Our award-winning faculty specialize in a variety of areas that intersect at this nexus, including computational modeling, complex systems theory, distributed cognition, categorization, psycholinguistics, cognitive linguistics, visual perception, cognitive engineering, service science, artificial intelligence, reasoning, computer vision, philosophy of mind, cognitive neuroscience, and bioinformatics. The M.S. program builds on on our well-established Ph.D. program, which has propelled students to successful data and cognitive science careers in academia as well as with companies such as Netflix, Accenture, Kaiser, Facebook, Cisco, and Salesforce. The average annual salary for data scientists in the United States is approximately $121,000, and the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that market demand for individuals trained in computer and information science research techniques is projected to grow 16 percent from 2018 to 2028, a rapid rate relative to other skill sets. With computational, technological, and application-oriented skills in these areas, students who graduate from the M.S. or Ph.D. programs will have career opportunities in both academia and industry.
To apply, visit the UC Merced Graduate Division website.
Application deadline is December 1. To see which faculty are recruiting, and their research interests, please see the faculty with asterisks (*) beside their name here. Prospective PhD students may contact potential advisors by email to see if their research interests are a good fit with the research currently being conducted in the lab; it can help to include a CV when reaching out.
Updated 2023
