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MASTER OF SCIENCE IN DATA ANALYTICS
NON-THESIS
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH MANAGEMENT AND SYSTEMS SCIENCES
SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH AND INFORMATION SCIENCES
UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE
PROJECTED START DATE: FALL 2016
ACCREDITATION REQUIREMENT: NONE
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Data science is the “sexiest job of the 21st century
 Harvard Business Review, 2012
https://hbr.org/2012/10/data-scientist-the-sexiest-job-of-the-21st-century/
A Proposal for a Master’s of Science in Data Analytics
a. Objectives
The Department of Health Management and Systems Sciences (HMSS) proposes to offer a new
Master of Science degree (non-thesis) for Data Analytics in Public Health. Data Analytics is the
wave of the future in public health and medicine. HMSS recognizes the need to educate and
train students in practical application of Data Analytics (Big Data, Big Data Science, data
mining, and data warehouse technologies) to real world problems in public health and medicine
to meet an immediate and rapidly increasing demand for professionals with these critical
knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs).
It is factual to state that Data Analytics is a viable area, and demand is increasing exponentially,
and quality graduate programs in Data Analytics are increasingly saturated. University of
Louisville is well positioned to distinguish itself in Data Analytics in public health because: 1.
We already have SPHIS with a focus on information sciences; 2. Existing faculty bring
appropriate experience (a.k.a., Big Data, data mining, data warehousing); 3. The high demand for
Data Analytics professionals will: a. attract more students than capacity we will be able to serve;
b. which will result in continued growth for the foreseeable future in Data Analytics; c. allow
selection of high quality students that will be in extremely high demand and have a job offer in
hand a semester or more in advance of their graduation. The Master of Science, Data Analytics
in Public Health and Medicine will gain major recognition, attract funding, increase diversity,
and be a net gain financially for the University.
The curriculum has three main components: 1. Public health foundations; 2. Principles of data
warehouse construction (i.e., creating Big Data from little data); 3. Advanced analytics (i.e., Big
Data analytics, data mining).
Graduates and non-graduates will be prepared well to represent program in the workplace,
further enhancing the reputation of SPHIS and University of Louisville. Excellence is shown in
how our graduates perform in the real world, and how their employers regard the work
performed. Graduates will be tracked for annually five years after graduation to provide a metric
of “excellence.”
b. Need
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook produced a special edition
on data sciences related positions in 2013. The information is two years old but is still correct in
its assessment that Data Analytics (Big Data, data mining, predictive analytics, etc.) is a growth
area, experiencing a conservatively estimated 15% increase in demand per annum.
The BLS does not mention Big Data or Data Analytics per se, as the Commissioner explained in
a recent public presentation:
“Big data” is a buzzword you hear often these days. Long before the term even
existed, BLS and other federal statistical agencies have used alternative data
sources—that today would be labeled “big data”—to revolutionize the way we do
business.
BLS Administrator, March 25, 2015
Thus, “Big Data” job titles cross-cut the KSA-based titles. We can expect that BLS will begin
direct reporting of “Big Data” jobs in the near future. Much of that growth comes from
unstructured data. “Big Data” captures not only a wide swath of high technology KSAs, but also
has attracted the attention of the high finance press corps. Forbes Magazine “Tech “section is
straight on point in the following quote from December 29, 2013:
Table 1 –Schools of Public Health Workers who use big data are employed by many kinds of
“Big Data” Analytics programs
institutions and in many different industries: government,
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Harvard School of Public Health
Johns Hopkins School of Public
Health
University of Michigan School of
Public Health
University of Minnesota School of
Public Health
UCLA School of Public Health
University of New Mexico School
of Public Health*
Emory School of Public Health
UC-Berkley School of Public
Health
*through Dept. of Family Practice and
Community Medicine
businesses, financial institutions, healthcare, scientific research
facilities, colleges and universities, and others. The collection and
use of big data continues to expand in all of these.
Similar Degree Programs
There are no comparable programs in other schools of
public health in Kentucky. Nationally eight programs
specifically address Big Data and public health and include
at least some coursework or concentrations in Master’s
degree program (Table 1).
The need for data analytics in healthcare, including public
health, is surveyed from a 40,000 foot view, clearly
showing that (1) a demand currently exists for individuals
with this training, and (2) the demand for these skills is
likely to grow over the next decade.
In 2015 the Mckinsey Group stated:
“Analyzing large data sets—so called big data—will become a key basis of competition,
underpinning new waves of productivity growth, innovation, and consumer surplus as
long as the right policies and enablers are in place. Research by MGI and McKinsey's
Business Technology Office examines the state of digital data and documents the
significant value that can potentially be unlocked. However, companies and policy
makers must tackle significant hurdles to fully capture big data's potential - including
a shortage of skilled analysts and managers. The United States alone faces a
shortage of 140,000 to 190,000 people with analytical expertise and 1.5
million managers and analysts with the skills to understand and make
decisions based on the analysis of big data. In this interactive we explore where
in the US economy analytical talent is employed. http://www.mckinsey.com/features/big_data .
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The Data Analytics Degree Market
Of the top 20 programs in data
analytics in the US and Canada, one is
geographically close to Louisville, the
University of Cincinnati (Table 3). The
U of Cincinnati program is focused on
business analytics, but the program in is
shorter and requires less technical
savvy than the degree we propose at
UofL.
One of the shortest duration programs
is at NC State, but they are highly
selective in admittance. The NC State
program is business focused. UC Berkley is another 10 month program,
but it has more mathematical rigor than
the one in North Carolina.
TABLE 2. MARKET ASSESSMENT OF TOP 20 MS PROGRAMS
IN DATA ANALYTICS *
Institution
School
Program Length
Bentley University
Graduate School of Business
18 months
Carnegie Mellon University
Public Policy and Info Systems 16 months
Columbia University
Eng. and Applied Science
2 years
DePaul University
Computing and Digital Media 2 years
Drexel University
College of Business
1 year
Harvard University
College of Business
1 year
Louisiana State University
College of Business
1 year
MIT
School of Management
2 years
New York University
School of Business
2 years
North Carolina State University Inst. for Advanced Analytics
10 months
Northwestern University
Eng. and Applied Sciences
15 months
Rutgers University
School of Business
2 years
Stanford University
School of Eng. /Dept. CS
2 years
University of Cincinnati
College of Business
1 year
UC-Berkley
College of Engineering
10 months
University of Connecticut
School of Business
1 year
University of Illinois-U/Ch.
Graduate College/Dept. Stats
1 year
University of Ottawa
School of IT and Engineering
16 months
University of Tennessee
College of Business Admin.
2 years
York University
School of Business
1 year
Canadian School
* Information Week, January 2013
The curricula most comparable to the Master’s degree program proposed at the UofL are at
Columbia, DePaul, MIT, NYU, Rutgers, Stanford and Tennessee because they are two year
programs that are demanding in technical skills (computer science, mathematics) than a two
semester program. The objective of the UofL program is to provide world class training that will
be competitive in national and global markets.
Other Programs in Data Analytics, Unranked
Unranked Master’s programs in US markets in the Information Week Survey included one
university within 200 miles of Louisville: IU-Bloomington. This program has technical rigor and
geared mainly to computer science and mathematics majors. The College of Informatics at
Northern Kentucky University offers an M.S. in Health Informatics through their Business
Informatics program with three electives in analytics. There were no programs associated with a
school of public health, healthcare, or medicine within 200 miles of Louisville. Programs found
that resulted from searching Google using keywords “data analytics” AND “post-graduate
study” OR “masters.” Notably, University of Louisville has a certificate program in data
mining through the Computer Engineering/ Computer Science Department, and includes 12
semester hours.
Other geographically close to UofL include programs at Ohio State University, IU-Bloomington,
and IUPUI (Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis). IU has two certificate
programs (School of Business, School of Informatics and Computing), and M.S. degree
programs in the each school also.
Summary
UofL SPHIS is well-positioned to create a high profile MS in data analytics because there are no
direct competing programs except those listed in Tables 1 and 2. Other programs are directed
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toward business analytics, or are in technical schools and departments such as engineering and
computer science.
The UofL focus on public health and healthcare analytics should position it well to compete
successfully for students, and produce highly employable data analytics professionals to enter the
healthcare industry and practice what they have learned. The employment market nationally is
growing each year, and outstripping the number of qualified individuals. Locally, Louisville may
absorb a majority of our data analytics graduates because of its growing presence of insurers.
The Louisville market for analysts is likely to increase substantially as the healthcare insurance
industry corporate mergers create even larger markets. Employees of the corporation have been
told that Humana will remain in Louisville, and AETNA and others will relocate to the area. It is
rumored optimistically that this ‘hub’ will attract other national level insurers and their
associated support infrastructure.
The market for data analytics professionals is poised to expand rapidly in the US, in Kentucky,
and in Louisville in particular.
Linkage with the Mission and Strategic Plan
The University of Louisville’s mission statement emphasizes pursuit of excellence in five
interrelated strategic areas: (1) Educational Experience, (2) Research, Creative, and Scholarly
Activity, (3) Accessibility, Diversity, Equity, and Communication, (4) Partnerships and
Collaborations, and (5) Institutional Effectiveness of Programs and Services.
The UofL Strategic Plan 2020 has the five major components above:
1. Educational excellence – The MS in Data Analytics will a nationally recognized degree
to highly qualified students;
2. Research, scholarship, and creative activity – SPHIS is positioned strategically because
Louisville is a health insurance industry hub;
3. Accessibility, diversity, equity, and communication – The UofL and SPHIS has a culture
of diversity, and is well-known for its inclusion of LGBT and underrepresented groups.
4. Partnerships and Collaborations – The MS in data analytics will draw on the UofL
community and the greater Louisville Metro area for collaborations and partnerships.
Collaborations have been established informally with the Kentucky Health Department,
Humana, UAW/Ford, and others, and are being formalized the collaborations above.
5. Institutional Effectiveness of Programs and Services – UofL will have national
recognition for its effectiveness as the MS in data analytics graduates enter the
workforce.
This proposed MS degree program reinforces our commitment to advancing our mission. It is a
logical outgrowth of many programs already in place. We are well positioned to deliver this
curriculum because of expertise in SPHIS, direct access to leaders in healthcare and our close
and collaborative relationships with the University of Louisville and the metro health care
industry. The industry is capable of providing financial resources and student access to create a
degree program second to none, and we shall work toward that goal.
Educational Program:
Admissions requirements
Supporting coursework required:
o Statistics and probability
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o Biostatistics
o Regression analysis
Computer science and mathematics skills required:
o Languages: Python
o Database development
o Linear/matrix algebra
o SAS, R, SQL
Public health / medicine knowledge highly desired:
o Basic principles of biology
o Genetics
o Human biology / Population Biology
o Pharmacology/Pharmacoepidemiology /Pharmacogenomics
Minimum of a 3.0 on a 4.0 GPA scale; GRE: 50th %ile on verbal; quantitative 50th %ile.
Graduation requirements – students must successfully complete the 36 credit hour curriculum
and earn a passing grade of no less than B (3.0 on 4.0 scale) on coursework.
Table 7. Courses Included in the Curriculum
Data Analytics Concentration Coursework
Semester
Fall I
Course #
PHMS 523
CECS 630
PHST 661
Semester
Total
Spring I
PHMS 704
PHST 662
PHEP 602
Semester
Total
Fall II
PHMSS XXX
PHST 710
PHMSS
Semester
Total
Spring II
PHMSS XXX
PHEP 619
PHST 691
Semester
Total
Concentration Total
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Course Title
Credits
New
Course?
No
No
No
Public Health in the U.S.
Data Warehouse Development
Probability
3
3
3
9
Health Impact Assessment
Mathematical Statistics
Epidemiological Methods
3
3
3
9
No
No
No
Big Data Analytics/ Data Mining I
Advanced Statistical Computing
Research Project
3
3
3
9
Yes
No
No
Big Data Analytics/ Data Mining II
Biology of Disease in Populations
Bayesian Inference
3
3
3
9
Yes
No
No
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Potential for collaboration with other units – there is great potential for collaboration with the
College of Business, Louis D. Brandeis School of Law, School of Medicine, and the J.B. Speed
School of Engineering. The Departments of Mathematics and of Computer Science and
Engineering have already reached out and been contacted for collaboration.
Revenue surplus will be used to provide scholarships to incoming students and to enhance
student services. There may be small buyouts of faculty time for courses based on enrollment
growth and the need for new sections of already taught courses. The below budget projections
will adequately cover these expenditures.
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