Areas of Application for Data Science

This list of Areas of Application for the Data Science major at Cal Poly Humboldt is sorted by College.  The list of potential areas of application continues to grow, so check back for updates.  Many offer some flexibility with students choosing between several courses for different pathways.  

In some instances, a prerequisite modification is used. Speak to your advisor if you have questions.

For students intending to go on to graduate study in data science, we recommend selecting Mathematics or Computer Science as your area of application.

You can look up a specific courses in the Cal Poly Humboldt catalog.

You can also look at the course rotation schedule (i.e., frequency of course offering and semester offered).

College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences

Art

Lower Division

  • 3 units Art History Lower Division Elective (choose any)

  • 6 units (2 classes) Studio Art Lower Division (choose any)

Upper Division

  • 3 units Art History Upper Division Elective (choose any)

  • 6 units (2 classes) Studio Art Upper Division (choose any)

Criminology and Justice Studies

Two Required Courses (these are taught every semester)

125 Introduction to CJS   (3 units)  

225 Inequalities and Criminalization (4 units) 

Electives 

Students can select three (3) courses from the following list:

CRIM 362 Gender, Sexualities and Crime (4 units) 

CRIMK 420 Drugs and Society (4 units)

CRIM 430 Law and Dissent (4 units) 

CRIM 431 Juvenile Delinquency (4 units)

CRIM 433 Punishment and Justice in Cross-National Perspective (4 units) 

CRIM 455 Policing Bodies (4 units) 

SOC 330 Social Deviance (4 units) 

SOC 362 Environmental Crime (4 units) 

SOC 465 Migration and the Global Economy (4 units) 

Geography

Physical Geography Track:

GEOG 106 (3 units required)

GEOG 106L (1 unit required)

11 units of the following:

GEOG 352 (3 units)

GEOG 302 (3 units)

GEOG 357 (3 units)

GEOG 473 (3 units)

GEOG 352M (1 unit)

GEOG 357M (1 unit)

GEOG 473M (1 unit)

GEOG 302M (1 unit); 

Cultural/Human Geography Track

GEOG 105 (3 units required)

12 units of the following:

GEOG 304 (3 units)

GEOG 300 (3 units)

GEOG 363 (3 units)

GEOG 363M (1 unit)

GEOG 471 (3 units)

GEOG 471M (1 unit)

GEOG 472 (3 units)

GEOG 472M (1 unit)

GEOG 322 (3 units)

GEOG 322M (1 unit)

History

HIST 210 (4)

Choose an 12 units of 300 level courses (likely 3 courses at 4 WTUs each)

Political Science

Take 2 lower-division courses from the following (6 units total):

  • PSCI 220 Introduction to Political Theory (3 units) 

  • PSCI 230 Introduction to Comparative Politics (3 units)

  • PSCI 240 Introduction to International Relations (3 units)

AND 

Take either PSCI 295 Political Research and Analysis (4 units), plus upper-division courses totaling at least 10 units, no more than one can be numbered 300-309,

OR

take upper-division courses totaling at least 10 units, no more than one can be numbered 300-309.

** The above proposal would result in at least four different scenarios:

At least 19 total units for a student who chooses to take PSCI 295 (plus other UD courses);

18 total units for a student who chooses to take three 4-unit UD courses;

17 total units for a student who chooses to take an UD 3-unit course that also satisfies an UD Area D requirement (numbered 300-309), plus 8 units of other UD courses;

16 total units for a student who chooses to take an UD 3-unit course that also satisfies an UD Area D requirement (numbered 300-309), plus one 3-unit UD course, and one 4-unit UD course.

Religious Studies (Meaning, Value and Purpose)

AHSS 201 (3) Creation, Evolution, & the Robot Apocalypse

RS 105 (3) World Religions

RS 301 (3) Religion in America

RS 302 (3) Cults, Clubs, & NRMs

RS 361 (3) Environment & Religion

College of Natural Resources and Sciences

Biology

Chem 107 (4) or Chem 109 (5) 

Biol 105 (4)  

choose between Bot 105 (4) or Zool 110 (4)

Bio 330 (4)

Biol 428/428L (4)

choose any of these to round out 9 units minimum at upper division level: Biol 433/433D (4) or Biol 434 (4) or Biol 550 (3)

