Public Health 345 - Public Health Data Science
Fall
2025
01
3.00
Renu Sharma-Gehring
TU TH 1:00PM 2:15PM
UMass Amherst
69209
Lederle Grad Res Tower Rm 177
rsharmagehri@umass.edu
Implementing evidence-based public health requires us to examine evidence in order to make the best decisions we can to improve the health of communities and populations. Data science is a rapidly growing discipline which combines programming skills, statistical knowledge and applied subject expertise to examine data to answer questions and make informed decisions. In this course we will learn which kinds of questions to ask, how to visualize and model data to answer those questions, and how to communicate our findings. You will gain hands-on experience through in-class coding activities as well as homework assignments. The course will culminate in an original data analysis project. The data sets used in this class will be real public health related data sets. All coding will be done in R, a popular free open-source data analysis program. Class sessions will consist of a combination of lectures and group team-based learning exercises.
Open to junior and senior Public Health majors only. If the class and the Spire waitlist are full and/or you are unable to self-enroll in this course (for another reason), please complete this waitlist link: https://tinyurl.com/PHWaitlist-Electives
Seats will open to non-PubHlth majors after pre-registration is complete