About Data Science and Analytics
Data science and analytics barely existed a decade ago. Now, it’s a fast-growing discipline leading to excellent job opportunities in a variety of fields, including business, healthcare, and education. Huge household names such as Amazon, Walmart, Facebook, and Apple all hire data scientists.
Data scientists use computers to sort through reams of information, with the goal of finding connections and information that can help businesses and organizations reach their goals. Data scientists are like puzzle masters trying to find new patterns and insights from seemingly unrelated pieces of information.
The program is open to students from all undergraduate majors who possess strong computer programming and statistical skills.
Degree Information
Demand for data scientists—also known as computer research scientists—is very strong, According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of jobs in the field is expected to grow by almost 20 percent over the next two decades—almost three times as fast as the average growth rate for all jobs.
And this is a lucrative profession. For jobs that actually have data scientist in the title, the median salary nationwide is $114,520 a year. Actual annual pay varies on an array of factors, including location, industry, employer, skills, experience, and job duties. A number of industries need data scientists:
- Academia
- Banking
- Biomedical research
- Government
- Healthcare
- Insurance
- Journalism
- Marketing
- Revenue Management
- Science
- Telecommunications
- Tourism
The jobs you’ll find, however, aren’t always called data scientist or data analysts. Believe it or not, sometimes a company’s chief executive officer (CEO) has the skills of a data scientist. So does the chief information officer (CIO) and the compliance officer. In fact, there are several positions that require the kind of skills and education acquired in a DSA master’s program:
- Actuary
- Climatologist
- Computer Security Analyst
- Data Engineer
- Data Journalist
- Derivatives Analyst
- Forensic Accountant
- Information Security Analyst
- Operations Research Analyst
- Quality Engineer
- Quantitative Analyst
- Research & Analytics Director
- Senior Research
Research and Internships: All students will have applied and experiential learning opportunities, be involved in research, and be required to complete an internship. So far in this very new program, students have interned in campus offices at Buffalo State and with such community organizations as Delaware North.
Speaker Series: The Data Science and Analytics masters program invites industry experts to give presentations on interesting and cutting edge topics in analytics.
Build a Better Buffalo: SUNY Buffalo State hosts events in collaboration with Data Analytics Across Disciplines (DAAD) which brings together students and industry leaders to engage in problem solving by utilizing data analytics.
Each student in our program is required to have an internship with a research component and construct a research report as a product of the process. As a core component of the PSM program, internships allows students to gain a meaningful, hands-on work experience. This opportunity also provides mentoring from industry leaders along with the possibility of gaining a job through this experience.
Undergraduate Student Internships
- Linde.Digital
- Huron
- ORNL
- CIA
- Life Storage
Graduate Student Internships
- NYC Mayor's Office
- Praxaire
- VIA
- New York State Office of Housing Preservation
- Zintellect
- Department of Defense
- CIA
- Life Storage
4+1 Pathway
4+1 Pathway allows students to complete course requirements for their bachelor’s degree while taking select graduate-level coursework during their undergraduate study.
Industry Partners
Buffalo State’s master of science in DSA serves as a collaboration between the college and several industry partners throughout Western New York, including Triple A, the Army Corps of Engineers, Delaware North, Health Now, and M&T Bank.
Flexible Schedule
Classes are offered in the evenings, making the program convenient for working professionals.
Unique Curriculum
The DSA curriculum is combined with business and communication graduate courses so that students develop professional skills in project management, communications, data governance, and creative problem-solving for effective collaboration.
"DSA is a great program with vast growth opportunities. The department does very well with providing a positive experience for its students. The connections and experiences that the students have in the program, like internships and networking, are so beneficial for students. Not a lot of other programs have this."
“All of the companies we talk to are starting data science groups. These groups look at information such as customer or sales data. They use computational techniques to bring all of that data down to the same level. Once that happens, the data needs to be analyzed.”
"My favorite part of the DSA program is the community that has been created. Everyone seems to be excited about this field and it seems to be expanding."
“The DSA program works with students to help them understand the fundamental aspects of data science and analytics while also giving them a wide variety of experiences to diversify and prepare them for real-world application."
