Education

NC State does not offer a Ph.D. in Data Science, but it does offer 9 degrees where a student can incorporate data science into their Ph.D. program.

• Bioinformatics Research Center. The BRC was founded in 2020 to apply quantitative methods to massive datasets to understand the genomic structure of organisms. The center offers two Ph.D. programs: the Ph.D. in Bioinformatics and the Ph.D. in Functional Genomics.
• Center for Geospatial Analytics. Geospatial analytics are the evolving tools and approaches that help to discover, interpret, and communicate meaningful patterns in location-based data. The center offers a Ph.D. in Geospatial Analytics.
• Ph.D. in Computer Science
• Ph.D. in Statistics
• Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics
• Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering
• Ph.D. in Operations Research
• Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering

Many departments at NC State offer graduate minors, which typically require 9 hours for master’s students and 12 hours for doctoral students. Two graduate minors that specifically focus on data science are offered by the Center for Geospatial Analytics in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Environmental Remote Sensing.

• Institute for Advanced Analytics. The Institute for Advanced Analytics offers the Master of Science in Analytics. IAA has been preparing data-savvy professionals since 2007 as is home to the nation’s first Masters in Analytics.
• Bioinformatics Research Center. The BRC offers three master’s degrees: the Master of Bioinformatics (non-thesis), the Master of Functional Genomics (non-thesis), and the M.S. in Functional Genomics.
• Center for Geospatial Analytics. The CGA offers the Master of Geospatial Information Science and Technology. The MGIST program was one of the earliest nationally-recognized professional science master’s degree programs in GIS.
• Coming Soon. The Departments of Statistics, Mathematics, and Computer Science will be offering a Master of Science in Foundations of Data Science.
• The College of Natural Resources Natural Resources Master’s Program offers a GIS Technical Option. Spatial modeling, remote sensing, geographic information systems, and spatial databases are an entire sub-discipline in resource management.
• The Department of Computer Science offers a Track in Data Science as part of their Master of Computer Science.
• The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering offers a specialty area in machine learning as part of their Master of Science in Electrical Engineering.

Graduate certificates are typically a four-course sequence resulting in a graduate credential

• The Center for Geospatial Analytics. The center offers the Graduate Certificate in Geospatial Information Science.
• The Departments of Statistics and Computer Science offer an interdisciplinary Graduate Certificate in Data Science Foundations.
• The Poole College of Management offers a Graduate Certificate in Business Analytics to develop management professionals who are skilled in big data analysis and decision-making.
• The Department of Materials Science offers the Materials Informatics Graduate Certificate Program that offers education at the intersection of materials science, engineering, and data science.
• The College of Education offers the Graduate Certificate in Learning Analytics focused on the use of data to efficiently, effectively and ethically leverage data to improve learning outcomes.
•  The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences offers the Graduate Certificate in Agriculture Data Science.

The Poole College of Management offers additional preparation for careers in the high-demand field of business analytics through the Business Analytics Honors Program.