Data Science

Data Ignites Our World.

WPI offers degree programs at the undergraduate level (BS) and STEM designated degree programs at the graduate level in Data Science (MS, MS Online, and Ph.D.).

The Data Science Program prepares WPI students with the skills to understand, apply, and develop models, algorithms and statistical techniques to gather datasets, draw new insights from that data, and formulate appropriate action plans.

With its long history of research in big data management, artificial intelligence, statistics, and visual analytics, WPI is one of a handful of universities ready to prepare graduates for the challenges of this rapidly expanding field. This interdisciplinary program brings together a trifecta of faculty mentors from computer science, mathematics, and business. Combined with our community of student scholars from all over the world, we have a team of visionary leaders, scholars, and teachers prepared to contribute important insights that will change the way we live, how we work, and our interaction with the world around us.

Data Scientists are in high demand. With plenty of opportunity, we ask: What will you do with your Data Science degree?

Technological advances in devices, software, networking, and other technologies have given rise to digital data rich in variety, volume, velocity, and complexity.

Elke Rundensteiner

Founding Head, Data Science Program

2021871 NRT-HDR: Data-Driven Sustainable Engineering for a Circular Economy

NRT Research Traineeship | Circular Economy & Data Analytics Engineering Research for Sustainability

CEDAR seeks to transform the next generation of technical leaders equipped with DS techniques and methods ready to solve critical engineering and science problems plaguing our society by replacing Linear Economy with a sustainable Circular Economy.

Learn More about NSF NRT CEDAR

Undergraduate Research Projects Showcase

A celebration of research, design, and creative theses—a requirement of every graduating senior through the Major Qualifying Project (MQP)—takes place each spring on campus. Student teams representing all academic departments present their work to their faculty advisors, external sponsors, and the community-at-large, and the public is invited.

More about Undergraduate Research Projects Showcase

Women in Data Science (WiDS)

WiDS Central Massachusetts Annual Conference & Global Datathon Competition

Women in Data Science (WiDS) Central Massachusetts is an independent event hosted at WPI as part of the annual WiDS Worldwide conference, the WiDS Datathon, and an estimated 200 WiDS Regional Events worldwide. Everyone is invited to attend the WiDS conference and WiDS Datathon Workshop events which feature outstanding women doing outstanding work.

This one-day technical conference provides an opportunity to hear about the latest data science-related research and applications in a number of domains, and to connect with others in the field.

Learn more about WiDS Central Mass

Ivan Betancourt discusses AI research at WPI's Summer Research Showcase.

NSF Research Experience for Undergraduate Students

Data Science REU Summer Program

The Data Science Program at WPI, sponsored by the National Science Foundation, offers a 10-week, all-expenses paid Research Experience in Data Science for undergraduate students. The WPI Data Science program has successfully operated this site since 2016 and offers students from geographically diverse institutions around the country access to vibrant scientific research projects and undergraduate mentorship.

Learn more about the DS REU Program

Data Science Project, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)

$2.8 Million to Help Soldiers Suffering from Traumatic Brain Injury

September 24, 2018

The project, funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), aims to use “smartphone biomarkers” and machine learning to create an early warning system for soldiers and veterans who may be suffering from traumatic brain injuries and infectious diseases.

Learn more about DARPA

One More Time!

Elke Rundensteiner to Receive Another Prestigious IEEE Test-of-Time Award for Groundbreaking Visual Data Analytics Work

September 2024 | For the second straight year, pioneering work in data visualization and visual analytics at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) has received attention with a major IEEE award.

Elke Rundensteiner, the William Smith Dean’s Professor in Computer Science and Founding Head of WPI’s Data Science and Artificial Intelligence Program, will receive the 1999 VIS Test-of-Time Award at the upcoming Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Visualization Conference for work done 25 years ago resulting in a publication co-authored with graduate student Ying-Huey Fua and the late computer science professor Matthew O. Ward.

Read more about this exciting achievement!

Kyumin Lee

WPI Researchers Awarded $2 Million Grant to Use Science to Combat Wildlife Trafficking

August 2024 |For Kyumin Lee, professor of computer science, and Renata Konrad, a professor in The Business School at WPI, the new grant represents an evolution of work they started in 2020 to use a mix of artificial intelligence, physical tools, and supply chain, financial, and social media data to deter illegal wildlife trade.

Read more about this impactful research!

From left, Pegah Emdad, Gavin Butts, and Jethro Lee

Students Solve Real-World Problems with Summer AI Research

August 2024 | How do you build a future workforce of data science and artificial intelligence leaders? At WPI, one approach is to immerse undergraduates in an intense summer program—the Applied Artificial Intelligence for Advanced Applications research experience.

With a three-year grant of $461,597 for a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) site from the National Science Foundation, WPI launched this 10-week research-intensive program in June 2024.

Click hear to read more and learn about the REU Site!

WPI's new artificial intelligence master's program to focus on ethics, innovation

Elke Rundensteiner, The William Smith Dean's Professor in Computer Science and founding head of WPI's new master's degree program in AI, spoke with Spectrum News 1 about the university's unique depth of expertise in the field and its aim to satisfy high demand for AI-related jobs.

