Explore how data science connects to what you love—whether it’s health, politics, the environment, or business—and learn how it can help you make an impact.
Curious about data and how it shapes the world? Data science is all about transforming data into insights that matter. At Occidental, you have the flexibility to explore the data science topics that excite you most. Whether through courses in mathematics, computer science, or the natural and social sciences, Oxy helps you develop skills that prepare you for data science careers. These skills include working with data sets, building models, and creating visualizations—while also learning how to ask the right questions and explain findings clearly. With support from expert professors and hands-on projects, you don’t just learn how to crunch numbers, you learn why it matters and how it can make a difference.
Data Science Topics
Explore a variety of subject matter across a range of Occidental majors and minors:
- Biology, for bioinformatics careers
- Chemistry, for cheminformatics careers
- Cognitive Science, for neuroinformatics careers
- Computer Science, for machine learning careers
- Economics, for economics consulting/financial analyst careers
- Mathematics, for algorithmic data science careers
- Philosophy, for AI ethics careers
- Physics, for energy analytics careers
- Psychology (major only), for behavioral data science careers
- Sociology, for social policy analyst careers
- Urban and Environmental Policy, for urban/environmental data analyst careers
Data Science Courses
Occidental offers many data science-related courses across a variety of disciplines, including but not limited to:
- Biology: 268 (Biostatistics), 373 (Computational Biology)
- Black Studies/Sociology: 263 (Du Boisian Social Theory and Analysis)
- Chemistry: 201 (Analytical and Instrumental Chemistry), 300 (Physical Chemistry: Thermodynamics - Kinetics)
- Cognitive Science: 201 (Empirical Methods in Cognitive Science), 243 (Computational Neuroscience: Minds, Math, and Machines), 255 (Data Analysis and Visualization), 346 (Cognition and Deep Learning)
- Computer Science: 131 (Fundamentals of Computer Science), 146 (Statistics), 181 (Advanced Programming), 229 (Data Structures), 242 (Music and Artificial Intelligence), 347 (Machine Learning), 373 (Databases)
- Economics: 272 (Applied Econometrics), 306 (Advanced Econometrics), 307 (Economic Data Analysis)
- Linguistics: 351 (Phonetics)
- Math: 150 (Statistical Data Analysis), 214 (Linear Algebra), 330 (Probability), 332 (Mathematical Statistics), 370 (Numerical Analysis)
- Philosophy: 150 (Formal Logic), 252 (Intermediate Formal Logic), 331 (Contemporary Moral Philosophy (Philosophy and Technology))
- Physics: 110 (Mechanics), 117 (Waves and Optics), 230 (Electricity and Magnetism), 240 (Fundamentals of Modern Physics)
- Politics: 300 (Research Methods in Politics and Public Policy)
- Psychology: 200 (Methods in Psychological Science), 201 (Statistics in Psychological Science)
- Sociology: 305 (Quantitative Research Methods)
- UEP: 150 (Geographic Information Systems I), 160 (Spatial Analysis with Geographic Information Science), UEP 305 (Urban Data Analysis)
Questions?
Want to know more about exploring data science coursework at Oxy? Please contact Diana Ngo, associate professor of economics, at dngo@oxy.edu.
