity to shape the program. UW Data Science Advisory Board members can also sponsor capstone projects, plugging students into real-world data science settings where they draw upon their skills and grow from hands-on experiences. Currently, the UW Data Science Advisory Board includes data science professionals in the retail, banking, software programming, manufacturing, state government, insurance, transportation, staffing, and medical fields.

5. Do I have the time to earn a graduate degree?

For some working adults, it is too time consuming to earn a master’s degree through an on-campus program. Traveling to and from a campus throughout the week to sit in on hour-long lectures can complicate the balancing act of work and family responsibilities.

If this is your reality, then pursuing an online graduate degree might be your best option. But, not all online degrees are the same. Make sure to thoroughly research an online degree’s requirements and consider how much flexibility you will need when it comes to lectures, readings, and coursework.

UW Data Science is a smart choice for busy adults who want to advance their careers, or make a career change. Offered 100 percent online, you can study and complete coursework whenever and wherever you have an internet connection. Courses have no set meeting times, and you never need to come to campus.

6. Is the program accredited and respected?

When deciding to pursue a master’s in data science, you want to be sure that future employers will value the degree-granting institution you’ll graduate from. There’s no question that you can earn a graduate-level education from almost anywhere in the country and world, so how do you know which programs are worth your time and money? Look for degree programs that are accredited by regional and national accreditors, such as the Higher Learning Commission (HLC).

According to the HLC website, in order to be accredited an educational institution must 1.) have a clear and publicly articulated mission, 2.) conduct actions responsibly, ethically, and with integrity, 3.) provide high-quality education, no matter where and how offerings are delivered, 4.) evaluate its student learning effectiveness and promote continuous improvement, and 5.) have resources, structures, and procedures that support the institution’s mission.

The UW Data Science program is HLC accredited, signifying that its students receive a high-quality education led by faculty who are committed to staying up-to-date with the expanding data science field. Plus, UW is known and respected worldwide, helping graduates of the UW Data Science program stand out to employers. As a trusted and valued institution, a UW degree can help graduates accomplish their career and personal goals.

So, you’ve gone through all six questions, what have you found?

With an expert-led curriculum, a 100 percent online format, and a recognized and respected UW degree, now is the time to see where the UW Master of Science in Data Science online program can take you.

Have questions about courses, tuition, or how to apply? Talk with an enrollment adviser by emailing learn@uwex.wisconsin.edu or calling 608-800-6762.

Years ago, if you asked Lucas Newkirk about pursuing a graduate-level data science degree, the idea wouldn’t have been on his radar. From college athlete to detecting pneumonia in chest radiographs, Lucas’ educational and career journey took a few turns in order to get to where he is today: A December 2018 graduate of the online University of Wisconsin Master of Science in Data Science program. The following is Lucas’ story of finding his way into the data science field.

After high school, Lucas’ dream was to play football at UW-La Crosse. However, after suffering an injury, he switched gears to focus on his education, transferring to UW-Madison his junior year and changing his major to business management and applied economics.

Lucas dove into programming and model building, which led to his first job as a forecasting analyst with Assurant, a small health insurance agency. Seven months into the job, he found himself looking for another after the company went out of business. Luckily, it wasn’t long before he landed a compliance analyst position at GE Healthcare.

“When I got to GE, I felt I couldn’t advance my day-to-day work to a more senior role if I didn’t pursue another degree,” Lucas said. “I remember back when I worked at Assurant I had looked up data science programs in Wisconsin and the UW Master of Science in Data Science online program caught my eye.”

One of the biggest barriers in taking the next step in his education was affordability. About a year into his role at GE, Lucas learned that his employer provided tuition reimbursement, and Lucas knew exactly where to enroll.

A Data Science and Healthcare Inspired Capstone

Motivated by his drive to earn a data science degree and to advance in his role at GE, Lucas decided to focus on a healthcare industry need for his capstone project. His final capstone paper was “Classification of Pneumonia X-rays Using Mask R-CNN and Transfer Learning.” In layperson’s terms, Lucas programmed a virtual machine on Google Cloud to increase the efficiency and accuracy of pneumonia detections in chest radiographs.

“I wanted to complete a capstone project focused on healthcare because I figured having the experience in my portfolio would help qualify me when pursuing a higher-level healthcare job,” Lucas said. “This was the first time I ever took a crack at deep learning, and now I know I want to keep studying it because I have the tools to do so.”

Lucas credits the capstone project idea to a competition hosted on Kaggle, an online community comprised of machine learners and data scientists who set out to create data sets and build models for data science-related challenges. Proposed by the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), the original RSNA Pneumonia Detection Challenge on Kaggle asked participants to “build an algorithm to detect a visual signal for pneumonia in medical images. Specifically, your algorithm needs to automatically locate lung opacities on chest radiographs.”

