The University of Washington launched the Data Science Minor in Fall 2020 to help undergraduate students gain data science skills and literacy to help supplement the area of their major. Since its inception, the minor has been one of the fastest growing programs at UW, as students see how widely utilized data science tools are and the value they bring to their areas of study. Since UW students can declare a minor during their sophomore year, the graduating class of 2023 was the first to contain students who have been enrolled in the Data Science Minor for the majority of their studies.

Ben Roscoe is one of these recent graduates, having just earned a BS in Economics and BA in Political Science with a minor in Data Science. He first heard about the minor while taking “Data, Technology, and Development in Africa” with Professor James Long. Ben enrolled in the course because he was interested in African politics and how they applied to his Political Science studies, but learned that it counted towards the minor. “I realized that Data Science is a lot broader than I thought and I can continue to study what I’m interested in while completing the minor,” he said.

Read the full interview here.