On campus, UNC officials are preparing for an exciting new development in the coming year: the launch of a new school focused exclusively on the field of data science.
“It’s not every day that we start a new school here, so that’ll be the big news going forward into the next year,” says UNC provost Chris Clemens.
Plans are already in the works to launch what’s being called the School of Data Science and Society. UNC’s system Board of Governors has put in a funding request to the state legislature.
Clemens says the field of data science is not only an emerging and growing one – it’s also one that’s taking on a rapidly increasing level of importance.
“Data is the substrate for all research now,” he says. “In the old days, scholarship relied upon mathematics, on knowledge of language – and now it’s knowledge of data, both the processing and statistical inference you do with data and the ethics around data.”
Listen to Clemens’ conversation with 97.9 The Hill’s Aaron Keck.
Clemens says there’s a lot of expertise in that field on campus already. What UNC lacks is an institution.
“We don’t have a visible school where students can get a credential that we’re able to point to and say to companies that want to bring their industry here: ‘Here are the students who know that,’” he says. “So we’re going to be very intentional about building a degree program that will attract database industries to our state by making the workforce visible.”
When it comes to data science, Clemens says, UNC is not ahead of the curve. Other major universities have already announced similar schools, including the University of Virginia; in the Triangle, NC State launched a data science academy last year.
But Clemens says Chapel Hill boasts a lot of specific expertise, which positions UNC to be particularly successful in this field for years to come.
“I think we bring some things to it that will be unique, especially our emphasis on the application of data to society and the questions around data ethics,” he says. “And online presence generally: our School of Information and Library Science has a lot of expertise on understanding how people use data, information, and also misinformation.”
UNC does already offer a data science minor, as part of the College of Arts and Sciences.
Featured photo via UNC.
Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our biweekly newsletter.
Comments on Chapelboro are moderated according to our Community Guidelines