List of Available Pathways & Elective Courses

The pathways will allow students who work in a particular domain to take classes specific to their industry. Students are recommended to choose a pathway and take three courses from the same pathway. However, in case of class unavailability, students are welcome to choose courses from different pathways. We offer a bunch of DATA 690 Special Topics classes. Students, who meet the prerequisites of these Special Classes, can take up to 5 Special Topics classes.

Students, especially from non-technical backgrounds, can brush up their programming skills and math/stats knowledge by taking some or all of these courses
Students who enjoy working with different types of datasets collected for different areas/applications of science, engineering, and humanities, can gain hands-on experience by taking some or all of these courses
Students, especially those who have an undergraduate degree in CS, can study advanced data science subjects by taking some or all of these courses (after completing DATA 601 and DATA 602)

The Cybersecurity pathway provides broad exposure to cybersecurity principles, best practices, and relevant technologies. Its purpose is to offer students from varying technical disciplines foundational knowledge and the preparation to effectively incorporate cybersecurity concepts, thinking, and analysis into their own professional activities.

This pathway leads to a Graduate Certificate in Cybersecurity Operations. Students who choose this pathway need to contact the CYBER GPD to learn when these courses will be offered in the following semester(s).

Students must take three required cybersecurity courses and one data science elective (DATA 601, 602, or 605). The CYBER courses in order to complete the pathway and get the certificate are

  • CYBR 620 Introduction to Cybersecurity
  • CYBR 650 Managing Cybersecurity Operations
  • CYBR 658 Risk Analysis and Compliance

The pathway is a partnership between UMBC’s Cybersecurity program and the Data Science program. Both programs are housed within the Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.

HOW TO APPLY FOR A GRADUATE CERTIFICATE IN CYBERSECURITY?

STEP 1: Please fill out the “Concurrent Post-Baccalaureate Certificate Program Application” form as soon as you determine that you want a certificate and email it to the CYBER graduate program coordinator. The form can be found on UMBC’s Graduate School website.

The contact information of the graduate program coordinator can be found on the CYBER program’s website.

STEP 2: “Apply for graduation” at the beginning of the semester when you are going to complete the required set of courses. The link to “apply for graduation” and explanations can be found here.

You will receive your certificate diploma in the mail approximately eight (8) weeks after the end of the semester.

The Economics/Econometrics pathway teaches students the theory, methods and tools to analyze economic data. Analytical techniques will include optimization, game theory, duality and dynamic optimization.

The pathway will provide the student with the skills needed to work with large data sets, to apply econometric techniques such as Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), Two-Stage Least Squares (2SLS), maximum likelihood estimation, and the analysis of panel data. Students will learn how to use econometric packages such as SAS, STATA, and SPSS. Students will gain hands-on experience working on policy questions using real data.

  • PUBL 604 – Statistical Analysis
  • ECON 601 – Microeconomic Analysis
  • ECON 602 – Macroeconomic Analysis
  • ECON 611 – Advanced Econometric Analysis I
  • ECON 612 – Advanced Econometric Analysis II
  • ECON 652 – Economics of Health

Pressing national priorities about reducing healthcare costs, improving the quality of care, and obtaining better health outcomes have created a great demand for healthcare professionals who can revolutionize health practices by using data to draw insights that lead to better patient care and health improvements. This three-course pathway will appeal to Data Science students who want to understand how radical changes in Health IT are transforming the way the industry works with data.

  • HIT658: Health Informatics I
  • HIT759: Health Informatics II
  • HIT723: Public Health Informatics
  • HIT674: Process and Quality Improvement within Health IT
  • HIT751: Introduction to Healthcare Databases

This pathway invites students to develop their skills in data science for use in complex public policy organizations. Research and use of public records in public policy are increasingly intertwined. Citizens will often be asked to believe the products of analytics, or to draw their own conclusions from reports and records available anywhere they have a connection to the internet.

State and local governments are charged with making records public, and with making evidence-driven decision-making. Pathway courses focus on analytical skills as well as organizations charged with using data: how they work, and how data analytics are used, the contexts of data production and analytics, and the regulation of data production and use.

  • ECON 600 Policy Consequences of Economic Analysis
  • PUBL 601 Political and Social Context of the Policymaking Process
  • PUBL 603 Theory and Practice of Policy Analysis
  • PUBL 607 Statistical Applications in Evaluation Research
  • PUBL 608 Applied Multivariate Regression Analysis

The Project Management pathway teaches students how to manage and supervise big data projects, particularly in a virtual or international environment. Managing cross-functional teams are a key element of successfully launching big data projects, which are extremely complex and increasingly important to organizations.

The courses in this pathway focus on the fundamentals of project management, leading virtual or global work teams, and hands-on applications of project management. Students pursuing the Project Management pathway are eligible for a certificate in Project Management upon completion. Students who choose this pathway need to contact the ENMG GPD to learn when these courses will be offered in the following semester(s).