Read the full article

Elke Rundensteiner Receives the Prestigious IEEE Test-of-Time Award for Groundbreaking Visual Data Analytics Work

Elke Rundensteiner, the William Smith Dean’s Professor in Computer Science and Founding Head of WPI’s Data Science Program, recently received the InfoVis 20-Year Test-of-Time Award from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for her pioneering work on data visualization and visual analytics in 2003.

Power and Risks of Using AI in Healthcare Applications

April 17. 2023

Worcester Business Journal

Diagnosing AI: Healthcare community excited, wary of artificial intelligence

by Isabel Tehan

Read the full article

Researchers Develop Novel Technology to Screen Voice Recordings for Depression

April 26, 2022

Elke Rundensteiner and Colleagues Use Deep Learning to Tackle Mental Health Ailments

Read the full article

$2.8 Million to Help Soldiers Suffering from Traumatic Brain Injury

September 24, 2018

Learn more about DARPA

One More Time!

Elke Rundensteiner to Receive Another Prestigious IEEE Test-of-Time Award for Groundbreaking Visual Data Analytics Work

September 2024 | For the second straight year, pioneering work in data visualization and visual analytics at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) has received attention with a major IEEE award.

Read more about this exciting achievement!

Kyumin Lee

WPI Researchers Awarded $2 Million Grant to Use Science to Combat Wildlife Trafficking

Read more about this impactful research!

From left, Pegah Emdad, Gavin Butts, and Jethro Lee

Students Solve Real-World Problems with Summer AI Research

With a three-year grant of $461,597 for a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) site from the National Science Foundation, WPI launched this 10-week research-intensive program in June 2024.

Click hear to read more and learn about the REU Site!

WPI's new artificial intelligence master's program to focus on ethics, innovation

Read the full article

Elke Rundensteiner Receives the Prestigious IEEE Test-of-Time Award for Groundbreaking Visual Data Analytics Work

Power and Risks of Using AI in Healthcare Applications

April 17. 2023

Worcester Business Journal

Diagnosing AI: Healthcare community excited, wary of artificial intelligence

by Isabel Tehan

Read the full article

Researchers Develop Novel Technology to Screen Voice Recordings for Depression

April 26, 2022

Elke Rundensteiner and Colleagues Use Deep Learning to Tackle Mental Health Ailments

Read the full article

$2.8 Million to Help Soldiers Suffering from Traumatic Brain Injury

September 24, 2018

Learn more about DARPA

WPI MQP Team Partners with the NFL

Predicting NFL Player Performance

Students analyzed whether data collected during the league’s main scouting event could accurately predict how wide receivers performed during real games

Manasi Vartak '10

Manasi Vartak '10 founded Verta to help companies build AI-enabled products faster than ever.

Chenjie Jiang, Data Scientist at Burning Glass

The high flexibility for course selections gave me a strong background in data science, engineering, and business. I can create my own learning path, based on my career plan. The program also offers interesting colloquium and conversations. WPI is a good place if someone wants to dive into the data science world.

Data Science Alumni

Yao-Chun Hsieh, Software Engineer at Wayfair

DS 501 taught by Professor Paffenroth is one of the best courses I have taken at WPI.
The curriculum is flexible and provides students the opportunity to grow their skills based on their interest or their ideal job.
You also learn ways of communicating with your teammates, dealing with conflicts, and schedule/time management skills. All of this helped me to fit into the real world quickly and smoothly.

Yang Tao, Retail marketing team, strategy & operation analyst, contractor for Google

During my course of study, I could choose different classes in areas like AI, machine learning, Big Data, and business intelligence. I learned database (sql), data processing and analysis (python), data reporting (tableau). Each course benefited me during my job hunting, as I talked about my projects in the different courses to match different roles and job descriptions. Through my graduate qualifying project (capstone), I also learned new techniques/methods/software to solve data related problems, while improving my public speaking and communication skills.

Alexander Shoop, Software Engineer at DataRobot

The Data Science graduate program has taught me the necessary fundamentals of machine learning and pragmatic data science projects through teamwork. Personally, it has also allowed me to use my creative talent, especially with regards to presentations and video demonstrations. I would absolutely recommend the Data Science program (undergraduate, graduate, and PhD) to any of my friends and colleagues! The program emphasizes team collaboration and working towards having a diverse skill set to handle any kind of data science scenario.

Mukund Khandelwal, Quantitative Associate at Wells Fargo

The overall graduate experience involved collaborating with students coming from different academic and cultural backgrounds. Through this experience, I learned how a problem could be approached from multiple angles and solved effectively.

Chen Liang, Data Scientist at Burning Glass

This program starts from a fundamental base and keeps upgrading the difficulty, which made me comfortable and built up my confidence and enhanced my skills—and ultimately made me ready to walk into my new job. It has provided such a great way to not only get our hands dirty real quick, but allows us to innovate.

Rosemarie Day, Senior Engineer in Applied Data Science at Collins Aerospace

I greatly enjoyed the GQP, which connected me with a company and a project that I could interact with and develop while finishing my degree. The project work allowed me to grow my skills in more of a corporate environment while still in school. This provided me with insights into how a data science team works outside of the classroom, what expectations would be set, and also allowed me to work alongside both other students and industry professionals.

Xiao-Qun Wang, Software Development Engineer at Amazon

I learned the data eco-system from both academic and industrial perspective in the Data Science program. The graduate qualifying project (capstone) gave me exposure in industry. It not only helped me to learn the foundation of industrial core tech, but also how to build good relationships both with the company and other developers.