DATA SCIENCE JOBS ARE HOT
For the past three years, data scientist has topped LinkedIn’s list of fastest emerging jobs in the United States. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that upward trend will continue, projecting that data and mathematical science occupations will grow 31 percent by 2030. Universities across the country—and the globe—are quickly adding courses to take advantage: five years ago, almost no US college offered a data science major, now more than 50 do, according to advice site Discover Data Science.
At BU, a striking building is rising that aims to put the University at the forefront of this new world—and give its faculty, students, and alums the resources to shape its future. The 19-story Center for Computing & Data Sciences, which is scheduled to open in 2022, won’t be just for IT experts: soon enough, many of us—whether marketers or music producers, lawyers or activists—will either need to compete with data scientists for our jobs or work with them to stay ahead of the competition.
“Companies that never were data science companies are becoming data science companies,” says Azer Bestavros, Boston University’s first associate provost for computing and data sciences. “They really don’t have a choice. They have the data and they can’t ignore the fact that competitors are taking advantage of their own data. Every sector is becoming a data sciences sector.” ...