Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, (IIT-K) on Monday announced a new four-year Bachelor of Science (BS) and a five-year Bachelor of Science-Master of Science (BS-MS) degree programs in “Statistics and Data Science” to be offered from 2021-22 session by its department of mathematics and statistics.
Prof Abhay Karandikar, director, IIT-K, said, "The admissions to the programs will be through Joint Entrance Examination -Advanced. The program will be tailor-made for students interested in the study and analysis of data. The academic senate and the board of the institute have approved both the courses."
"The program will focus on areas of fundamental statistical and mathematical, computational and data science application courses with students having opportunity to do elective courses from the department of computer science and engineering and electrical engineering," he said.
"The programs will prepare and arm students with skills relevant to the rapidly growing interdisciplinary field of big data analytics. The graduates of the programs will be empowered with the skills and knowledge to build flourishing careers in data science industry and also pursue higher studies in classical and modern statistics, and data science," prof Karandikar added.
"Students undergoing the BS and BS-MS programs in statistics and data science will be exposed to various types of structured and unstructured data with applications in solving real world problems. This would include data related to health, biomedicine, bioinformatics and digital health, retail, banking and financial data; image processing data; seismological data; social media and social network analysis; energy sector, transportation, agriculture etc. In collaboration with the proposed school of medical research and technology (SMRT), students would also work on health-related data and digital health to give a much-needed boost to research and analytics in this important emerging area," he said.
{{/usCountry}}"Students undergoing the BS and BS-MS programs in statistics and data science will be exposed to various types of structured and unstructured data with applications in solving real world problems. This would include data related to health, biomedicine, bioinformatics and digital health, retail, banking and financial data; image processing data; seismological data; social media and social network analysis; energy sector, transportation, agriculture etc. In collaboration with the proposed school of medical research and technology (SMRT), students would also work on health-related data and digital health to give a much-needed boost to research and analytics in this important emerging area," he said.
{{/usCountry}}“The last decade has seen significant changes in the field of statistics with an ever-increasing focus on the computational aspects of statistical methodologies. Data science, artificial intelligence/machine learning are playing increasingly important roles in finding solutions to diverse real-world problems," the IIT-K director said.
"Research in data science in the next 20 years is expected to focus on developing mathematically rooted models that can be implemented efficiently. The synergy of theory and applications requires training specific to a unique set of skills, and the BS and BS-MS programs have been launched in response to this need of effective implementation in real-life situations," prof Karandikar said.
"To keep students acquainted with new challenges with data and the associated cutting-edge technology, the institute will invite industry personnel for guest lectures, real data analysis projects, seminar presentations and industry internships for students," he said.