Virginia Tech gains approval for new master’s degree in data science to launch this fall

Beginning in the fall, Virginia Tech will offer a Master of Science in data science. The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) granted approval in early January for the new degree.

The Virginia Tech Board of Visitors approved the interdisciplinary master's degree, housed in the Academy of Data Science, in April 2024. The core curriculum will be provided by both the College of Science and College of Engineering, while the College of Natural Resources and Environment, the College of Agriculture and Life Science, and other colleges are expected to contribute to the curriculum.

“I am very happy to announce that our proposal for an M.S. data science degree was approved by SCHEV on Jan. 8,” said Tom Woteki, founding director of the Academy of Data Science. “I am sincerely grateful for all of the hard work and perseverance – particularly from our proposal team which includes Lizette Zietsman, Jennifer Van Mullekom, and Brian Mayer – that has gone into bringing this degree to fruition.

“It has been a great team effort to design a program that will educate the data scientists of the future.”

The new program will help address industry demand for professionals who can extract meaningful information from vast amounts of data. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that by 2033, employment for data scientists is expected to grow 36 percent, a rate much faster than average for all occupations.

Through the degree program, students will learn to design, organize, and execute data science projects to answer data-driven questions. The curriculum, which requires a capstone project, will feature coursework in foundations of data science, communication in team-based data science, machine and statistical learning, and programming models for big data.

With the preparation provided by this new degree, graduates will possess the advanced knowledge in statistics, computer science, mathematics, and computational modeling that allow them to meet the demand for data scientists in private and public organizations across Virginia.

In 2019, Virginia Tech made a formal commitment to the Tech Talent Investment Program, which was designed to help the commonwealth double its workforce in the tech sector by 2039. As a part of this commitment, the College of Engineering offers master’s degrees in both computer engineering and computer science and applications.

“This program will complement Virginia Tech’s ongoing efforts to train more students in computing, data, artificial intelligence, and related areas,” said Julie Ross, the Paul and Dorothea Torgersen Dean of Engineering. “Expertise from across campus will come together to engage students in an exciting and highly relevant curriculum.”

Meanwhile, the master’s degree in data science will help Virginia Tech take another step forward in educating a workforce in high demand areas like computation, data, and artificial intelligence.

“This is about building a program tailored to address critical workforce needs right here in the commonwealth of Virginia,” said Kevin Pitts, dean of the College of Science.

The Academy of Data Science, within the College of Science, coordinates Tech’s undergraduate program in computational modeling and data analytics as well as the undergraduate minor in data and decisions. The academy also supports academic research across the university through initiatives such as the Academy of Data Science Discovery Fund and the Data Science Faculty Fellowships.

Applications to join the master’s degree in data science program will open in the coming weeks. For any questions regarding the degree, please send a message to vtdatascience@vt.edu.