As COVID-19 gripped the nation last spring and graduates shuddered at the thought of a pandemic job market, three professors from Huxley College of the Environment came together to create a cure for some of those fears: the Data Science for Environmental Applications certificate program.
The work of three faculty members in the Environmental Science department, Jenise Bauman, Rebecca Bunn and Andy Bunn, culminated in a nine-month-long certificate course intended to give participants tangible and valuable data skills.
Through the asynchronous and remote program, participants take one course a quarter: applied statistics, multivariate methods, and time series or spatial analysis. Quarterly seminars also cover topics like data wrangling and visualization, machine learning and app or dashboard development.
Rebecca Bunn says she sees the certificate as a “starter pack” for students who want to enrich their data analysis and interpretation abilities.
Skills like these allow students to carve out a ‘niche’ in whatever field they’re pursuing, Bauman says. As such, the program is open to anyone regardless of their major. Learn more at gradschool.wwu.edu/data-science-certificate