Courses

Fall 2018 Courses

Backbone

Title	Course Number	Times & Locations	Description	Instructor	Units
Foundations of Data Science (Data 8)	STAT C8 COMPSCI C8	MWF 9-10 Wheeler 150	Foundations of data science from three perspectives: inferential thinking, computational thinking, and real-world relevance. Given data arising from some real-world phenomenon, how does one analyze that data so as to understand that phenomenon? The course teaches critical concepts and skills in computer programming and statistical inference, in conjunction with hands-on analysis of real-world datasets, including economic data, document collections, geographical data, and social networks. It delves into social and legal issues surrounding data analysis, including issues of privacy and data ownership.	David Wagner & Ani Adhikari	4
Principles & Techniques of Data Science (Data 100)	STAT C100 COMPSCI C100	TTh 6:30pm-8 Wheeler 150	In this course, students will explore the data science lifecycle, including question formulation, data collection and cleaning, exploratory data analysis and visualization, statistical inference and prediction, and decision-making. This class will focus on quantitative critical thinking and key principles and techniques needed to carry out this cycle. These include languages for transforming, querying and analyzing data; algorithms for machine learning methods including regression, classification and clustering; principles behind creating informative data visualizations; statistical concepts of measurement error and prediction; and techniques for scalable data processing.	Joshua A. Hug, Fernando Perez	4
Probability for Data Science	STAT 140	MW 5-6:30 Valley Life Sciences 2050	An introduction to probability, emphasizing the combined use of mathematics and programming to solve problems. Random variables, discrete and continuous families of distributions. Bounds and approximations. Dependence, conditioning, Bayes methods. Convergence, Markov chains. Least squares prediction. Random permutations, symmetry, order statistics. Use of numerical computation, graphics, simulation, and computer algebra.	Ani Adhikari	4

Connectors

Title	Course Number	Times & Location	Description	Instructor	Units
Python for Earth Science	EPS 88	F 10-12 Evans 458		Doug Dreger and Maggie Avery	2
Smart Cities	CIVENG 88	M 12-2 Davis 406	Cities become more dependent on the data flows that connect infrastructures between themselves, and users to infrastructures. Design and operation of smart, efficient, and resilient cities nowadays require data science skills. This course provides an introduction to working with data generated within transportation systems, power grids, communication networks, as well as collected via crowd-sensing and remote sensing technologies, to build demand- and supply-side urban services based on data analytics.		2
Computational Structures in Data Science	COMPSCI 88	M 2-4 LeConte 4	Development of Computer Science topics appearing in Foundations of Data Science (C8); expands computational concepts and techniques of abstraction. Understanding the structures that underlie the programs, algorithms, and languages used in data science and elsewhere. Mastery of a particular programming language while studying general techniques for managing program complexity, e.g., functional, object-oriented, and declarative programming. Provides practical experience with composing larger systems through several significant programming projects.	David E. Culler	2
Immigration: What Do the Data Tell Us?	DEMOG 88	M 2-4 2232 Piedmont 100	Humans are a migratory species like no other. As hunter-gatherers, humans migrated from East Africa to every currently inhabited place on earth--except for a few pacific islands and that research station in Antarctica. During modern times humans continue to migrate in astounding numbers from poor countries to rich countries; from rural to urban areas; as refugees and as laborers both with and without the consent of receiving countries. This course will cover the small but important part of the rich history human migration that deals with the population of the United States--focusing on the period between 1850 and the present. Since its founding, conflict over immigration policies have periodically risen to the top of the American political agenda often masking or exacerbating other sources of conflict. Understanding past immigration policies thus provides a lens through which we can view both the broad contours of US history and the particular situation in which we find ourselves today.		2
How Does History Count?	HISTORY 88	F 10-12 Dwinelle 3205	In this connector course, we will explore how historical data becomes historical evidence and how recent technological advances affect long-established practices, such as close attention to historical context and contingency. Will the advent of fast computing and big data make history “count” more or lead to unprecedented insights into the study of change over time? During our weekly discussions, we will apply what we learn in lectures and labs to the analysis of selected historical sources and get an understanding of constructing historical datasets. We will also consider scholarly debates over quantitative evidence and historical argument.		2
Probability and Mathematical Statistics in Data Science	STAT 88	TTh 1-2 LeConte 4	In this connector course we will state precisely and prove results discovered in the foundational data science course through working with data. Topics include: total variation distance between discrete distributions; the mean, standard deviation, and tail bounds; correlation, and the derivation of the regression equation; probabilities, random variables, and the Central Limit Theorem; probabilistic models; symmetries in random permutations; prior and posterior distributions, and Bayes’ rule.	Shobhana Murali Stoyanov	2
Data and Decisions	UGBA 96-2	M 2-4	The objective of the course is to provide an understanding of how data and statistical analysis can improve managerial decision-making. Students learn how to ask the right questions, find or collect relevant data, and apply appropriate statistical methods to solve problems and make better business decisions. We will explore statistical methods for gleaning insights from economic and social data, with an emphasis on approaches to identifying causal relationships. We will discuss how to design and analyze randomized experiments and introduce econometric methods for estimating causal effects in non-experimental data. This course, in combination with the Foundations course, satisfies the statistics prerequisite for admissions to Haas.	Conrad Miller	2
Data and Decisions	UGBA 96-3	M 4-6	The objective of the course is to provide an understanding of how data and statistical analysis can improve managerial decision-making. Students learn how to ask the right questions, find or collect relevant data, and apply appropriate statistical methods to solve problems and make better business decisions. We will explore statistical methods for gleaning insights from economic and social data, with an emphasis on approaches to identifying causal relationships. We will discuss how to design and analyze randomized experiments and introduce econometric methods for estimating causal effects in non-experimental data. This course, in combination with the Foundations course, satisfies the statistics prerequisite for admissions to Haas.	Conrad Miller	2

