Designated Emphasis CSS
Since Fall 2019, the DE in Computational Social Science has been offered to PhD students from selected graduate programs/groups, and since 2024, it is open to PhD students from any graduate program/group. Completion of the requirements for the DE and an affiliated Ph.D. are reflected in the notation on the Doctoral Diploma: “Ph.D. in X with Emphasis in Computational Social Science”.
Computational Social Science is about developing and applying computational tools to deepen our understanding of long–standing questions in the social sciences, as well as exploring new ones. As suggested by the term itself, the approach is per definition interdisciplinary in terms of requiring foundations in computational methods and social science theory, and it is multidisciplinary in terms of blurring the traditional boundaries between disciplines in the social sciences. Some 30 faculty members from 10 Departments of UC Davis are part of the DE.
The DE CSS allows students with computational and mathematical skills to deepen their understanding of social science theory and it allows students from the social sciences to improve their analytical skills in areas like big data analysis, computer simulations, network analysis, and machine learning. The DE requires at least 4 courses, consisting of one required course and 3 electives, with one elective required from each of the following 3 different categories: