Courses | Capstone Projects | Experiential Learning

D2K Academics

Want to make an impact by working on real-world data science problems? Register for Fall 2022 D2K courses! 

D2K Capstone Program:

DSCI 435 / 535 & COMP 449 / 549, Applied Machine Learning & Data Science Projects

Instructors: Arko Barman and Xinjie Lan

Description: In this course, students will work on interdisciplinary teams to solve a real-world data science project with clients from a variety of industries and disciplines.

What to Expect

  • We have projects that will use computer vision, natural language processing, signal processing, forecasting, statistical modeling, and data visualization to help solve problems in engineering, environmental science, neuroscience, sports, inequity, law, and more - even to sequence the genome of Sammy the Owl!

  • Projects are industry-sponsored (finance, energy, healthcare, tech), community impact projects (government and non-profits), and research projects (working with Rice or medical center faculty).

Check out examples from past projects >

Who Should Apply

  • Intended for seniors (some advanced juniors), professional masters, and beginning PhD students who have advanced coursework and expertise in some area of data science and want to complete a challenging, real-world data science project.

  • Required course for the Data Science minor capstone, MDS capstone, and MECE data science track capstone.

  • Elective course for STAT senior capstone, CAAM senior capstone, STAT and CAAM grad students, COMP undergrad and grad students, and other students with advanced data science experience interested in conducting a real-world or research project.

  • In the course application, you can specify your project preferences which are used to assign projects and form teams.

Course Meeting: 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM on Mondays & Wednesdays

Location: TBD

Intro-Level D2K Courses:

DSCI 101: Introduction to Data Science

Instructor: Su Chen

Description: Students learn the fundamentals of data science and Python programming while working on teams to solve real data science challenges, design a data science pipeline, and derive and communicate valuable insights from data.

  • Intended for undergrads and no prior statistics, math, or programming experience is required.

  • Gain fluency in basic programming skills in Python with a focus on statistical modeling and machine learning.

Prerequisites: No prior background in statistics or programming required.

Course Meeting: 9:00 AM - 9:50 AM on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays

Location: TBD

Learn more >