Why Data Science at Lyon?
Lyon College is the first private institution in Arkansas to offer Data Science. This academic program provides valuable insights into the understanding and implications of large sets of data. Students initially gain the theoretical background and problem-solving experiences through introductory Computer Science and Data Science programs, then focus on one of three broad general areas:
- Science,
- Business and Economics,
- Social Sciences and Humanities
For the science track, students will take three science classes at the 200 level or above, and for each class, the students will take a data science lab with a course-related project.
For the business and economics track, students will meet the requirements for a minor in business or economics or complete certain classes in business, economics and accounting.
For the social sciences/humanities/fine arts track, students will complete the Digital Humanities course as well as two classes from either the social sciences, humanities or fine arts divisions. For each class, the student will take a data science lab with a course-related project.
In addition to hands-on experience, Lyon students will also have the opportunity to earn academic credit by participating in internships.
Data Science Program Powerpoint
Meet the Faculty
Marcus Birkenkrahe
Associate Professor of Data Science
A selection of currently offered courses:
Introduction to data science: using the R programming language to explore the whole data science pipeline, from data collection over data cleaning, modeling and visualization, to story-telling.
Data visualization: art and science of turning data into readable graphics, including data explorative data analysis (EDA) with real data sets
Machine learning: machine learning models, including neighborhood- and tree-based methods, linear models, neural nets, with applications in image classification, time series analysis, and natural language processing.
Data science infrastructure: all courses introduce students to a wealth of professional data science tools, including: DataCamp, GitHub, Emacs + ESS, Literate Programming and interactive notebooks with Org-mode, the command line, the statistical programming language R, and the relational database language SQL.
Careers for Data Science Majors
Data scientists develop models and algorithms to provide information and predictions to decision-makers. They also report and interpret data, create dashboards and data workflows, mine data, and are some of the main pioneers of machine learning and artificial intelligence.
Data science majors aren’t limited to careers as statisticians and data analysts. They can pursue opportunities in the fields of business, marketing, politics, engineering, and many more.
Data scientists are often employed under different disguises - as data engineers, data analysts, etc. because the field is developing rapidly, as is the technology employed by data scientists.
Average base salary in US in 2022: $123,305.
Salaries tied to specific jobs and levels(2022):
| Data analyst—entry level |
Annual salary: $50,000–$75,000 |
| Data analyst—experienced |
Annual salary: $65,000–$110,000 |
| Data science/analytics manager (1-3 direct reports) |
Annual salary: $90,000–$140,000 |
| Database administrator—entry level |
Annual salary: $50,000–$70,000 |
| Database administrator—experienced |
Annual salary: $70,000–$120,000 |
| Big data engineer—junior/generalist |
Annual salary: $70,000–$115,000 |
| Big data engineer—domain expert |
Annual salary: $100,000–$165,000 |
We've got various internship programs with companies in and outside of Arkansas.
See here for a 2022 example of a successful data science internship experience.
A "Data Nerd Network" is being built (with assistance of recruiters from Little Rock and industry experts), which will help data science students find interesting internships and careers.
The faculty will actively and enthusiastically support you in obtaining research-based scholarships. Current students have also got international scholarships, like the
William Jefferson Clinton Scholarship at AUD.