Chemistry

CHEM 109 (5) FS Gen Chem 1 prereq for

CHEM 110 (5) FS Gen Chem 2 prereq for all below

Biochemistry

For biochemical applications take

BIOL 105 (4) FS General Biology 

BIOL 340 (4) FS Genetics 

with

CHEM 228 (4) FS - Brief Organic prereq for

CHEM 438 (4) FS - Introductory Biochem (to get to 9 UD units for this, they could also take some other UD BIOL courses)

or

CHEM 324, 324L (5) F O-chem 1 prereq for

CHEM 325, 325L, 323 (6) S O-chem 2 prereq for

CHEM 434, 434L (5) Biochem 1 prereq for

CHEM 435, 435L (5) Biochem 2

CHEM 330 (3) F Molecular Modeling (optional)

Environmental

For environmental related systems:

CHEM 341 (5) F Quantitative analysis prereq for

CHEM 441 (4) S Instrumental analysis

CHEM 370 (3) F Earth System Chemistry (there may be some GEOL &/or OCN courses that could be added)

Computational

For computational chemistry applications:

CHEM 228 (4) FS - Brief Organic prereq for

or

CHEM 324, 324L (5) F O-chem 1 prereq for

CHEM 325, 325L, 323 (6) S O-chem 2 prereq for

CHEM 330 (3) F Molecular Modeling 

CHEM 310 (3) F Inorganic Chem (optional)

CHEM 410, 410L (5) S Advanced Inorganic Chem (optional)

CHEM 361 (3) F Physical Chem 1 (optional - needs the math and physics pathway, too)

CHEM 362 (3) S Physical Chem 2 (optional)

Computer Science

CS 112 (4) CS Foundations 2

CS 211 (4) Data Structures

CS 328 (4) Web Apps using Databases

CS 312 (4) Algorithms

CS 461 (4) Computational Models

Engineering

Computational track: 17 units

PHYX 109 (4) - Mechanics 

MATH 210 (4) - Calc 3 

ENGR 313 (3) - Systems 

  • Prereq modification: allow PHYX 109 in place of ENGR 115, allow DATA 111 (Python) + MATH 107 (Lin Alg) in place of ENGR 225 

ENGR 325 (3) - Comp 2 

  • Prereq mod: allow DATA 111 + MATH 107 in place of ENGR 225 

ENGR 326 (3) - Comp 3 

  • Prereq mod: allow DATA 311 (Appl Data Analysis) in place of ENGR 331/333

Energy track: 17 units

PHYX 109 (4) - Mechanics 

MATH 210 (4) - Calc 3 

ENGR 331 (3) - Thermo 

  • Prereq mod: remove chem requirement

ENGR 355 (3) - Energy systems engineering 

ENGR 411 (3) - Energy project dev & policy 

  • Prereq mod: allow Data 322 -machine learning in place of ENGR 313

Environmental Sciences and Management

ESM 105 Natural Resource Conservation (3) - GE LD Area D

ESM 230 Environmental Methods (3) (prereq: ESM 105 & STAT 109)

ESM 325 Environmental Law & Regulation (3)

Communication Bucket (choose 1):

ESM 305 Environmental Conflict Resolution (3) - UD Area D

ESM 309B Environmental Communication (3) - UD Area C

Other ESM Bucket (choose 1):

ESM 303 Natural history and ecology (4) (prereqs: ESM 105, ESM 230, STAT 108 and BOT 105 or BIOL 105) - UD Area B

ESM 355 Principles of Ecological Restoration (prereqs: BOT 105 and SOIL 260)

ESM 370 Energy, Technology & Society (prereqs: CHEM 107 or 109)

ESM 425 Environmental Impact Assessment (3)

NAS 331 Indigenous NR Mgt (3)

NAS 332 Environmental Justice (3)

ESM 420 Ecosystem Analysis (3) (303 prereq)

ESM 430 NR Mgt in Protected Areas (prereq: STAT 108 or 109 and ESM 303)

ESM 462 Coastal and Marine Planning (prerequisite ESM 360 or IA)

Fisheries

ZOOL 110 (4)

FISH 310 (4) Ichthyology

FISH 434 (4) Ecology of Freshwater Fish or FISH 435 (4) Ecology of Marine Fish

FISH 460 (3) Advanced Fish Conservation and Management

FISH 458 (4) Fish Population Dynamics

* ZOOL 110 and FISH 310 can be taken concurrently

** ZOOL 110 has prereq of BIOL 105 and BIOL 105 has prereq of CHEM 107. Special permission will need to be requested to enroll directly into ZOOL 110 to avoid the prereq chain and excessive units.

