Why Computational Social Science?

The CSS major or minor will prepare students to understand, engage with, and solve evolving, complex challenges such as climate change, social polarization, and inequality. By learning coding languages to analyze and visualize large data sets, students will gain the capacity to explore their interests using the data sources that surround us. Making your own discoveries, uncovering patterns and finding innovate solutions is central to computational social science. Graduates will enter a fast-growing, field with real impact on the world.

Combining core CSS skills and interdisciplinary electives, students gain real-world experience and the flexibility to tailor their education while tackling issues ranging from public health to AI’s societal impacts. Through small class sizes, personalized mentorship, and collaborative research opportunities, students graduate as leaders ready to address complex socio-economic and environmental challenges, foster smart governance and informed public engagement and discourse.

At UT and beyond, CSS graduates will lead efforts to inform policy decisions, spark public engagement, and improve science communication, while advancing smart governance, equitable decision-making, and the flow of information between science and society. With their ability to analyze and address how socio-economic disparities become entrenched in institutional norms, CSS graduates will enter fields like municipal government, public policy, and global innovation.

Careers

The job market for Computational Social Sciences (CSS) is rapidly expanding across business, government, academia, and research. CSS research centers are being launched at leading universities globally, reflecting the field’s growing influence.

Graduates of CSS programs are highly employable, with career opportunities in roles like data scientist, social policy analyst, market analyst, and public health data strategist. Employers range from tech giants like Google, which uses CSS to address the societal impacts of AI, to government agencies shaping policy, non-profits driving social change, and consulting firms like McKinsey and Deloitte. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Research, employment in the broader computational and data science sector is growing at 5 percent annually, with an average salary of more than $100,000.