The potential power of environmental data science hit David Flaspohler, dean of the College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science (CFRES), during a conversation with his daughter—then a PhD student in computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her research involved predicting locations of deep-sea thermal vents, which support a unique ecosystem hundreds of feet below the surface of the Gulf of California.
"She was using environmental data collected from remotely operated vehicles that sample ocean chemistry to allow her to trace the diluting water from each vent back to its origin," Flaspohler said. "It was kind of an 'aha!' moment when I saw how this kind of environmental data could help address a lot of questions in the natural resources field."
This fall, Michigan Tech introduced a bachelor's degree in environmental data science that will teach Huskies how to visualize, manage, and understand data to answer those questions.
Tech is ideally suited for environmental data science studies, which can tackle questions about how forests respond to shifts in temperature, moisture, or invasive pests related to climate change. Data scientists also studied how the moose population of Isle Royale National Park reacted to the 2018 translocation of new wolves to the island.
"Sixty-four moose were fitted with GPS collars that send location information every 30 minutes," said Flaspohler. "This amounts to 4,383 locations per moose per year. In addition, the collars contain a thermometer and an accelerometer that records the 3D movement of each moose every five minutes, or 105,192 times per year. This research has resulted in literally millions of data points related to location, temperature, habitat use, activity levels, and more."
"What's unique about the environmental data science program is that students will get experience collecting the data that they'll be analyzing," he said. "This will give them a detailed understanding of how the data is structured, what possible biases are part of the data structure, and how the analyses can be tailored to get the most value from the data."
Environmental data science majors can choose between four tracks offered in the program: global change science, environmental statistics, geographic information science, and genetic applications of data science.
"Global change science prepares students to tackle big questions related to climate change and other environmental changes, including biodiversity loss, wildland fire, biogeochemistry, and climate refugia," said Flaspohler. "Students will learn about the forces driving environmental change as well as the tools and policies we can use to mitigate harmful change."
Students choosing the environmental statistics track will use software like R and Python to take large, complex environmental datasets and, with their understanding of experimental design, data collection protocols and analysis, test hypotheses to answer important environmental questions.
The track in geographic information science focuses on skills to visualize and analyze geospatial data collected by satellites, drones, and aircraft. "GIS is a powerful and fast-growing technology used in a diverse range of environmental fields, from agriculture and forestry to ocean and atmospheric sciences," said Flaspohler.
The genetic applications of data science track enables students to use genetic data, including genomics and bioinformatics, to explore questions related to conservation, inbreeding, population structure, and evolution.
The degree is a collaboration between CFRES, where the program is housed; the College of Computing; and the departments of biological sciences and mathematical sciences in the College of Sciences and Arts.
Laura Brown is the associate dean of data science initiatives in the College of Computing and director of its data science master's and bachelor's degree programs. She said that, across domains and industries, demand for data scientists is huge.
"There are jobs out there and there will be more jobs because there is so much data being created, and it's not always being analyzed or understood," she said. "Many industries are still growing and need people to understand and work with their data: manufacturing companies, insurance, finance, health care—all of these different domains have lots of different data that they need to understand. They need to have systems in place to process it and answer questions, both internally and externally."
"It's really important that people are not just thinking, 'I have this data.' They're thinking, 'Should I have this data?' or 'Should I solve this problem?'" said Brown. "We're making sure our students are thinking about these questions."
Michigan Technological University is a public research university founded in 1885 in Houghton, Michigan, and is home to nearly 7,500 students from more than 60 countries around the world. Consistently ranked among the best universities in the country for return on investment, Michigan’s flagship technological university offers more than 120 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science and technology, engineering, computing, forestry, business, health professions, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, and the arts. The rural campus is situated just miles from Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, offering year-round opportunities for outdoor adventure.