Big Data Analytics

15-credit Post-Bachelor’s Certificate

Students should have earned a BS/BE degree from an accredited college or university in Computer Science, Information Technology, Telecommunications, Computer or Electrical Engineering, Mathematics or a related field with a scholastic average of a B (3.0 on a 4.0 scale) or better.

Post-Bachelor’s students must complete three of the following courses with a grade of C or better:

• INFSCI 2160 - DATA MINING  
• INFSCI 2591 - ALGORITHM DESIGN  
• INFSCI 2711 - ADVANCED TOPICS IN DATABASE MANAGEMENT  
• INFSCI 2725 - DATA ANALYTICS  

Elective courses

Post-Bachelor’s students must complete two of the following courses with a grade of C or better:

• INFSCI 2130 - DECISION ANALYSIS AND DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS  
• INFSCI 2140 - INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL  
• INFSCI 2410 - INTRODUCTION TO NEURAL NETWORKS  
• INFSCI 2430 - SOCIAL COMPUTING  
• INFSCI 2801 - GEOSPATIAL INFORMATION SYSTEMS (GIS)  
• INFSCI 2802 - LOCATION-BASED SERVICES  
• INFSCI 2809 - SPATIAL DATA ANALYTICS  
• TELCOM 2125 - NETWORK SCIENCE AND ANALYSIS  
• LIS 2690 - INFORMATION VISUALIZATION  

Coursework must be completed within a period of four calendar years from the student’s initial registration in the certificate program.

15-credit Post-Master’s Certificate

Students should have earned a MS degree from an accredited college or university in Computer Science, Information Technology, Information Science, Telecommunications, Computer or Electrical Engineering, Mathematics or a related field with a scholastic average of a B (3.0 on a 4.0 scale) or better.

Post-Master’s students must complete three of the following courses with a grade of B or better:

• INFSCI 2160 - DATA MINING  
• INFSCI 2591 - ALGORITHM DESIGN  
• INFSCI 2711 - ADVANCED TOPICS IN DATABASE MANAGEMENT  
• INFSCI 2725 - DATA ANALYTICS  

Elective courses

Post-Master’s students must complete two of the following courses with a grade of B or better:

• INFSCI 2130 - DECISION ANALYSIS AND DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS  
• INFSCI 2140 - INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL  
• INFSCI 2410 - INTRODUCTION TO NEURAL NETWORKS  
• INFSCI 2430 - SOCIAL COMPUTING  
• INFSCI 2801 - GEOSPATIAL INFORMATION SYSTEMS (GIS)  
• INFSCI 2802 - LOCATION-BASED SERVICES  
• INFSCI 2809 - SPATIAL DATA ANALYTICS  
• TELCOM 2125 - NETWORK SCIENCE AND ANALYSIS  
• LIS 2690 - INFORMATION VISUALIZATION  

Coursework must be completed within a period of four calendar years from the student’s initial registration in the certificate program.

Admissions Requirements

The following are requirements and prerequisites for admission to this program.

All applicants must submit:

• Official transcript
• Two letters of recommendation that attest to the applicant’s aptitude and motivation to pursue studies at a level beyond the bachelor’s or master’s degree
• Personal statement
• Resume

Applicants must have successfully completed at least one three-credit college course with a grade of B or better in each of the following:

• Structured programming language. A course on structured programming using Java, C# or C++ is required. Either  INFSCI 0017 - FUNDAMENTALS OF OBJECT-ORIENTED PROGRAMMING  or  CS 0401 - INTERMEDIATE PROGRAMMING USING JAVA  is recommended to meet this requirement.
• Statistics. A course covering data collection, descriptive and inferential statistics is optimal. It should cover measures of central tendency and variability, regression, correlation, non-parametric analysis, probability and sampling, Bayesian analysis, significance tests, and hypothesis testing. Either  STAT 0200 - BASIC APPLIED STATISTICS  or  STAT 1000 - APPLIED STATISTICAL METHODS  is recommended to meet this requirement.
• Mathematics. A college-level mathematics course, in discrete mathematics or calculus, is required. Any of the following Pitt courses are recommended to meet the requirement:  MATH 0120 - BUSINESS CALCULUS ,  MATH 0220 - ANALYTIC GEOMETRY AND CALCULUS 1 , or  MATH 0400 - FINITE MATHEMATICS .

15-Credit Post-Bachelor’s Certificates

A BS/BE degree from an accredited college or university in Computer Science, Information Technology, Telecommunications, Computer or Electrical Engineering, Mathematics or a related field with a scholastic average of a B (3.0 on a 4.0 scale) or better

15-Credit Post-Master’s Certificates

An MS degree from an accredited college or university in Computer Science, Information Technology, Information Science, Telecommunications, Computer or Electrical Engineering, Mathematics or a related field with a scholastic average of a B (3.0 on a 4.0 scale) or better