Institute News

Goergen Institute for Data Science Partners with Databricks on Big Data Education

October 13, 2021

Large amounts of data displayed on a computer screen.

In the ever-expanding and evolving world of data science, the Goergen Institute for Data Science (GIDS) aims to equip its students with real-world applied skills that are relevant to the world we live in. That’s where the course, Data Science at Scale (DSC 202/402), comes in. Taught by Vnomics CTO Lloyd Palum and CIRC director Brendan Mort, DSC 202/402 is supported by Databricks through its University Alliance Program.

Data Science at Scale provides a hands-on experience to students, teaching them to develop data-intensive applications (DIA) at scale in the Cloud. DIAs handle huge volumes of data (think terabytes and petabytes!) and are an essential part of many valuable services we rely on today. In DSC 202/402, students learn how to orchestrate the complete DIA pipeline to deliver business value in a commercial transportation application.

One student, who completed the course in Spring 2021, wrote in to say,

"I want to thank you for clearing my mind on how to sustainably and effectively manage a data intensive project in DSC402, Thanks to your course, I have successfully set up Azure Databricks for my team and they loved it."

GIDS is also collaborating with Databricks on a Fall 2021 student capstone project. The Databricks capstone project utilizes the Databricks Lakehouse platform to explore trends in homelessness in various geographical regions. The project brings visibility to important social issues, nurturing the next generation of ethical, responsible data scientists.

Learn more about Databricks and the University of Rochester.