Forestry

Forestry Path

FOR 130 (3) - Dendrology 

FOR 210 (4) - Forest Measurements and Biometry

FOR 315 (3) - Forest Management

FOR 311 (4) Mensuration 

Complete on of the following 4 courses:

FOR 302 (3) - Forest Ecosystems and People

FOR 321 (3) - Fire Ecology 

FOR 374 (3) - Wilderness Area Management

FOR 431 (3) - Forest Restoration 

Fire Path

FIRE 123 (3) - Dendrology (or an approved course in plant taxonomy)

FOR 131 (3) - Forest Ecology (or an approved course in ecology)

FIRE 321 (3) - Fire Ecology 

FIRE 323 (3) - Wildland Fire Behavior and Use 

FOR 423 (3) - Wildland Fuels Management 

Mathematics

Math 210 (4) Calculus 3

Math 245 (4) 

Math 344 (4) Advanced Linear Algebra

at least 5 more units from any 300 or 400 level Math or Stats class from this list: 

  • Math 311, Math 313, Math 315, Math 371, Math 415, Math 442, Math 460, Math 499 directed study in an area closely related to Data Science (approved by advisor).

  • Stat 323, Stat 333, Stat 404, Stat 406, Stat 410, Stat 499 directed study in an area closely related to Data Science (approved by advisor).  

*Note, classes cannot be double counted with those required in the major.

*Advising note: encourage students with this area of application to take Stat 323.

Oceanography

*Note that for Options 1, 2 or 3 below, adding OCN 109 & 109L (General Oceanography and Lab) will qualify the student for a minor. We do recommend the students consider adding OCN 109/109L (offered each semester), but we realize the unit number then gets quite high.

In order to streamline the pathways into a reasonable number of units, faculty are open to alternate prerequisites. If such an exception is being made, it will indicate the student needs to ask for instructor approval.

Option 1 - Chemistry and Physics Pathway (24 units total; 11 at the UD)**This will likely be the most data heavy pathway**

OCN 260 - Sampling Techniques and Field Studies (1 unit; instructor approval; offered each semester)

CHEM 107 - Fundamentals of Chemistry (4 units)

PHYX 106 & 107 OR PHYX 109 & 210 - Introductory Physics Sequence (8 units total; Data Science Calculus courses meet prereqs)

OCN 320 - Physical Oceanography  (4 units; pre-reqs of MATH 110, PHYX 107 or 210 (C), offered each spring)

OCN 330 - Chemical Oceanography (4 units; pre-reqs of CHEM 107 (instructor approval will be required), offered each spring)

OCN 420 - Oceans & Climate (3 units; pre-reqs of CHEM 107, PHYX 106 or 109, MATH 105 or 109, offered each spring)

 

Option 2 - Biology and Chemistry Pathway (20 units total; 11 at the UD)

OCN 260 - Sampling Techniques and Field Studies (1 unit; instructor approval; offered each semester)

CHEM 107 - Fundamentals of Chemistry (4 units; instructor approved pre-req for OCN 330)

BIOL 105 - Principles of Biology (4 units; pre-req of CHEM 107)

OCN 310 - Biological Oceanography (4 units; pre-req of BIOL 105 (instructor approval will be required); offered every fall and even year springs)

OCN 330 - Chemical Oceanography (4 units; pre-reqs of CHEM 107 (instructor approval will be required), offered each spring)

Any of:

CHEM 370 - Earth System Chemistry (3 units; pre-req of CHEM 107; offered each fall)

OCN 301 - Marine Ecosystems-Human Impact (3 units; complete LD GE B; offered every fall; also meets UD GE B) 

OCN 410 - Zooplankton Ecology (3 units, pre-req of OCN 310 (instructor approval will be required), offered odd year springs)

 

Option 3 - Geology and Chemistry Pathway (20 units total; 11 at the UD)

OCN 260 - Sampling Techniques and Field Studies (1 unit; instructor approval; offered each semester)

CHEM 107 - Fundamentals of Chemistry (4 units)

GEOL 109 - General Geology (4 units)

OCN 304 - Resources of the Sea (3 units; no pre-reqs; offered each spring; also meets UD GE B)

OCN 330 - Chemical Oceanography (4 units; pre-reqs of CHEM 107 (instructor approval will be required), offered each spring)

OCN 340 - Geological Oceanography (4 units; pre-reqs of GEOL 109; offered each fall)

 

Option 4 - Chemistry Pathway (19 units total; 10 at the UD)

OCN 260 - Sampling Techniques and Field Studies (1 unit; instructor approval; offered each semester)

CHEM 107 - Fundamentals of Chemistry (4 units)

PHYX 106 OR PHYX 109 - Introductory Physics Course (4 units; Data Science Calculus courses meet prereqs)

