2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This paper describes the roll-out, continuous improvement, and completion of a multi-college interdisciplinary undergraduate program in data science that culminates in a Bachelor of Science degree with its first graduates. The success of graduate-level data science programs across the nation has influenced the creation of undergraduate degrees in data science. There has been tremendous interest by employers in having a workforce that has the skills and techniques, theoretical and practical experience at the undergraduate level to meet their increasing growth and dependency on data to be successful and competitive. This paper presents the results and experiences and continuous improvement of the 36 months of a newly created interdisciplinary program that uniquely integrates business, arts and sciences, and engineering disciplines while meeting the needs of industry stakeholders. The iterative development process, the curriculum, the launch of the program, the first-year data science program, and added years’ courses completing the degree, the full-year Practicum, and first graduates are described as well as new concentrations developed along the way. Lessons learned are summarized to aid other universities in contemplating similar programs. Finally, we discuss student internship readiness, study abroad opportunities, student post-graduation employment offers, industry partner feedback, and future plans.