Program: Computer Science (Data Science) (MS) - University of Southern California

Apr 01, 2025

USC Catalogue 2019-2020

The Master of Science in Computer Science (Data Science) provides students with a core background in computer science and specialized algorithmic, statistical and systems expertise in acquiring, storing, accessing, analyzing and visualizing large, heterogeneous and real-time data associated with diverse real-world domains including energy, the environment, health, media, medicine and transportation.

Required Courses

CSCI 561 Foundations of Artificial Intelligence Units: 4
CSCI 570 Analysis of Algorithms Units: 4
CSCI 585 Database Systems Units: 4

Group Electives

Three Courses with a Minimum of One Course From Each Group

Group 1 (Data Systems):

CSCI 548 Information Integration on the Web Units: 4
CSCI 572 Information Retrieval and Web Search Engines Units: 4
CSCI 586 Database Systems Interoperability Units: 4
CSCI 587 Geospatial Information Management Units: 4
CSCI 653 High Performance Computing and Simulations Units: 4
CSCI 685 Advanced Topics in Database Systems Units: 4
INF 551 Foundations of Data Management Units: 4

Group 2 (Data Analysis):

CSCI 567 Machine Learning Units: 4
CSCI 573 Probabilistic Reasoning Units: 3
CSCI 686 Advanced Big Data Analytics Units: 4
INF 553 Foundations and Applications of Data Mining Units: 4
ISE 520 Optimization Theory and Algorithms: Numerical Optimization Units: 3
MATH 467 Theory and Computational Methods for Optimization Units: 4
MATH 574 Applied Matrix Analysis Units: 3

Additional Electives

Any 500- or 600-level course in CSCI (including additional group electives or special topics)*

CSCI 590 Directed Research Units: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
CSCI 591 Computer Science Research Colloquium Units: 1
INF 554 Information Visualization Units: 4
INF 558 Building Knowledge Graphs Units: 4
MATH 458 Numerical Methods Units: 4
MATH 501 Numerical Analysis and Computation Units: 3
MATH 502a Numerical Analysis Units: 3
MATH 502b Numerical Analysis Units: 3
MATH 505a Applied Probability Units: 3
MATH 601 Optimization Theory and Techniques Units: 3
MATH 650 Seminar in Statistical Consulting Units: 3

Total units required for the degree is 32

*Note: No more than 4 units may be taken at the 400-level, and maximum of 2 units of CSCI 590 and a maximum of 2 units of CSCI 591 may be applied. A maximum of 3 INF courses can be taken toward the degree.