CHEM 370 - Earth System Chemistry (3 units; pre-req of CHEM 107; offered each fall)

OCN 330 - Chemical Oceanography (4 units; pre-reqs of CHEM 107 (instructor approval will be required), offered each spring)

OCN 420 - Oceans & Climate (3 units; pre-reqs of CHEM 107, PHYX 106 or 109, MATH 105 or 109, offered each spring)

 

Option 5 - Biology Pathway (19 units; 10 at the UD)

OCN 260 - Sampling Techniques and Field Studies (1 unit; instructor approval; offered each semester)

CHEM 107 - Fundamentals of Chemistry (4 units; instructor approved pre-req for OCN 330)

BIOL 105 - Principles of Biology (4 units; pre-req of CHEM 107)

OCN 301 - Marine Ecosystems-Human Impact (3 units; complete LD GE B; offered every fall; also meets UD GE B) 

OCN 310 - Biological Oceanography (4 units; pre-req of BIOL 105 (instructor approval will be required); offered every fall and even year springs)

OCN 410 - Zooplankton Ecology (3 units, pre-req of OCN 310 (instructor approval will be required), offered odd year springs)

 

Physics

PHYX 109 (4 units)

PHYX 210 (4)

PHYX 211 (4)    This class would need students to also take MATH 210

PHYX 320 (3)

PHYX 340 (2)

4 Units of Approved UD coursework in Physics or related discipline 

Wildlife

WLDLF 210 (3)

WLDLF 301 (3) 

WLDF 311 (4) 

WLDF 428 (4)

WLDF 468 (4)

College of Professional Studies

Business

General Business

BA 250 (4) Financial Accounting

BA 360 (4) Principles of Finance

BA 340 (4) Principles of Marketing

BA 370 (4) Principles of Management

Finance

BA 360 (4) Principles of Finance

 

Select  3  Electives:

BA 422 (4) Financial Data Analytics & Econometrics

BA 460 (4) Responsible Investment Management

BA 464 (4) Entrepreneurial Finance

BA 469 (4) Financial Risk Management

Management & Enterpreneurship

BA 430 (4) Introduction to Entrepreneurship (Fall)

 

Select  3  Electives:

BA 431 (4) Global eCommerce Entrepreneurship (Spring)

BA 432 (4) Leading Sustainable Ventures (Fall)

BA 433 (4) Service Venture Management (Fall)

BA 437 (4) Entrepreneurial Analytics and Technology (Spring)

BA 438 (4) Applications in Entrepreneurship (Spring)

Accounting

BA 250 (4) Financial Accounting (Fall/Spring)

BA 252 (4) Management Accounting (Fall/Spring)

BA 450 (4) Intermediate Accounting (Fall)

 

Select  1  Elective:

BA 453 (4) Tax Accounting (Fall)

BA 456 (4) Accounting Ethics (Fall)

BA 454 (4) Financial Statement Auditing (Fall)

BA 451 (4) Advanced Accounting (Spring)

BA 452 (4) Cost Analytics (Spring)

BA 455 (4) Government and Nonprofit Accounting (Spring)

BA 482 (2-4) Accounting or Tax Internship (Spring)

Marketing

BA 340 (4) Principles of Marketing (Fall/Spring)

 

Select  3  Electives:

BA 441 (4) Retailing & Services Marketing

BA 445 (4) Marketing Communications

BA 446 (4) Marketing Research

BA 447 (4) E-Commerce/E-Marketing Strategy

BA 448 (4) Consumer Behavior

BA 449 (4) Macromarketing

Economics

ECON 210 (4) Principles of Economics

ECON 310 (4) Intermediate Microtheory and Strategy

ECON 311 (4) Intermediate Macroeconomics

ECON 435 (4) Principles of Money and Banking

Kinesiology

Population level data application: 15

HED 231 (3) Basic Human Nutrition

HED 343 (3) Food Health and Society

HED 392 (3) Community and Population Health

HED 390 (3) Health Promotion Programing

KINS 483 (3) Evaluation Techniques in Kinesiology

Biomechanics focus: 15

ZOOL 270 (4) Human Anatomy

KINS 386 (4) Structural Kinesiology

KINS 483 (3) Evaluation Techniques in Kinesiology

KINS 484 (3) Motor Development and Motor Learning

KINS 244 (1) Medical Terminology

Exercise Physiology focus: 17-18

BIOL 104 or 105 (3-4)

ZOOL 113 (4) Human Physiology

KINS 379 (4) Exercise Physiology

KINS 483 (3) Evaluation Techniques in Kinesiology

KINS 425 (3) Strength and Conditioning