The Kaggle challenge further states that the current approach to detecting pneumonia relies on highly trained specialists who are faced with reading large volumes of images, which often complicates efficiency and diagnostic accuracy. Internationally, pneumonia is among the top five leading causes of death for children under the age of 5 years old. The obvious need in the healthcare community, paired with the challenge of flexing his data science skills, inspired Lucas to use the Kaggle competition as the basis for his capstone.

Finding Success Through Data Science Skills

“I really just wanted to get this one small win in my book and keep going with it,” Lucas said about his capstone. “At the end of the project, I didn’t have winning results, but I did end up getting pneumonia predictions in the 80-percent range.”

Lucas knew he didn’t have much of a chance to compete as a one-man team against big companies in the Kaggle competition. Realistically, his main goal was to figure out how to program the virtual machine with a working algorithm that led to positive pneumonia detection results.

The biggest success for Lucas was getting his virtual computer model to train to his algorithm. Figuring out the coding and using a variety of installation packages pushed his problem solving skills to new heights. Relying on a paper published by Facebook AI titled “Mask R-CNN”, Lucas learned how to segment images, teaching his virtual machine to identify objects in chest radiographs through focused outlining. This outlining method steered away from the traditional use of bounding boxes that simply draw a square around an area of interest. The outlining algorithm provided a more vivid and accurate detection of hazy sections that could be diagnosed as pneumonia.

Lucas with Dr. Jeffrey Baggett at graduation in December 2018.

Using the data science skills that he learned in the UW Master of Science in Data Science curriculum helped Lucas navigate through the roadblocks and challenges of his capstone. Lucas credits the DS 700: Foundations of Data Science course for teaching him how to investigate, analyze, and complete complex data science class projects. DS 710: Programming for Data Science gave him the coding skills to get started and inspired him to continue learning Python, which turned out to be the language he used for his capstone. DS 745: Visualization and Unstructured Data Analysis helped Lucas learn critical presentation skills to display data in a graphical way, which he applied to the charts and data featured in his capstone.

The Benefits of an UW Online Degree Program

Flexibility in class schedule and assignments was a must for Lucas. He couldn’t travel outside of Milwaukee because of his work commitments, and he didn’t want his contribution at GE to suffer from being spread too thin. The UW Master of Science in Data Science online program afforded Lucas to work at his own pace and provided access to professors and faculty members outside of typical 9-to-5 work hours.

“One concern I had when starting the degree program was how much communication I would have with the professors and faculty members,” Lucas said. “I figured online degree programs would be less involved, or the instructors would be less available, but it actually turned out to be the opposite.”

Lucas admits he worried that online class sizes would be infinite, since anyone could log onto a computer at anytime. However, his classes were not too large to manage, because UW Extended Campus tracks average enrollments per course section and caps enrollments for any course at 30 students. When needed, additional sections are available for courses that exceed the 30 student maximum, ensuring access to all students while maintaining an optimal learning outcome. Students participate in projects and discussions in smaller groups within each course section. Online student resource lounges also help students stay engaged through peer interaction.

“I still talk to one of my class partners I had in my DS 735: Communicating About Data course,” Lucas said. “I was ahead of him in the program, and we message each other to see how we each are doing, or he asks me what he should expect in certain classes.”

From Capstone to Career and Beyond

With the capstone project and a UW Master of Science in Data Science degree added to his résumé, Lucas is excited to dive into another Kaggle competition, continue to collaborate with colleagues and other data science peers, and to focus on using his experience in the degree program to hone his skills.

At GE, colleagues outside of Lucas’ department have noticed and now rely on his data science capabilities. “At work, I just competed in a coding competition with a goal to simplify sales processes,” Lucas said. “I was the only person from the compliance department in the group, and I ended up taking second place. It radiates throughout the company when people know you have skills that can help streamline their workflows.”

For individuals considering how a data science degree can help them with their career aspirations, Lucas is quick to encourage them that now is a great time to dive in. If he had known the experiences he’d gain and skills he’d acquire in the UW Master of Science in Data Science online degree program, he would have enrolled sooner.

“Data science is ever-evolving and it’s never going to get simpler,” Lucas said. “You want to jump in now. I have no regrets that I jumped, and now I am looking forward to where this degree continues to take me.”

What’s Next?

Start exploring how the UW Master of Science in Data Science online degree program can push you to new career heights. Have questions about the courses, tuition, or how to apply? Talk with an enrollment adviser by emailing learn@uwex.wisconsin.edu or calling 608-800-6762.

UW Master of Science in Data Science is a collaboration of UW System campuses. Lucas earned his degree from UW-La Crosse.

6 Questions to Ask Before Pursuing a Master’s Degree in Data Science