Data Science

Program Head: Dan Johnson; johnsondr@wlu.edu; 540-458-8151

Academic Divison: The College

We live in a world increasingly driven by data. Data science is a rapidly expanding, multidisciplinary field that draws on statistics, computer science and math, with applications in a wide variety of academic disciplines and industries. We extract meaning from data to learn more about the world and society.

The overarching goal of the minor is to allow students to complement their discipline-specific skills and knowledge with a deeper understanding of how to analyze and extract meaning from data to learn more about the world, society and their discipline. We wish to prepare students to be excellent data analysts in their major disciplines and to be prepared to effectively work with data after graduation.

Offerings 

Data Science minor  

Faculty

Jeffrey Scott Barry, M.S.L.S. (2013, 2013)
Associate Professor and Associate University Librarian
M.S.L.S., University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Justin Davis, Ph.D. (2022, 2022)
Assistant Professor of Business Administration
Ph.D., Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Jonathan R. Eastwood, Ph.D. (2006, 2016)
Professor of Sociology
Ph.D., Boston University

Lingshu Hu, Ph.D. (2021, 2021)
Assistant Professor of Business Administration
Ph.D., University of Missouri

Dan R. Johnson, Ph.D. (2009, 2021)
David G. Elmes Term Professor of Cognitive and Behavioral Science, 2021-2024 
Ph.D., University of Oklahoma

Keri M. Larson, Ph.D. (2017, 2017)
Assistant Professor of Business Administration
Ph.D., University of Georgia

Sybil Prince Nelson, Ph.D. (2020, 2020)
Assistant Professor of Mathematics
Ph.D., Medical University of South Carolina

Holly Shablack, Ph.D. (2022, 2022)
Assistant Professor of Cognitive and Behavioral Science
Ph.D., University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

Natalia Toporikova, Ph.D. (2012, 2024)
Professor of Biology
Ph.D., Florida State University

Cody Watson, Ph.D. (2019, 2019)
Assistant Professor of Computer Science
Ph.D., College of William and Mary

Gregg B. Whitworth, Ph.D. (2011, 2017)
Associate Professor of Biology
Ph.D., University of California San Francisco