The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) awarded a five-year, $12 million contract to the University of Missouri College of Engineering to deliver a comprehensive data science education program that will provide analytical training for the NGA workforce and potentially other members of the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC).
The newly established effort is part of the NGA’s College Learning Outreach program that works with academic institutions and industry partners to address key education and training gaps within the NGA.
Mizzou will provide a comprehensive data science education program that includes databases and programming, statistical analyses and predictive modeling, data visualization and data mining, cloud-based computing, and machine learning among other specialties that will help develop the NGA and intelligence community workforce.
“Faculty from MU’s Center for Geospatial Intelligence have worked on a wide variety of NGA and IC-funded projects over the last 10 years, so we have a great appreciation and deep respect for the NGA mission,” said Curt Davis, director for the Center for Geospatial Intelligence and professor of electrical and computer engineering.
The MU Data Science and Analytics master’s degree was developed as an online-only program for professional workforce training. It was adapted to meet specific NGA requirements for on-site instruction at NGA locations in St. Louis and Washington, D.C. MU faculty members who hold appropriate security clearances and have data science expertise will teach at these locations, and this will allow government participants to earn graduate-level credit at MU for all the program courses.
NGA and other IC workforce participants enrolled in the program will have the ability to earn a graduate certificate in data science and a master’s degree from the University of Missouri.
NGA estimates about 1,800 participants from 60 different work roles will take courses from the program, with more than 500 NGA employees completing a program of data science courses that will help them earn a graduate certificate in data science
For more information about the Data Science and Analytics program, visit dsa.missouri.edu.