Master in Interdisciplinary Data Science (MIDS)

The Master in Interdisciplinary Data Science (MIDS) emerges from a particular vision of data science as an inherently interdisciplinary and team-based endeavor. It borrows technical tools from a variety of quantitative disciplines like computer science and statistics and connects them to an inquiry in nearly all disciplines, including natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities.

Launched in the fall of 2018, our students receive interdisciplinary training within the quantitative sciences, exposure to problems in a variety of disciplines, and direct experience in interdisciplinary team-based science. Initially, the program recruited 36 students seeking training in quantitative methods and exposure to how these methods are applied to different areas of interest through team-based projects. In the future, this number is expected to grow, with students coming from increasingly diverse academic backgrounds.

Elective courses constitute half of the courses taken by students, giving them ownership of their focus and direction within the program. This intellectual vision of interdisciplinary and team-based data science offers not only a degree curriculum but also a complementary new model for advancing university-wide engagement in graduate education across departments and schools.

MIDS Capstone Project: Request for Proposals 

MIDS is requesting proposals for year-long Capstone projects. Capstone projects pair external partners with teams of second year MIDS students to generate data insights and recommendations tailored to the partner’s needs. Partners provide a problem directly related to their interests and meet with the student team throughout the year. The student team works on the partner’s problem to provide related deliverables that often include both insights/understanding to the problem and relevant code bases. 

The Capstone projects allow our partners to explore a domain they may not otherwise have the resources to investigate and to work with (and potentially recruit) our students. For our students, these projects provide an educational project in which the students can investigate real-world problems while interacting with and learning from people with vested interest in the project outcome.