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CS395-42 - CUNY Hunter College - Spring 2025

CS39542: Introduction to Data Science

Department of Computer Science
Hunter College, City University of New York
Spring 2025

Syllabus

Description: This topics course focuses on computational methods and statistical techniques to analyze data and make inferences. Topics include data collection and cleaning, exploratory data analysis and visualization, and statistical inference and prediction. Students will acquire a working knowledge of data science through hands-on projects with real-world data. Basic proficiency in statistics and Python programming is assumed, as well as experience with abstract data structures.

Prerequisites: CSci 127, Stat 213, and one of: CSci 133 or CSci 235.

Instructor: Adrián Soto (adrian.soto@hunter.cuny.edu)

Meetings: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 5:30pm-6:45pm, HN-1001E.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of the course, students should be able to:

  • Acquire data sets from multiple sources and write programs that can extract, transform, and load the data into a usable form.
  • Use exploratory data analysis and visualization techniques as well as linear algebra and statistical inference to extract new insights from the data.
  • Apply predictive modeling and machine learning techniques to medium and large datasets.
  • Understand the theory and interpret the results of predictive models and machine learning models.
  • Work independently when a new question or dataset comes your way.

Grading Policy

This course is an in-person course that combines theory and practice. As such, it will be graded based on the following items

  • In-person participation via synchronous classwork: 10%
  • Individual programming assignments: 20%
  • Capstone project: 20%
  • Midterm exam: 20%
  • Final exam: 30%

Emergencies: We understand that emergencies happen during the term, and as such

  • We drop the lowest programming grade.
  • We drop the lowest 2 classwork grades.
  • If you miss the midterm exam, your grade will be replaced with the final exam grade.
  • If you don't turn in a capstone project, your grade will be half of your average programming grades before dropping the lowest.

We respect your privacy, so you don't need to provide documentation to take advantage of the dropping/replacing grades policies. The policies will be applied automatically to all students at the end of the semester.

If you are going to miss more than 2 weeks of class and associated work, contact us, so we can make arrangements for you to take the course in a future term.

Programming assignments

All work must be your own. That said, you are welcome (and encouraged!) to work together on the overall design of the programs and homework. But as a general rule, do your own typing. Submitting work of others, or not safeguarding your work from copying, are academic integrity violations. You are responsible for knowing and following Hunter College's Academic Integrity Policy:

Hunter College regards acts of academic dishonesty (e.g., plagiarism, cheating on examinations, obtaining unfair advantage, and falsification of records and official documents) as serious offenses against the values of intellectual honesty. The College is committed to enforcing the CUNY Policy on Academic Integrity and will pursue cases of academic dishonesty according to the Hunter College Academic Integrity Procedures.

Assignments will be posted online, usually two weeks before the due date. They reinforce concepts covered in lecture and lab and serve as building blocks for the classwork and the capstone project.

  • To receive full credit for a program, the program must perform correctly, must include comments, be written in good style (following PEP 8, using Pylint), and be submitted via Gradescope.
  • While you may consult and discuss with others, this is an individual assignment, and all code must be written and typed by you. All programs are run through similarity review and copied code is reported to the Office of Student Conduct.
  • No late homework is accepted. Instead, we drop the lowest programming assignment grade when computing the final programming grade.

Materials, Resources and Accommodating Disabilities

This is a zero cost course. All textbook materials are freely available to enrolled students.

Textbooks
Additional readings and tutorials

You may find these resources helpful while working on the course

Technology

Hardware: a laptop computer (capable of running Python 3.9+) is needed to complete the classwork, programming assignments, capstone projects. Hunter College is committed to all students having the technology needed for their courses. If you are in need of technology, see Student Life's Support & Resources Page.

Software: all of the software and packages for this class is freely available. If you have a Windows machine, you may find it helpful to install Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), as we'll be leveraging unix/linux commands to install libraries, set up virtual environments, etc.

Gradescope: this course uses Gradescope for submitting and grading assignments. All students will be sent a registration invitation to the email on record on their Brightspace account. If you did not receive the email or would like to use a different account, contact us with your name (as it appears in Brightspace/CUNYFirst), your EmpID, and the preferred email, and we will manually generate an invitation. As a default, we use your name as it appears in Brightspace/CUNYFirst (to update CUNYFirst, see changing your personal information). If you prefer a different name for Gradescope, include it in the email and we will update the Gradescope registration.

Calendar

Some important dates to keep in mind this semester are: - February 18, 2025: no class (Monday schedule) - March 6, 2025: no class (Wednesday schedule) - March 13, 2025: midterm exam - May 20, 2025: final exam (see finals schedule)

Due dates for programming assignments and capstone projects will be shared in class and via Brightspace.

Academic integrity statement

Hunter College regards acts of academic dishonesty (e.g., plagiarism, cheating on examinations, obtaining unfair advantage, and falsification of records and official documents) as serious offenses against the values of intellectual honesty. The College is committed to enfor-cing the CUNY Policy on Academic Integrity and will pursue cases of academic dishonesty according to the Hunter College Academic Integrity Procedures.

Accommodating Disabilities

In compliance with the ADA and with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, Hunter College is committed to ensuring educational access and accommodations for all its registered students. Hunter College’s students with disabilities and medical conditions are encouraged to register with the Office of AccessABILITY for assistance and accommodation. For information and appointment contact the Office of AccessABILITY located in Room E1214 or call (212) 772-4857 /or VRS (646) 755-3129.

Hunter College Policy on Sexual Misconduct

In compliance with the CUNY Policy on Sexual Misconduct, Hunter College reaffirms the prohibition of any sexual misconduct, which includes sexual violence, sexual harassment, and gender-based harassment retaliation against students, employees, or visitors, as well as certain intimate relationships. Students who have experienced any form of sexual violence on or off campus (including CUNY-sponsored trips and events) are entitled to the rights outlined in the Bill of Rights for Hunter College

Sexual Violence: Students are strongly encouraged to immediately report the incident by calling 911, contacting NYPD Special Victims Division Hotline (646-610-7272) or their local police precinct, or contacting the College's Public Safety Office (212-772-4444).

All Other Forms of Sexual Misconduct: Students are also encouraged to contact the College's Title IX Campus Coordinator, Dean John Rose (jtrose@hunter.cuny.edu or 212-650-3262) or Colleen Barry (colleen.barry@hunter.cuny.edu or 212-772-4534) and seek complimentary services through the Counseling and Wellness Services Office, Hunter East 1123.

For more information, see the CUNY Policy on Sexual Misconduct.

Computer Science Department policy on Harassment, Bullying, and Hate

Bullying, cyberbullying, online hate, intimidation, threats, harassment, and pressure to share schoolwork are all forms of violence. CUNY holds a zero tolerance stance towards all such acts. The University is committed to prevention of any form of bullying, will respond promptly to threats and/or acts, and will protect victims of bullying from retaliation. As a criminal matter, the New York Attorney General defines cyberbullying as the use of email, websites, instant messaging, chat rooms, text messaging and digital cameras to antagonize and intimidate others. Disrupting a teleconferencing platform (such as Zoom/Skype/Brightspace Collaborate Ultra) is a federal crime.