About DISCOVERY

Data Science DISCOVERY: Foundations of AI and Data Science is an open-access platform through a cross-campus collaboration at The University of Illinois. Our mission is to provide open, accessible, and zero-paywall educational access for you to gain a deep understanding of foundational concepts in artificial intelligence and data science. Led by Dr. Wade Fagen-Ulmschneider and Dr. Karle Flanagan, you can join us in nerding out with:

• Over 40 professor-guided lessons organized into six modules teaching you foundational concepts in AI and data science,
• Over 20 real-world projects where you'll use apply the AI and data science skills you learned to discover insights about data,
• Over 500 mastery-based practice problems to test your understanding of what you've learned,
• Dozens of original, clean datasets that you can use in your own projects in any way,
• A DISCOVERY MicroCredential that you can earn and share with the world after completing DISCOVERY!

Illinois is Leading the Data Science Revolution

The DISCOVERY platform is the one part of Illinois' leadership in Data Science education and "Leading the Data Science Revolution". DISCOVERY has been adopted and used as the curriculum for several Data Science offerings across the state of Illinois. Including:

• CS 107 / IS 107 / STAT 107, a large freshman-level semester-long in-person course at The University of Illinois where Professors Flanagan and Fagen-Ulmschneider teach around 2,000 students /year.
• Digital Scholars at the Discovery Partners Institute (DPI), an intensive six-week summer program offered by DPI for Chicago-area high school students.
• Global Education and Training with Illinois International, creating inclusive engagement with global communities, governments, industry, and alumni.
• Teacher Training at the Discovery Partners Institute (DPI), focused on building capacity for schools to equip elementary school, high school, and community college educators to teach computing and tech-related courses.
• University of Illinois' Dual-Credit Initiative, piloting bringing Illinois courses directly to high school students.

CS 107 / IS 107 / STAT 107: Data Science Discovery

The DISCOVERY platform is used to teach the flagship Data Science course at The University of Illinois, CS 107 / IS 107 / STAT 107: Data Science Discovery. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, hundreds of students join Professors Karle and Wade for interactive, engaging, in-person lectures. In addition to lecture, students meet weekly for in-person lab sessions and weekly projects led by Teaching Assistants (TAs) and Course Assistants (CAs).

After growing for 18 students in Spring 2019 to over 1,800 students in the 2025 Academic Year, CS/STAT/IS 107 became the fastest growing new, residential course at The University of Illinois. And we're just getting started! 🎉

"We want every student at UIUC and beyond to have the opportunity to have meaningful experiences with data science, regardless of their background or major. We make that possible with our clear, understandable lessons and guides, real-world examples, and diverse applications across all disciplines."

Incredible Support

The DISCOVERY work has been supported by the most amazing partners:

• The University of Illinois' Data Science Education Council (DSEC)
• Associate Dean Shaowen Wang and College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (LAS)
• FY'2024 Investment for Growth (IfG) Program in the Office of the Provost
• Discovery Partners Institute (DPI) and the Grainger College of Engineering
• Siebel School of Computing and Data Science
• Associate Dean Matt Ando for advocating for data science and enabling the creation of DISCOVERY, who believed in DISCOVERY before anyone else!
• Undergraduate Research Assistants: Lauren Hyde