Data Science and Journalism, BS (Boston) < Northeastern University Academic Catalog

The data science and journalism combined major offers students an opportunity to gain the skills to be able to engage in both the print and digital worlds of journalism. Students study the collection, manipulation, storage, retrieval, and computational analysis of data in its various forms, including numeric, textual, image, and video data. Combined with learning the principles, practices, and responsibilities of journalism, students can extract meaning from massive information flows and utilize it in effective investigative reporting.

Complete all courses listed below unless otherwise indicated. Also complete any corequisite labs, recitations, clinicals, or tools courses where specified and complete any additional courses needed beyond specific college and major requirements to satisfy graduation credit requirements.

Universitywide Requirements

All undergraduate students are required to complete the Universitywide Requirements.

NUpath Requirements

All undergraduate students are required to complete the NUpath Requirements.

Data Science Courses

Course List
Code	Title	Hours
Computer Science Overview
CS 1200	First Year Seminar	1
or JRNL 1000	Journalism at Northeastern
or INPR 1000	First-Year Interdisciplinary Seminar
CS 1210	Professional Development for Khoury Co-op	1
or EEAM 2000	Professional Development for Co-op
Computer Science Required Courses
All students can take a self-assessment to attempt to place out of CS 2000 and CS 2001. Students who place out of CS 2000 and CS 2001 will instead substitute 4-5 SH of CS, CY, or DS coursework at the 3000 level or higher not otherwise required in the degree.
CS 1800	Discrete Structures	4
CS 2000 and CS 2001	Introduction to Program Design and Implementation and Lab for CS 2000	5
CS 2100 and CS 2101	Program Design and Implementation 1 and Lab for CS 2100	5
DS 3500	Advanced Programming with Data	4
CS 3200	Introduction to Databases	4
CY 4170	The Law, Ethics, and Policy of Data and Digital Technologies	4
Data Science Foundations
DS 3000	Mathematical Foundations of Artificial Intelligence	4
DS 4200	Information Presentation and Visualization	4
DS 4300	Large-Scale Information Storage and Retrieval	4
DS 4400	Machine Learning	4
DS 4420	Advanced Machine Learning	4
Khoury Approved Electives
With advisor approval, directed study, research, project study, and appropriate graduate-level courses may also be taken as upper-division electives.
Complete 4 credits from within the following options:		4
CS 2300 or higher, except CS 5010
CY 2000 or higher, except CY 4930
DS 2500 or higher, except DS 4900
EECE 2160	Embedded Design: Enabling Robotics
EECE 2322 and EECE 2323	Fundamentals of Digital Design and Computer Organization and Lab for EECE 2322
MKTG 4606	Digital, Analytics, Technology, and Automation Research Practicum

Journalism Major Requirements

Students transferring from outside institutions must complete a minimum of five 4-semester-hour journalism courses at Northeastern, and these must include:

Course List
Code	Title	Hours
JRNL 2201	Journalism 2: Intermediate Reporting
JRNL 2301	Visual Storytelling in Journalism
JRNL 4650	Ethics and Diversity in the News Media

Course List
Code	Title	Hours
Journalism Courses
A grade of C or higher is required:
JRNL 1101 and JRNL 1102	Journalism 1: Fundamentals of Reporting and Writing and Journalist’s Toolbox	5
JRNL 2201	Journalism 2: Intermediate Reporting	4
JRNL 2301	Visual Storytelling in Journalism	4
JRNL 3610	Digital Storytelling and Social Media	4
Required Journalism
JRNL 1150	Understanding Today’s News	4
JRNL 3550	The First Amendment and the Media	4
JRNL 4650	Ethics and Diversity in the News Media	4
Journalism Electives
Complete three JRNL courses.		12

Supporting Courses

Course List
Code	Title	Hours
Mathematics Requirement
MATH 1341	Calculus 1 for Science and Engineering	4
Statistics Foundation
ECON 2350	Statistics for Economists	4
Computing and Social Issues
Complete one of the following:		4
AFCS 2600	Issues in Race, Science, and Technology
CY 4170	The Law, Ethics, and Policy of Data and Digital Technologies
CY 5240	Cyberlaw: Privacy, Ethics, and Digital Rights
DS 1300	Knowledge in a Digital World
or PHIL 1300	Knowledge in a Digital World
HIST 2220	History of Technology
INSH 2102	Bostonography: The City through Data, Texts, Maps, and Networks
JRNL 3700	Data Storytelling
PHIL 1145	Technology and Human Values
SOCL 1280	The Twenty-First-Century Workplace
SOCL 2485	Environment, Technology, and Society
SOCL 4528	Technology and Society

