MS in Data Science

Career prospects: A wealth of opportunities

Coursework in machine learning, data mining, artificial intelligence, and visualization will prepare you to capture, process, model, analyze and visualize data to make strategic business decisions to optimize outcomes. Our graduates find success in a wide range of careers, including:

• Data scientist at Athena Health
• Data scientist at BNY Mellon
• Machine learning engineer at Spotify
• Machine learning engineer at Quantiphi
• Software engineer at Amazon Web Services

Co-ops and internships: Rated #1

You’ll have opportunities to participate in co-ops and internships, ranked #1 in the country by U.S. News & World Report, that will enrich your coursework and elevate your expertise through hands-on experience. Co-op and internship positions include:

• Data science intern
• Analytics and insights co-op
• Data science/machine learning co-op
• Data and analytics intern
• Data engineering intern

Research opportunities: Pursue your passion

You’ll collaborate with world-class researchers in state-of-the-art facilities to enhance your education, advance your career prospects, and make discoveries that will change the world. Whether you’re interested in a research career, applying to PhD programs, or simply gaining more firsthand experience in the field, our wide variety of research projects will empower you to make meaningful contributions.

Interdisciplinary approach

This interdisciplinary degree lets you build the experiences and career you want, with electives across disciplines. Choose from campuses in Boston, Portland (Maine), or Silicon Valley. Study full- or part-time; focus on topics that matter most to you.

Boston campus concentrations

If you choose to complete the MSDS on our Boston campus, you’ll have the opportunity to select between concentrations with Khoury College or the College of Engineering. Both share the same core courses — data management, programming, algorithms, and machine learning but they apply those skills differently through later courses.

Computer science concentration (Khoury College)

Build the systems behind real-world applications. You might create AI models that tag medical images to help doctors catch diseases or develop recommendation engines for streaming services. Cloud computing and distributed systems courses show you how to design platforms that handle millions of users — think social media or large e-commerce sites — while database classes teach you to organize and search massive datasets. Human–computer interaction ensures you can build intuitive interfaces, like mobile apps or dashboards.

Engineering concentration (College of Engineering)

In contrast, the engineering concentration uses similar techniques to solve practical problems in fields such as bioengineering, chemical processing, or civil infrastructure — optimizing water systems or modeling disease spread, for example.

These concentrations are available only at the Boston location; your degree will be awarded by the college that is home to your chosen concentration.

Learning outcomes

The MS in Data Science will equip you with technical knowledge and career preparation. As a a graduate, you will have gained proficiency in:

Analysis and visualization: Ability to communicate analyses and insights using appropriate and effective visualization techniques that considers the type of data, the application domain, and the audience.

Data management: Ability to design, implement, and deploy integrated databases for managing both structured and unstructured large-scale datasets. 

Machine learning: Ability to select, implement, and evaluate machine learning algorithms, developing an understanding of the limitations of an algorithm for particular application domains. Understand the theoretical and mathematical foundations of both supervised and unsupervised learning techniques.