Graduate Certificate Program in Data Mining

Data Mining is becoming a pervasive technology. Government, and other organizations are increasingly using it to gain competitive advantaes. We have in the Volgenau School a body of courses that can be leveraged to offer a certificate. The graduate certificate program in Data Mining is intended for people interested in the analysis and knowledge discovery from large and diverse data sources. The goal of the program is to study the data mining concepts and successful applications. The certificate in data mining may be pursued concurrently with any of the graduate programs in the Volgenau School.

Admission Requirements

  1. Hold a four-year (120 credits) baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution.
  2. Have earned a grade point average of 3.0 or better in the last 60 credits of undergraduate study.
  3. Submit a departmental self-evaluation form, which can be obtained from the department. This form provides summary information concerning background and preparation for the program.
  4. Provide a brief (one- to two-page) statement of educational and work experience in the computing field that includes a statement of career goals.
  5. Show proof of a satisfactory score on the Graduate Record Exam (GRE), if required. The test should have been taken within five years of applying for admission. ISE has the following policy with regard to the GRE. The test is required for each applicant unless the applicant
    • has an undergraduate degree in science or engineering from a U.S. university and graduated with a GPA of 3.0 or better in the last 60 hours; or
    • has a graduate degree in a related field from a U.S. university; or
    • has been admitted as a non-degree student and meets all the following requirements: has an undergraduate degree from a U.S. university, has an undergraduate GPA of 3.0 or better in the last 60 hours; and received at least a B in all foundation courses taken at GMU or elsewhere.
  6. Submit the appropriate application form with three letters of recommendation from persons directly knowledgeable of the applicant's professional and academic competence.
  7. TOEFL for international students.

Each applicant must posses knowledge equivalent to that provided by the following courses:
  • CS 310     Computer Science III
  • STAT 344  Probability and Statistics for Engineers and Scientists

Students not enrolled in a graduate degree program at GMU application to the Data Mining certificate program is made through the Graduate Admissions Office of the Volgenau School. Students enrolled in a graduate degree program at Mason should apply to ISE department for admission into the certificate program.

Admission to the certificate does not guarantee admission to any of the graduate programs in the school

Certificate Requirements

Students must complete five courses, at least one from three different groups, with an average grade of B or better, for a total of 15 credits of graduate study.
  1. Group I
    • CS 750   Theory and applications of data mining
    • IT 844    Pattern Recognition
  2. Group II
    • STAT 663/CSI 773 Statistical Graphics and Data Exploration
    • STAT 753              Computer Intrusion Detection
    • IT 871                   Statistical Data Mining
    • IT 875/CIS 703     Scientific and Statistical Visualization
  3. Group III
  4. Group IV
    • SYS/STAT 664   Bayesian Inference and Decision Analysis

For Further Information

Additional information on the program is available from the ISE Student Advisor

Financial aid information is available at the GMU Office of Financial Aid

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Effective Fall 2007
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