Page 10 - EUREKA -Fall 2014

Carleton is

Canada’s Data

Science hub

for Research
Faculty news and Learning

he era of data collection
Thas arrived. Private industry,
academia, government, not-for-profits
and high-tech organizations are all
Introducing the Susan Aitken, health Sciences interested in your data – but why?
Who could this benefit and how?
Technology has evolved to give
Department of health more possibility to the acquisition and
analysis of large data sets, leading to
Sciences a new frontier of data science.

More than 130 researchers are
working on projects involving big
We are delighted to introduce the alumni to be highly marketable in data at Carleton University, which is
recently established Department of their career pursuits as well as to be uniquely positioned to be a leader
health Sciences, officially opening its successful in further education for a in data science. Current projects
doors to the first incoming class of range of research and professional cover topics such as DNA and
Bachelor of health Sciences students careers. molecular modeling data; bridge and
in the Fall of 2014. Our students pursuing Master’s infrastructure management; cloud
Our purpose is to provide high and graduate diplomas in health: computing; information retrieval
quality, interdisciplinary education Sciences, technology and Policy have and web information access; natural
in health to our students at both the also joined the Department of health language processing; artificial
undergraduate and graduate level. Sciences, bringing along a teaching intelligence; and database and
Our programs address a growing force that includes the expertise of information integration.
need in the public health field to over 50 faculty members from 23 Carleton’s new collaborative
hire employees who can apply their departments. A factor making our master’s in Data Science is geared
knowledge in the workplace on a MSc in health so distinctive is our at high-tech professionals and
variety of issues. broad interdisciplinary approach, graduate students who are interested
The Bachelor of health Sciences is credited for being the first graduate in understanding how to analyze
a unique undergraduate program that program at Carleton to involve all five and use ‘big data’ sets collected
pulls together Carleton’s extensive academic faculties. by governments, industry, NGOs
academic and research expertise Another unique feature of our etc. These data are being used
in health. The BhSc program has graduate programs is the capstone for purposes such as generating
been designed from an ‘outcomes’ research project that students will personal recommendations for online
perspective, starting with questions pursue in their second year. This shopping, improving the efficiency
of what knowledge and skills alumni project is team-based and will be of health care delivery or predicting
require to be competitive in a broad completed in collaboration with national security threats.
range of health careers. It is designed government, corporate or community Students can earn a degree
to not only provide knowledge in health partners. in one of six academic disciplines
a student’s area of interest, but to We look forward to training at Carleton, graduating with a
present this information in the context Canada’s future leaders in this field specialization in Data Science or a
of the broadly interdisciplinary field of and providing them with the skills and concentration in Business Analytics
health. knowledge they will need to tackle in the MBA. Collaborating programs
The BhSc program considers the pressing problems facing the health include: Biology, Business, Computer
biomedical sciences in the broader sector. Science, Economics, Electrical and
context of the influences of society, Computer Engineering (including
government, environment and Dr. Susan Aitken, Chair, Department Biomedical Engineering) and
technology. It emphasizes training of Health Sciences Geography.
and skills development necessary for

10 Fall 2014