Master of Science in Data Science & Informatics (Health Studies)

Website: https://twu.edu/informatics/graduate-program/

The M.S. in Data Science and Informatics program provides graduate students with a flexible, adaptable, interprofessional, and interdisciplinary approach to the study of informatics, delivered in a hybrid learning environment. Majors in this program will build upon a set of foundational courses and choose discipline-specific courses within an approved Application Area (Clinical Applications, Cybersecurity, Data Science/Data Analytics, Health Studies, Sports Informatics, or Community Informatics) to complete the major. The program is delivered collaboratively by Academic Components, including Computer Science, Nursing, Health Studies, Kinesiology, and Library and Information Studies.

Course content for the degree provides a central set of knowledge and skills that all informatics students will possess and then allows students to explore and refine their understanding of informatics as it is applied to high-demand professions and careers.

Majors will learn to use technology and data analytics to derive meaningful information from data for data and decision-driven practice in user-centered systems.

Informatics is the interprofessional study and application of information science, computer science, cognitive science, and organizational science to the arts, sciences, and professions.  

Informatics includes a formal study of information, including:

  • its structure, properties, uses, and function in society
  • the people who use the information and the technologies that are developed to record, organize, store, retrieve, and disseminate the information

Marketable Skills

Defined by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board's 60x30 Strategic Plan as, "Those skills valued by employers that can be applied in a variety of work settings, including interpersonal, cognitive, and applied skills areas. These skills can be either primary or complementary to a major and are acquired by students through education, including curricular, co-curricular, and extracurricular activities."

  1. Work as a member of a project team to coordinate database and project development and determine project scope and limitations.
  2. Develop and implement procedures for data management, data storage and retrieval, distributed systems, evaluating data quality, data security, data transfer, data analysis, modeling, and visualization.
  3. Plan, coordinate, and implement security measures to safeguard information in computer files against accidental or unauthorized damage, modification, or disclosure.
  4. Disseminate research by writing reports, publishing papers, or presenting at professional conferences.
  5. Design, create, and administer a computer network.
  6. Demonstrate personal accountability and work habits, integrity, and ethical behavior.
  7. Proficient in the software tools to achieve the skills listed, including but not limited to Java, Python, Perl, SQL, NoSQL, R, Microsoft Project, Microsoft Visio, Tableau, SAS, or SPSS.

Admissions

All students must meet the University requirements as outlined in the Admission to the TWU Graduate School section of the catalog.

The academic program may have additional admission criteria that must also be completed as outlined on the program's website.

Degree Requirements

Effective July 29, 2024: Students without a background in Informatics may be required to complete the proficiency foundational coursework CSCI 5001 and CSCI 5011 at the determination of the program coordinator.


Total Semester Credit Hours Required

The degree program consists of a minimum of 36 semester credit hours (SCH) of graduate coursework comprised of 15 SCH of foundations in computer science, 15 SCH of discipline-specific coursework in one of the application areas below, and 3 SCH in software/statistical tools. The program is completed with an interprofessional, interdisciplinary capstone project.

Recommended course sequence

CSCI 5103  should be taken in the first semester of study.
CSCI 5203 should be taken in the first year of study.
Capstone in Informatics should be taken in the last year of study.

All other courses may be taken in any sequence unless a required prerequisite is noted. Contact the advisor if you have any questions.

Computer Science Core
Required Courses
CSCI 5103Fundamentals of Informatics3
CSCI 5203Database Systems3
CSCI 5673Big Data: Management, Access, and Use3
Select two of the following6
Foundations of Information Systems Security
Data Communication Networks
Human-Computer Interface
Data and Information Visualization
Foundations of Data Science
Data Warehousing
Modeling Machine Learning
Data Mining and Analysis
Software/Statistical Tools3
Select one of the following (in consultation with advisor)
Statistical Programming
Applied Statistics in Health Promotion
Applied Statistical Principles
Statistical Methods I
Statistical Methods II
Research Methods in Business
Analysis of Nurse-Generated Data
Advanced Psychological Statistics I
Application Area (see options below)15
Interprofessional Capstone3
Select one of the following in consultation with advisor
Capstone in Informatics
Capstone in Informatics
Capstone in Informatics
Capstone in Informatics
Capstone in Informatics
Total SCHs36

Application Area: Health Studies Option

Required Courses
HS 5353Epidemiology3
HS 5453Community-Based Health Informatics3
HS 5773Social and Organizational Issues in Health Informatics3
Select two of the following6
Risk Reduction
Population Health
Current Issues in Health Promotion
Worksite Health Promotion
Global Health
Theoretical Foundations of Health Promotion
Project Management
Total SCHs15

Cooperative Education

In order for coursework in Cooperative Education to be counted as degree credit, department and advisory committee approval must be received during the semester in which the course is taken. This approval is in addition to approval to enroll in Cooperative Education coursework. Only three semester credit hours of Cooperative Education may be counted toward the Master’s degree.