Data Engineering Graduate Certificate

Earn your data engineering certificate online

The field of data engineering is essential to virtually every major industry, from agriculture to healthcare to telecommunications.

Today’s data engineers are responsible for collecting, storing, manipulating, and protecting vast amounts of valuable information using a combination of interconnected software and hardware systems. Without these professionals, many organizations could no longer function, let alone grow.

This certificate will provide you with both the theoretical knowledge and applied data engineering skills to excel in a wide range of careers.

What you will learn

Developed by the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), this online certificate program leverages CSU’s cross-disciplinary strengths in systems engineering, biomedical engineering, and atmospheric science.

Learn to apply comprehensive engineering principles that yield meaningful data and shape future business strategies. Discover how to effectively capture, model, manage, and extract meaning from large data sets so you can drive strategic decision-making at every stage of the engineering process.

After successfully completing this program, you will:

• Understand how to apply end-to-end engineering principles that produce reliable, meaningful data sets and actionable insights
• Know how to set up effective data collection processes and experiments, and asses the physical engineering processes that govern the generation of that data
• Gain the knowledge to select and apply the most suitable mathematical tools for data modeling and interpretation to drive strategic decision-making
• Expand your analytical thinking as you learn to command algorithmic toolsets, design comprehensive experiments, develop new engineering systems, and efficiently manage data

Customize your plan of study to suit your career goals

This program’s flexible curriculum incorporates mathematics, statistics, computing, and engineering in a format that is accessible to a wide range of students, from current graduate students to mid-career engineers. When building your individual plan of study, select from four unique domains:

1. Signal and image processing
2. Biomedical engineering
3. Computer engineering
4. Systems engineering

Gain the skills to meet industry demand

Rather than just studying how to gather, interpret, and report on data, this program will give you the skills to engineer experiments that give rise to highly organized and deeply informative data sets. Doing this effectively requires an understanding of how to correctly set up experiments and the physical processes that govern the generation of data. Go beyond the fundamentals and dive into the specialized knowledge you need to thrive as a data engineering specialist.

Running the numbers: Career opportunities are on the rise

Demand is growing for highly qualified data engineers. This field spans disciplines and has become an invaluable tool for every major industry, from transportation to manufacturing to national defense. According to the recent State of Software Engineers report from Hired, demand for data engineers rose by 45 percent in 2019. A 2020 report on technology jobs by DICE also shows that “data engineer” was the fastest-growing job role in 2019, with a growth rate of 50 percent.

To earn your graduate certificate, you must successfully complete 12 credits from the following courses:

Theoretical Foundations (TF)

Select a minimum of 6 credits from the following:

• ECE 514 – Applications of Random Processes (3 cr.)
• ECE 520 – Optimization Methods-Control & Communication (3 cr.)
  OR
  ENGR 510 – Engineering Optimization: Method/Application (3 cr.)
• ECE 652 – Estimation and Filtering Theory (3 cr.)
• ECE 656 – Machine Learning and Adaptive Systems (3 cr.)
• SYSE 571 – Analytics in Systems Engineering (3 cr.)

Applications (AP)

Select a minimum of 3 credits from the following list of courses for specific engineering application domains:

AP: Signal and Image Processing

• ECE 512 – Digital Signal Processing (3 cr.)
• ECE 513 – Digital Image Processing (3 cr.)

AP: Biomedical Engineering

• ECE 517 – Advanced Optical Imaging (3 cr.)
  OR
  BIOM 517 – Advanced Optical Imaging (3 cr.)
• ECE 526 – Biological Physics (3 cr.)
  OR
  BIOM 526 – Biological Physics (3 cr.)
• ECE 537 – Biomedical Signal Processing (3 cr.)
  OR
  BIOM 537 – Biomedical Signal Processing (3 cr.)

AP: Computer Engineering

• ECE 554 – Computer Architecture (3 cr.)
• ECE 561 – Hardware/Software Design of Embedded Systems (4 cr.)
  OR
  CS 561 – Hardware/Software Design of Embedded Systems (4 cr.)
• ECE 658 – Internet Engineering (4 cr.)
  OR
  CS 658 – Internet Engineering (4 cr.)

AP: Systems Engineering

• SYSE 532 – Dynamics of Complex Engineering Systems (3 cr.)
  OR
  ECE 532 – Dynamics of Complex Engineering Systems (3 cr.)
• SYSE 569 – Cybersecurity Awareness for Systems Engineers (3 cr.)

Total Credits: 12

Note: This certificate may have courses in common with other graduate certificates. A student may earn more than one certificate, but a given course may be counted toward only one certificate.

Note: Additional coursework may be required due to prerequisites.

Note: ECE 520 and ENGR 510 cannot be both taken to satisfy this requirement.

Application Deadlines