A Comparative Study of the Academic Programs between Informatics/BioInformatics and Data Science in the U.S.

摘要

As Data Science has recently become a trend of the innovation of building new academic programs in the U.S. higher education, a holistic review and analysis of the curriculum development in a close field called Informatics or Bioinformatics, occurred more than a decade ago, seems to be beneficial and necessary in helping and supporting the healthy growth of Data Science programs. In this paper, a thorough comparative study between Informatics and Data Science was presented through comparing and investigating the similarities and differences of their curriculum structures, bodies of domain knowledge, technical skill sets, research areas, faculty preparation, student background, as well as the lessons learnt from the development of Informatics programs and challenges in developing Data Science programs. It is believed that the recommendations drawn from this study will assist educators to build their Data Science programs with the confidence and determination but without hesitation and fear of misstepping along the way in promoting and building their new programs.