Data & Decisions Minor

Today's students are tomorrow's doctors, lawyers, politicians, industrial leaders, patients, parents, volunteers, and neighbors who will make important decisions that will impact both themselves and our society.

Why do it?

At the completion of this minor, students will be able to consume and use data responsibly, ethically, collaboratively, effectively, and efficiently. Such skills are both marketable professionally and useful within personal lives because data literacy is essential for living productive and healthy lives in the 21st century.

Requirements

The 18-credit hour minor in Data and Decisions includes 3 hours of introductory restricted electives, 6 hours of core requirements,  6 hours of elective courses selected from a list, and 3 hours of a Data and Decisions Capstone.

Required courses:
CMDA 2014: Data Matter
BDS 2005: Fundamentals of Behavioral Decision Science
BIT/MGT 4854: Analytics in Action (capstone)

Elective courses: 
Students select 3 hours of introductory restricted electives, and another 6 credit hours of elective courses from topics such as environmental informatics; introduction to remote sensing; social research methods; digital history; data governance; privacy and ethics. For a complete list of elective courses, consult the checksheet.

Capital CoLAB Digital Generalist Credential

The Data and Decision minor provides Virginia Tech students with the opportunity to earn Capital CoLAB Digital Generalist Credential recognized by the Greater Washington Partnership. In order to earn this credential students with a minor in Data and Decisions need to select BIT 4604 Data Governance, Privacy, and Ethics as one of the elective courses.