The Graduate Certificate in Data Analytics is offered collaboratively by Virginia Tech's Departments of Computer Science, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Statistics. This certificate prepares students for technical careers in big data analytics and data science. Students will acquire in-depth technical skills that will enable them to understand the underlying technical fundamentals of data analytics, to develop new analytical methods, and to engineer new analytical tools. Students acquire skills that integrate computational, statistical, and engineering techniques that form the heart of big data analytics. This certificate provides students with formal recognition of their skills to better support their career prospects.
There is a growing need for technically trained engineers and scientists to lead the rapidly evolving field of big data analytics. The U.S. presidential administration has identified big data analytics as a core area of national need. Data science is one of the fastest growing career paths, and demand for technical expertise is out-pacing supply. Technical expertise is needed to develop new methods, tools, and infrastructures required to support novel big data analytics operations in industry, government, and academia. The technical expertise required involves a combination of computation, statistics, and engineering, such that training in any one of these individual disciplines alone does not suffice. This certificate serves to train technical students with a broader view across these disciplines to support the data analytics field.
The learning outcomes of Data Analytics certificate program:
Students should complete at least 2 courses from the core list (see below) and 2 courses from the elective list, for a total of 12 credits. The set of courses taken must span all three of the host departments (CS, ECE, STAT). All courses must be graded A-F, and students must attain a minimum 3.0 GPA in the designated courses. Transfer credits are not permitted. At most 6 of the credits can be double counted toward the student's degree program.
Core Courses: (Choose 2)
Restricted Elective Courses: (Choose 2)
For more details, see the Graduate Certificate in Data Analytics page.
The Data Analytics certificate is administered by the Discovery Analytics Center. Please contact DAC for more information on the Graduate Certificate in Data Analytics.