To embed computing and data sciences across the University, we established a new all-University Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences.
The new unit is designed to support faculty, students, research, and academic programs that bridge traditional disciplines with these emerging fields. The goal is to use the faculty and its programs to attract ambitious faculty and students unencumbered by traditional academic boundaries.
Azer Bestavros, a William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor and director of the Hariri Institute, says students across every major want to take data-related courses. The University saw a 23 percent increase in teaching credit hours for math and statistics from the 2006–2007 to the 2016–2017 academic year. And computer science saw a 266 percent increase.
And the more students are fluent in data-driven inquiry, Bestavros says, the better position they will be in as they apply for jobs.
“What field today is not reliant on data?” he says. “Computational thinking is becoming the bread and butter for every student’s education. Data science is now a unifier across disciplines.”