When does it start?
Now!
You can access the course material immediately on signing up. We'll conduct weekly office hours to help you build your skills and solve your problems. Contact us offline as well
How long is it?
10 weeks
2-3 hours a week with live weekly office hours to keep you on track and motivated
How will I fit it in?
It's asynchronous and online!
Do the lessons when you can, and where you can. Join live, weekly sessions to discuss methods and challenges with your peers in the cohort and our instructors.
Is it for me?
Yes, if you want to apply machine learning and data science effectively to solve problems in the water sector.
No coding experience needed. Learn practical approaches to solving real-world problems and building models that work for the water sector from experts in the field.
Smart Water: $22 billion reasons to apply data science in water
Smart water is a $22 billion industry that has been growing exponentially over the last five years and is making an impact to the lives of billions of people by increasing access to safe water, minimizing operational costs and mitigating the impacts from floods and other water related disasters.
How is this done? How do you integrate statistics, water models, machine learning and smart sensor data effectively to build useful solutions?
Go from "I’ve never coded, I hate statistics and I’m not sure how useful machine learning and AI are to my problems" to "I can now build useful machine learning models, I understand when and how to apply data science, and I can successfully build and manage a team that can use these new technologies in my company and sector"
10 weeks to become a water data scientist
You've worked in the water and wastewater sector. You know the challenges associated with these systems - unpredictable natural processes, messy data, sparse data, sensors that collect data at different scales, models built in different programming languages, and stakeholders with different backgrounds whose perspectives need to be considered. And most of all, you know that water and wastewater systems need to be reliable and serve the community.
Get started using machine learning, remote sensing, spatial and temporal statistics to make water systems better.
Step by Step Guide to becoming a Water Data Scientist
Week 1: Getting Started with Data Science
Where can data science be used in water and wastewater? Install Python and QGIS, learn basic programming functions and build a program for water data
Week 2: The Essential Approach - Setting Up the Problem and Data Acquisition
Choose the problem in the water sector that you would like to solve as your course project. Understand the steps involved in analyzing the problem and setting up the model. Identify the datasets to be used. Create a program in Python to access data from multiple sources including satellite data
Week 3: Starting The Analysis - A Standard Statistics Approach
Learn the steps in building the model. Perform a standard statistical analysis using Python
Weeks 4-5: Analyzing The Data in Time and Space
Understand the basics behind spatial and temporal data analysis, including map projections. Build basic models analyzing the data over time and space using Python and QGIS.
Weeks 6-8: Building Machine Learning Models
Learn the different types of machine learning algorithms and where they can be used in the water sector. Build common machine learning models using Python, including regression, clustering, random forest and others. Identify the most useful for your application.
Weeks 9-10: Data Visualization and Storytelling
Understand your audience and the story behind your data and results. Build beautiful visualizations in Python. Learn effective communication strategies.
Meet your Instructor
Gayathri Gopalakrishnan, PhD is an award-winning scientist, engineer and entrepreneur who has been pioneering the integration of clean technology and data science since 2003. She has worked in multi-billion dollar organizations including Facebook and Argonne National Laboratory as well as several clean tech startups. Her scientific research has been recognized by the US National Academies of Science and Engineering for innovative environmental research and she was invited by the Obama White House to participate in the first conference on innovation in clean technology and big data. She received her PhD in Environmental Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and her Bachelors in Civil Engineering from BITS Pilani, India
From Our Students
The courses are really useful and easy to follow. It's a 2-for-1 in understanding which tools to learn and which to brush up which makes it easy to upskill at my job or find a new one.
Mary, Environmental Scientist
The instructor is very friendly and knows her subject! The course helped me get comfortable using and building data science models at my job.
Karen A., Water Manager and Data Analyst
I found the material very informative and interesting. It was a fascinating introduction to the applications of data science in clean technology
Ganesh, Data Scientist
What's Included
Don't wait to start using the latest tools and technologies. Become one of the sought after unicorns in the water sector - someone who is a domain expert and has the data science skills to effectively solve problems. And do it with our course in just 10 weeks.
You get
10 week course with an expected commitment of 2-3 hours per week
20+ hours of instruction and office hours
Online, asynchronous instruction designed for busy professionals
Live weekly office hours to connect directly with the instructor
A vibrant community of professionals who are all interested in data science and water.
A capstone project for you to demonstrate your skills to employers
A certificate of completion at the end of the course