Writing Requirement

Course List
Code	Title	Hours
College Writing
ENGW 1111	First-Year Writing	4
Advanced Writing in the Disciplines
This course already fulfills a Journalism requirement above.
JRNL 2301	Visual Storytelling in Journalism

Integrative Requirement

Course List
Code	Title	Hours
Complete one of the following:		4
JRNL 3700	Data Storytelling
JRNL 5500	Coding for Digital Storytelling

Required General Electives

Course List
Code	Title	Hours
Complete 20 semester hours of general electives.		20

NUpath Requirements Satisfied

Engaging with the Natural and Designed World
Exploring Creative Expression and Innovation
Conducting Formal and Quantitative Reasoning
Analyzing and Using Data
Understanding Societies and Institutions
Employing Ethical Reasoning
Writing in the First Year
Advanced Writing in the Disciplines
Writing-Intensive in the Major
Demonstrating Thought and Action in a Capstone

Integrating Knowledge and Skills Through Experience is satisfied through co-op.

Journalism GPA Requirement

Minimum 2.000 GPA required in all JRNL courses

Program Requirement

131 total semester hours required

Four Years, Two Co-ops in Summer Session B/Fall

Year 1
Fall	Hours	Spring	Hours	Summer Session A	Hours	Summer Session B	Hours
CS 1200, JRNL 1000, or INPR 1000	1	CS 2100 and CS 2101	5	CS 3200	4	General Elective 1	4
CS 1800	4	JRNL 1101 and JRNL 1102	5	ECON 2350	4	General Elective 2	4
CS 2000 and CS 2001	5	JRNL 3550	4
ENGW 1111	4	MATH 1341	4
JRNL 1150	4
	18		18		8		8
Year 2
Fall	Hours	Spring	Hours	Summer Session A	Hours	Summer Session B	Hours
DS 3000¹	4	CS 1210 or EEAM 2000	1	General Elective 3	4	Co-op	0
DS 3500	4	DS 4200	4	General Elective 4	4
JRNL 2201	4	DS 4300	4
JRNL 2301	4	JRNL 3610	4
		JRNL 3700 or 5500	4
	16		17		8		0
Year 3
Fall	Hours	Spring	Hours	Summer Session A	Hours	Summer Session B	Hours
Co-op	0	DS 4400¹	4	Khoury Elective	4	Co-op	0
		JRNL 4650	4	General Elective 5	4
		Journalism Elective 1	4
		Journalism Elective 2	4
	0		16		8		0
Year 4
Fall	Hours	Spring	Hours
Co-op	0	CY 4170	4
		DS 4420¹	4
		Computing and Social Issues	4
		Journalism Elective 3	4
	0		16
Total Hours: 133

¹: Course must be taken in the indicated term or earlier

Four Years, Two Co-ops in Spring/Summer Session A

Year 1
Fall	Hours	Spring	Hours	Summer Session A	Hours	Summer Session B	Hours
CS 1200, JRNL 1000, or INPR 1000	1	CS 2100 and CS 2101	5	CS 3200	4	General Elective 1	4
CS 1800	4	ECON 2350	4	ECON 2350	4	General Elective 2	4
CS 2000 and CS 2001	5	JRNL 1101 and JRNL 1102	5
JRNL 1150	4	JRNL 3550	4
ENGW 1111	4
	18		18		8		8
Year 2
Fall	Hours	Spring	Hours	Summer Session A	Hours	Summer Session B	Hours
CS 1210 or EEAM 2000	1	Co-op	0	Co-op	0	General Elective 3	4
DS 3000¹	4					General Elective 4	4
DS 3500	4
JRNL 2201	4
JRNL 2301	4
	17		0		0		8
Year 3
Fall	Hours	Spring	Hours	Summer Session A	Hours	Summer Session B	Hours
DS 4200	4	Co-op	0	Co-op	0	Khoury Elective	4
DS 4300	4					General Elective 5	4
JRNL 3610	4
JRNL 3700 or 5500	4
	16		0		0		8
Year 4
Fall	Hours	Spring	Hours
DS 4400¹	4	CY 4170	4
JRNL 4650	4	DS 4420¹	4
Journalism Elective 1	4	Computing and Social Issues	4
Journalism Elective 2	4	Journalism Elective 3	4
	16		16
Total Hours: 133

¹: Course must be taken in the indicated term or earlier

Academic Catalog 2026-2027

Data Science and Journalism, BS (Boston)