The MS in Data Science prepares students for a dynamic field that is continually changing.  The degree program itself needs to evolve to keep up with the needs of the field.  Several changes submitted to the UD Faculty Senate process were approved for the 2021-22 academic year.

Beginning fall 2021, new students entering the MSDS program will be required to take a 3-credit ethics course PHIL 667 Ethics in Data Science and AI. The new ethics course brings the total number of credits for students entering the MSDS to 33. Students enrolled at UD before fall 2021 are not required to take the ethics course, but it is highly recommended.  Prof. Tom Powers, Department of Philosophy, taught this course in spring 2021, and the students thought very highly of it.   Prof. Powers will teach the ethics course in the fall semester; it will usually run each fall.  Returning students must complete a minimum of only 30 credits in the MSDS program,  though they are free to complete additional credits.

The MSDS will move to the Graduate College for the fall 2021 semester.  This change will be transparent to the students, but the program personnel looks forward to working with Dean Louis Rossi of the Graduate College to continue to grow the program.

Two new dual-degree programs will begin in the fall semester.  The MSDS/Ph.D. dual-degree will combine the MSDS with the Ph.D. in either Mathematics or Applied Mathematics.  Both of those Ph.D. degrees are offered by the Department of Mathematical Sciences.  The new dual-degree programs will allow credits to be shared between the Masters and Ph.D. degrees.  (It is impossible to share credits between graduate degrees unless the degrees come from an approved dual program.)  The students entering must be qualified for the Ph.D. program, and so the primary input for admission will be from the Department of Mathematical Sciences. More information about these new programs will be available very soon.