  • ENMG 650: Project Management
  • ENMG 661: Leading Virtual/Global Teams
  • ENMG 663: Advanced Project Management Applications

HOW TO APPLY FOR A GRADUATE CERTIFICATE IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT?

STEP 1: Please fill out the “Concurrent Post-Baccalaureate Certificate Program Application” form as soon as you determine that you want a certificate and email it to the ENMG graduate program coordinator. The form can be found on UMBC’s Graduate School website.

The contact information of the graduate program coordinator can be found on the ENMG program’s website.

STEP 2: “Apply for graduation” at the beginning of the semester when you are going to complete the required set of courses. The link to “apply for graduation” and explanations can be found here.

You will receive your certificate diploma in the mail approximately eight (8) weeks after the end of the semester.

Essential interpersonal skills are becoming increasingly common in the job postings for data science positions. Cross-functional employee management skills are one of the keys to running a successful big data project. Managing your big data project will likely put you into contact with new departments and technical/business specialties. While big data project managers need the work product of many other departments, they are rarely given control over these other departments. The Management Sciences pathway provides you with the tools you will need to motivate and direct the work of others even when they do not report to you. Courses:
  • ENMG 650: Project Management Fundamentals
  • ENMG 654: Leading Teams and Organizations
  • ENMG 656: Engineering Law and Ethics
  • ENMG 658: Financial Management
  • ENMG 659: Strategic Management
  • ENMG 660: Systems Engineering Principles
  • ENMG 661: Leading Global Virtual Teams
  • ENMG 663: Advanced Project Management Applications
  • ENMG 664: Quality Engineering & Management
  • ENMG 668: Project and Systems Engineering Management
  • SYST 672: Decision and Risk Analysis
  • ENMG 690: Innovation and Technology Entrepreneurship

The rapidly growing national and global aging population brings both tremendous opportunities and complex problems. Building the longevity economy and an age-inclusive society requires professionals with an understanding of both data science and the aging studies field. The Aging Studies pathway provides learners with the foundational knowledge of aging and innovation in aging services. This pathway will allow for exploration as to how data can be utilized to address the wants and needs of consumers throughout the lifespan, to address topics such as disease-risk and healthy aging, to provide innovation in environmental design, housing, healthcare, transportation, policies and social programs, and in the study and analysis of how aging trends to identify avenues for innovation and change.

Required Courses:

  • AGNG 600: Social and Economic Context of Aging
  • AGNG 604: Policy Foundations of Aging Services

Electives:

  • AGNG 620: An Overview of Dementia & Dementia Care Services
  • AGNG 621: Policy Foundations in Dementia Care Services
  • AGNG 624: Strategy, Marketing, and Service Delivery in Aging Services
  • AGNG 632: Diversity in Management of Aging Services

Prerequisite: Undergraduate degree in computer science

Courses:

  • CMSC 615: Introduction to Systems Engineering and Systems Architecting
  • CMSC 625: Modeling and Simulation of Computer Systems
  • CMSC 627: Wearable Computing
  • CMSC 628: Introduction to Mobile Computing
  • CMSC 636: Data Visualization
  • CMSC 653: Information and Coding Theory
  • CMSC 655: Numerical Computations
  • CMSC 661: Principles of Database Systems
  • CMSC 668: Service-Oriented Computing
  • CMSC 671: Principles of Artificial Intelligence
  • CMSC 673: Introduction to Natural Language Processing
  • CMSC 675: Introduction to Neural Networks
  • CMSC 676: Information Retrieval

UMBC and the Foundation for Advanced Education in the Sciences (FAES) at NIH established a partnership to extend academic opportunities for their respective students. Qualified students who successfully complete coursework in data science, bioinformatics, or technology transfer at FAES may be able to transfer coursework into UMBC’s Master of Professional Studies in Data Science or Master of Professional Studies in Biotechnology. Please visit this page for more information.

Students can transfer in coursework from the Clinical Informatics program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore to serve as a nine-credit Clinical Informatics pathway within the MPS. All courses are online/asynchronous.

  • INFO 601 Foundations in Clinical and Health Informatics
  • INFO 602 Clinical Information Systems
  • INFO 604 Decision Support Systems in Healthcare

These are eight weeks long, 3 credit courses that are offered either in the first half (Fall A) of a standard 16 weeks semester, or the second half (e.g. Spring B). Check their website for the current offerings. Since these are offered in an intensive 8-week format, the student engagement time in these courses is expected to be 15 hours/week.

 

Students wishing to take these should fill out the Inter-Institutional Enrollment (IIE) form available at https://registrar.umbc.edu/forms/enrollment-forms/, under the heading “USM Inter-Institutional Enrollment.” UMBC students will pay tuition to UMBC only.