What Is Data Science?

“Data science integrates statistics, computer science and domainspecific information to turn noisy and voluminous data into advanced knowledge, valuable products and better decision-making processes,” explains Jianhua Ruan, a professor in the Department of Computer Science. “Data scientists working in different domains also face the same challenges associated with characteristics of real-world data, which are often noisy, incomplete, sparse and high dimensional, and not a representative sample of the population. For many problems, we may also have heterogeneous data sources from different types of measurements or different resolutions that need to be integrated into a single model. Conversations across different disciplines can foster radical ideas to address these critical challenges across a wide spectrum of fields and provide innovative solutions.”

Marcella Cornejo, a computer science major, created this graphic for the college’s “Show Us the Data” student competition where students designed graphics to showcase the college’s enrollment over the past 10 years. It serves as the inspiration for our illustrated cover image. The data demonstrates student enrollment in the College of Sciences from 2012 to 2022.

UTSA COS Student Enrollment

2012-2022