Data Science

Data science uses computing, processes, algorithms and systems to extract  knowledge and insights from sometimes noisy, unstructured data. At Radford University, students can choose to learn more about data management at both the undergraduate and graduate level.

Database Concentration

Earn a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science with a concentration in database systems. Data engineers/analysts/scientists, database engineers, and database administrators command some of the highest salaries due to a shortage of skilled data professionals and high demand.

Radford University offers the only undergraduate database program in the state of Virginia. The program has an excellent reputation with employers.

Data Engineering Master’s Degree 

Earn a Master of Science in Computer Science specializing in data engineering to prepare for a career in the exciting field of data science (see jobs below). Learn to build data pipelines to ingest, process, store and visualize data. Learn six different data models and learn to design applications using relational databases, cloud-native, purpose-built databases, and other cloud services.

The accelerated program enables Radford undergraduates to take graduate classes and earn their Master of Science Degree one year after earning a BS degree. Undergraduates may take up to four graduate classes that double count for a BS and MS degree. The accelerated track saves one year of time and tuition.

Data Science Jobs

Data science jobs fall into three broad categories: data engineering, data analyst, and data scientist.

Data engineers are software engineers who build data pipelines to ingest, process, store, and act on data. Data engineers automate data processing to feed data products.

Data analysts use SQL and statistics to answer business questions (e.g., who are our most profitable customers and where do they come from?). 

Data scientists use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to build predictive models (e.g., which customers are most likely to leave when their subscription expires?).