Data Science Option

Bioengineering PhD students have the opportunity to pursue their PhD with a Data Science option. The Data Science option prepares the next generation of thought leaders to both apply new data science methods and build new data science tools. It recognizes Bioengineering Ph.D. students whose thesis work focuses specifically on advanced data science tools and provides an advanced education to students who will push the state-of-the-art in data science methods, such as developing new machine learning methods.

Students enrolled in this option can expect to interact with students in similar programs in genome sciences, statistics, oceanography, computer science & engineering and astronomy. The Data Science option is an official UW degree option which will be part of your degree title and appear on your transcript.

The Data Science Option overlays our standard course requirements. In other words, students must satisfy the universal PhD Curriculum requirements, in addition to the Data Science Option requirements. This may impose some extra constraints on course selection. However, note that some of the required data science courses may substitute for required electives.

Required Curriculum:

  • 2 credits of eScience seminar, currently offered as ENGR 591 (formerly CHEM E 599), Topics in Data Science (1 credit, CR/NC).
  • Three courses totaling 9-14 credits from three of the five categories listed below: Scientific Computing, Statistics and Machine Learning, Big Data and Image Processing, Data Visualization, and Data Science. Each category listed includes approved courses offered within Bioengineering and other departments on the UW Seattle campus. The large number of approved courses reflects both the breadth of the data science field, and the fact that space in non-Bioengineering courses is sometimes limited.

Scientific Computing

Scientific Computing
Bioengineering Dept offerings Approved courses in other UW departments
  • BIOEN 537: Computational Systems Biology (4 cr)
  • BIOEN 584 Computational Modeling and Simulation of Bioelectricity (4 cr)
  • BIOEN 585: Computational Bioengineering (4 cr)
  • BIOEN 588: Computational Protein Design (4 cr)
  • BIOEN 599: Advanced Modeling & Controls for Systems Biology (3 cr)
  • AMATH 516: Numerical Optimization (3 cr)
  • AMATH 583: High Performance Scientific Computing (5 cr)
  • CSE 527: Computational Biology (4 cr)
  • CSE 583: Software Development for Data Scientists (4 cr)
  • CHEM E 546: Software Engineering for Molecular Data Scientists (3 cr)
  • GENOME 540: Introduction to Computational Molecular Biology: Genome and Protein Sequence Analysis (4 cr)

Statistics and Machine Learning
  •   AMATH 563: Inferring Structure of Complex Systems (5 cr)
  •   CSE 546: Machine Learning (4 cr)
  •   CSE 416/STAT 416 – Introduction to Machine Learning (4 cr)
  •   STAT 535: Foundations of Machine Learning [Statistical Learning: Modeling, Prediction, and Computing] (3 cr)
  •   STAT 509: Econometrics I: Introduction to Mathematical Statistics (4 cr)
  •   STAT 435: Introduction to Statistical Machine Learning (4 cr)
  •   STAT 538: Advanced Machine Learning [Statistical Learning: Modeling, Prediction, and Computing] (3 cr)
  •   BIOST 546: Machine Learning for Biomedical and Public Health Big Data (3 cr)
  •   EE 505: Probability and Random Processes (4 cr)
  •   EE 511: Introduction to Statistical Learning (4 cr)

Big Data and Image Processing
Bioengineering Dept offerings Approved courses in other UW departments
  • BIOEN 420: Medical Imaging (4 cr)
  • BIOEN 547: Fundamentals of Magnetic Resonance and Ultrasound Imaging (4 cr)
  • BIOEN 549: Therapeutic and Diagnostic Ultrasound (4 cr)
  • CSE 414: Intro to Database Systems (4 cr)
  • CSE 544: Principles of Database Management Systems (4 cr)
  • CSE 576: Computer Vision (4 cr)
  • EE 512: Graphical Models in Pattern Recognition (4 cr)
  • BIOST 546: Machine Learning for Biomedical and Public Health Big Data (4 cr)
  • STAT 538: Statistical Learning: Modeling, Prediction, and Computing (3 cr)
  • MSE 544: Big Data for Material Science (3 cr)

Data Visualization
  •   CSE 442: Data Visualization (4 cr)
  •   CSE 512: Data Visualization (4 cr)
  •   HCDE 411: Information Visualization (5 cr)

Data Science
  •   BIOL 519: Data Science for Biologists (4 cr)
  •   BIOST 544: Introduction to Biomedical Data Science (4 cr)

Current Bioengineering Ph.D. students who choose to enroll in the Data Science Option must have approval of their research advisor. Email this approval to the Graduate Program Advisor, Kalei Combs, kaleic@uw.edu. There is no additional admission procedure.