Human Contexts & Ethics

Title	Course Number	Times & Location	Description	Instructor	Units
Introduction to Science, Technology, and Society	HISTORY C182C	MWF 1-2 Dwinelle 145	In Fall 2018 this class will offer a special focus on data analytics and information technologies in the contemporary world, as an exemplary case of science, technology, and society. The course provides an introduction to the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS) as a way to study how our knowledge and technology shape and are shaped by social, political, historical, economic, and other factors. We will learn key concepts of the field (e.g., how technologies are understood and used differently in different communities) and explore how human values and technology can interact (e.g., how values are embedded in technical systems, shape the choices of their users, and pose ethical questions for their creators). This class has been proposed to meet the Human Contexts and Ethics requirement of the proposed Data Science major.	Cathryn Carson	4
Information Technology and Society	AFRICAM 134	M 3-6 Wheeler 200	This course assesses the role of information technology in the digitalization of society by focusing on the deployment of e-government, e-commerce, e-learning, the digital city, telecommuting, virtual communities, Internet time, the virtual office, and the geography of cyberspace. Course will also discuss the role of information technology in the governance and economic development of society.	Michel S Laguerre	4
Ethics in Science and Engineering	BIOENG 100	WF 5-6:30 Evans 10	The goal of this semester course is to present the issues of professional conduct in the practice of engineering, research, publication, public and private disclosures, and in managing professional and financial conflicts. The method is through historical didactic presentations, case studies, presentations of methods for problem solving in ethical matters, and classroom debates on contemporary ethical issues. The faculty will be drawn from national experts and faculty from religious studies, journalism, and law from the UC Berkeley campus.	TBD	3
The Social Life of Computing	ISF 100J	TTh 3:30-5 Barrows 20	In this class, we will look at computing as a social phenomenon: to see it not just as a technology that transforms but to see it as a technology that has evolved, and is being put to use, in very particular ways, by particular groups of people. We will be doing this by employing a variety of methods, primarily historical and ethnographic, oriented around a study of practices. We will pay attention to technical details but ground these technical details in social organization (a term whose meaning should become clearer and clearer as the class progresses). We will study the social organization of computing around different kinds of hardware, software, ideologies, and ideas.	Shreeharsh Kelkar	4

Data Enabled Courses

These courses are taught in a way that permits students to build on Data 8. Please review prerequisites.

