An interdisciplinary undergraduate program of study, the new Rutgers-New Brunswick Data Science Program is offered by the School of Arts and Sciences, jointly managed by the Departments of Computer Science, and Statistics, the School of Communication and Information, the School of Engineering, and the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences.

While the Data Science Program offers five different tracks – or concentrations, for Rutgers students to choose from, SC&I was instrumental in developing the Societal Impact Track. This track highlights the social, ethical, and legal implications of data collection and algorithm development, and fosters critical thinking about the systems, organizations, and institutions that produce and consume information products. Understanding the human context of data can help improve the fairness, efficiency, and usefulness of data science.

The Societal Impact Track aims to recruit students from the social sciences, humanities, and related areas. Domain knowledge in these fields can be a valuable asset, providing a deeper understanding of social problems and suggesting thoughtful new ways of approaching them.

Ultimately, students in this track will be expected to combine their data science skills with a knowledge of social dynamics studied in fields such as communication, journalism, political science, public policy, public health, psychology, sociology, philosophy, education, or history. This will improve their performance in a variety of jobs, ranging from user experience design, through content analytics, to data science for social good.

Understanding the human context of data can help improve the fairness, efficiency, and usefulness of data science.

Students in this track will be well-prepared for jobs in journalism, non-profit organizations, government agencies, and educational institutions -- as well as in corporate roles using analytical tools for public relations, marketing, and corporate-social responsibility efforts.

The Data Science Program and the Societal Impact Track were developed with resources and support from SC&I to ensure the program’s courses were developed and continue to be developed, in ways that equip students to understand the societal implications of the data science models that they build. This option can attract students from diverse humanistic disciplines, including SC&I Communication, Information Technology and Informatics, and Journalism and Media Studies majors. Rutgers students can major, minor, or earn a certificate in Data Science.

From the earliest stages of the Data Science Program’s inception, Associate Professor of Communication Katherine Ognyanova and Associate Professor of Library and Information Science Vivek Singh have led SC&I’s role in the collaboration, with the assistance of Associate Dean for Research and Professor of Communication Mark Aakhus and Interim Dean and Distinguished Professor of Journalism and Media Studies Dafna Lemish.  

Ultimately, students in this track will be expected to combine their data science skills with a knowledge of social dynamics studied in fields such as communication, journalism, political science, public policy, public health, psychology, sociology, philosophy, education, or history.

Other key SC&I faculty members who contributed to the program are the Director of Undergraduate Studies in Information Technology and Informatics and Assistant Teaching Professor Warren Allen, who coordinates multiple sections of the classes offered, and Distinguished Teaching Professor of Communication and Information and Director of Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Studies Mary Chayko, who managed Data in Context, one of the core classes that is mandatory for all of four of the Data Science tracks. (Not all of the classes in the Societal Impact Track are SC&I courses, and there are multiple SC&I courses offered by the Data Science Program that are available across all five tracks. Most of these are ITI classes. A list of all the classes offered through the program is here).

In May 2024 the Data Science Program hosted an event to celebrate its launch and to honor the first group of its graduating students -- including Anjali Panchal, who majored in Data Science and minored in Computer Science and is the first student to graduate from the Societal Impact Track.

Following the graduation ceremony, SC&I Interim Dean Dafna Lemish said, “Congratulations to all – after so many years of envisioning, planning, coordinating, managing logistics, etc – it is a real thing now for Rutgers! Huge accomplishment!”

Learn more about majoring, minoring, or earning a certificate in the Data Science Program on the website.

Discover more about the Rutgers School of Communication and Information on the website.

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