Introduction to Data Science 📊 | Spring 2026
Understanding data and how it shapes the world around us
Spring 2026
PETER 110
Tues & Thurs 9:30-10:50AM
If you are joining the course late and would still like to earn full credit for assignments, please read this! Please also note that I have no control over the waitlist. Please email cogsadvising@ucsd.edu or drop in their office hours (your best bet)!
Office Hours
- Prof. Lai:
- Tues, 1-2:30pm (1-1, book ↗ only) @ CSB 244 or Zoom
- Tues, 2:45-4pm (open office hours, walk-in!) @ CSB Courtyard ↗
- TAs: During discussion section
- PLAs:
- Mon, 1-2pm @ CSB Courtyard ↗ (in-person only!) with Alex Nieto
- Mon, 4-5pm @ Zoom ↗ with Gabriel Lopes
- Mon, 7-8p @ Zoom ↗ with Yash Date
- Tues, 2-3pm, @ HDSI 155 + Zoom ↗ with Amelia Oo + Tanvi Vidyala
- Tues, 5-6pm, @ HDSI 155 + Zoom ↗ with Michael Yang
Week 1 - Intro to Data Science
📘 Read Syllabus & Course Policies
📘 Read R1: 50 Years of Data Science
- 🧑🏫 Tue Mar 31
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LEC 1 Course overview & what is data science?
slides -
MISC 💡 Webclicker 101
- 🧑🏫 Wed Apr 1
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DISC NO SECTION IN WEEK 1!
- 🧑🏫 Thu Apr 2
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LEC 2 Data science questions
slides
Week 2 - Ethics & Data
📘 Read R2: Ethics Readings
- 🧑🏫 Tue Apr 7
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LEC 3 Ethics and privacy
slides -
MISC Pre-Course Survey DUE @ 11:59pm submit here
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QUIZ Syllabus Quiz DUE @ 11:59pm submit here
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QUIZ R1 Quiz DUE @ 11:59pm submit here
- 🧑🏫 Wed Apr 8
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DISC 9am & 11am sections (Fuling)
slides -
DISC 10am & 12pm sections (Tony)
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DISC 1pm & 2pm sections (Jiesen)
slides - 🧑🏫 Thu Apr 9
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LEC 4 Data & data types
slides
Week 3 - Data Collection and Wrangling
📘 Read R3: Data Organization Readings
- 🧑🏫 Tue Apr 14
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LEC 5 Obtaining data
slides -
QUIZ R2 Quiz DUE @ 11:59pm submit here
- 🧑🏫 Wed Apr 15
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DISC 9am & 11am sections (Fuling)
slides -
DISC 10am & 12pm sections (Tony)
slides -
DISC 1pm & 2pm sections (Jiesen)
slides -
PROJ Project Group-Finding Form DUE submit here
- 🧑🏫 Thu Apr 16
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GUEST [ZOOM] Guest lecture: Steven Zhang - Co-Founder, Interconnection.fyi & ClimateTechList (see details on Canvas)
Week 4
- 🧑🏫 Tue Apr 21
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LEC 6 Data wrangling
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QUIZ R3 Quiz DUE @ 11:59pm submit here
- 🧑🏫 Wed Apr 22
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DISC ALL Sections — Exam 1 Review (Practice questions linked below)
slides - 🧑🏫 Thu Apr 23
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EXAM EXAM 1 (In-class, 50-60 MC questions, 80 mins; Please contact Prof. Lai if you will require accommodated testing. If you miss the exam for any other reason, please contact your section TA/PLA ASAP!)
slides
Week 5 - Data Visualization & EDA
📘 Read R4: Data Visualization Readings
- 🧑🏫 Tue Apr 28
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LEC 7 Data visualization
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PROJ P1 Group Project Checkpoint 1 DUE @ 11:59pm submit here
- 🧑🏫 Wed Apr 29
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DISC ALL Sections — Post-exam review
- 🧑🏫 Thu Apr 30
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LEC 8 Exploratory data analysis
Week 6 - Statistical Inference & Machine Learning
- 🧑🏫 Tue May 5
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LEC 9 Statistical inference & hypothesis testing
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QUIZ R4 Quiz DUE @ 11:59pm submit here
- 🧑🏫 Wed May 6
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DISC 9am & 11am sections (Fuling)
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DISC 10am & 12pm sections (Tony)
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DISC 1pm & 2pm sections (Jiesen)
- 🧑🏫 Thu May 7
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GUEST Guest lecture: Eshed Margalit — Director of Machine Learning Research, Noetik
Week 7 - Machine Learning
- 🏠 Tue May 12
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LEC 10 Machine learning I - Supervised Learning
- 🧑🏫 Wed May 13
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DISC 9am & 11am sections (Fuling)
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DISC 10am & 12pm sections (Tony)
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DISC 1pm & 2pm sections (Jiesen)
- 🧑🏫 Thu May 14
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LEC 11 Machine learning II - Supervised Learning Model Evaluation
Week 8 - Machine Learning & Reproducibility
📘 Read R5: Machine Learning Readings
- 🏠 Tue May 19
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LEC 12 Machine learning III - Unsupervised Learning & Reinforcement Learning
- 🧑🏫 Wed May 20
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DISC ALL Sections - Exam 2 Review
- 🧑🏫 Thu May 21
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LEC 13 Algorithmic Bias & Fairness
Week 9
- 🧑🏫 Tue May 26
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GUEST Guest lecture: Emily Jones — Senior Data Scientist, Epic Games
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QUIZ R5 Quiz DUE @ 11:59pm submit here
- 🧑🏫 Wed May 27
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DISC Post-exam reflection (all sections)
- 🧑🏫 Thu May 28
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EXAM EXAM 2 (In-class, 50-60 MC questions, 80 mins; Please contact Prof. Lai if you will require accommodated testing. If you miss the exam for any other reason, please contact your section TA/PLA ASAP!)
Week 10 - Applications & Future of Data Science
- 🏠 Tue Jun 2
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LEC 14 Data science applications
- 🧑🏫 Wed Jun 3
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DISC 9am & 11am sections (Fuling)
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DISC 10am & 12pm sections (Tony)
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DISC 1pm & 2pm sections (Jiesen)
- 🧑🏫 Thu Jun 4
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LEC 15 Future of data science
Week 11 - Final Project
🎥 Final project due this week. **NO FINAL EXAM!**
- 🏠 Tue Jun 9
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PROJ P2 Group Project Checkpoint 2 DUE @ 11:59pm submit here