Foundations of Data Science

When Foundations of Data Science, or Data 8, was first launched in 2015, there were fewer than 100 students in the class. Today, more than 1,600 students are enrolled in what has become a staple in the UC Berkeley undergraduate’s must-take class list.

With UC Berkeley holding all of its classes for the fall 2020 and spring 2021 semesters online, engineering, data science and computer science instructors have had to adapt their teaching styles to meet the demands of remote learning.

In 2015, the World Bank projected that based on the updated poverty line of $1.90 per day, 700 million people, or 9.6 percent of the global population, may be living in poverty.

As part of a fireside chat hosted by Chancellor Nicholas Dirks, about 20 students gathered at University House on Wednesday to give their input on the trajectory of a pilot data science class.

The new four-unit course, “Foundations of Data Science” — cross-listed as Statistics 94 and Computer Science 94 — combines introductory statistics and computational concepts with hands-on work involving hard data that brings “real-world relevance,” according to the program's website.