Title	Course Number	Time & Location	Description	Instructor	Units
Demographic Methods: Introduction to Population Analysis	DEMOG 110	TuTh 3:30-5 Moffitt 102	Measures and methods of Demography. Life tables, fertility and nuptiality measures, age pyramids, population projection, measures of fertility control.		3
Data Science in Global Change Ecology	ESPM 157	MF 12-2 Barrows 110	Many of the greatest challenges we face today come from understanding and interacting with the natural world: from global climate change to the sudden collapse of fisheries and forests, from the spread of disease and invasive species to the unknown wealth of medical, cultural, and technological value we derive from nature. Advances in satellites and micro-sensors, computation, informatics and the Internet have made available unprecedented amounts of data about the natural world, and with it, new challenges of sifting, processing and synthesizing large and diverse sources of information. In this course, students will learn and apply fundamental computing, statistics and modeling concepts to a series of real-world ecological and environment.	Carl Boettiger	4
Applied Data Science with Venture Applications	IND ENG 135	TTh 12:30-2 Evans 10	This highly-applied course surveys a variety of key of concepts and tools that are useful for designing and building applications that process data signals of information. The course introduces modern open source, computer programming tools, libraries, and code samples that can be used to implement data applications. The mathematical concepts highlighted in this course include filtering, prediction, classification, decision-making, Markov chains, LTI systems, spectral analysis, and frameworks for learning from data. Each math concept is linked to implementation using Python using libraries for math array functions (NumPy), manipulation of tables (Pandas), long term storage (SQL, JSON, CSV files), natural language (NLTK), and ML frameworks.	Ikhlaq Sidhu, Alexander S. Fred Ojala	3
Introduction to Machine Learning and Data Analytics	IND ENG 142	TTh 3:30-5 LeConte 3	This course introduces students to key techniques in machine learning and data analytics through a diverse set of examples using real datasets from domains such as e-commerce, healthcare, social media, sports, the Internet, and more. Through these examples, exercises in R, and a comprehensive team project, students will gain experience understanding and applying techniques such as linear regression, logistic regression, classification and regression trees, random forests, boosting, text mining, data cleaning and manipulation, data visualization, network analysis, time series modeling, clustering, principal component analysis, regularization, and large-scale learning.	Paul Grigas	3
Natural Language Processing	INFO 159	TuTh 3:30-5 LeConte 4	This course introduces students to natural language processing and exposes them to the variety of methods available for reasoning about text in computational systems. NLP is deeply interdisciplinary, drawing on both linguistics and computer science, and helps drive much contemporary work in text analysis (as used in computational social science, the digital humanities, and computational journalism). We will focus on major algorithms used in NLP for various applications (part-of-speech tagging, parsing, coreference resolution, machine translation) and on the linguistic phenomena those algorithms attempt to model. Students will implement algorithms and create linguistically annotated data on which those algorithms depend.	David Bamman	3
Introduction to Computational Techniques in Physics	PHYSICS 77	M 2-4 Evans 60	Introductory scientific programming in Python with examples from physics. Topics include: visualization, statistics and probability, regression, numerical integration, simulation, data modeling, function approximation, and algebraic systems. Recommended for freshman physics majors.	Yury Kolomensky	3
Data Science and Bayesian Statistics for Physical Sciences	PHYSICS 151	MW 11-12:30 251 LeConte	Get acquainted with modern computational methods used in physical sciences, including numerical analysis methods, data science and Bayesian statistics	Uroš Seljak	3
Concepts in Computing with Data	STAT 133	MWF 8am-9 Dwinelle 155	An introduction to computationally intensive applied statistics. Topics will include organization and use of databases, visualization and graphics, statistical learning and data mining, model validation procedures, and the presentation of results.	Gaston Sanchez Trujillo	3
Reproducible and Collaborative Statistical Data Science	STAT 159	MW 10-12 Barrows 126	A project-based introduction to statistical data analysis. Through case studies, computer laboratories, and a term project, students will learn practical techniques and tools for producing statistically sound and appropriate, reproducible, and verifiable computational answers to scientific questions. Course emphasizes version control, testing, process automation, code review, and collaborative programming. Software tools may include Bash, Git, Python, and LaTeX.	Philip Stark	4

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