Students October 13, 2026
New biotech courses offered through Continuing Education
Continuing Education -
The University of Utah is offering a set of short online courses to help working professionals keep up. The Biotech Data Science micro-credential program teaches practical computing, data and statistics skills without the commitment of a degree program. It was built by the Kahlert School of Computing, University of Utah Health Sciences and University of Utah Continuing Education, with Utah’s job market in mind. The focus is on abilities you can use at work right away.
Many professionals know they need these skills but can’t pause their careers to get them. “We know many working professionals need upskilling in data science but don’t have the time to start over with a typical semester-long intro programming or data science course,” said Jeff Phillips, professor in the Kahlert School of Computing and director of the Biotech Data Science Program. “This program addresses that by being self-paced and focused on essential skills, and it’s prepared by data science experts. Students get the skills they need to work in a data-driven world.”
Start small and build from there
You don’t have to sign up for a long program. Each course stands on its own, so you can take one to learn a single skill or combine several to show broader expertise.
Topics include R and Python programming, cleaning messy data, statistics and data science ethics. Other courses cover data visualization, machine learning, natural language processing and SQL.
The courses fit people at different stages, from beginners to those ready for more advanced options. “Data science is quickly becoming an essential skill to work in biotech,” Phillips said. “We crafted this program for those with no programming or data science background, so they can quickly get up to speed with the practical skills they need.”
Turn courses into University of Utah credentials
Courses can also add up to something bigger. By completing a set pathway of courses, learners can earn a University of Utah badge showing they’ve mastered a particular area. Badge pathways cover R programming, statistical analysis with R, data wrangling, machine learning and Python-based data science.
Employers see the value in this kind of learning, too. In a survey by UPCEA and Collegis Education, 95% of organizational leaders said they saw benefits to employees earning micro-credentials.
Bringing the university’s expertise to the workforce
The program draws on years of work building the university’s undergraduate data science curriculum. Instructors have distilled it into the core skills that matter most in biotech, broken it into concise modules and paced it for people who already have a degree and want to upskill.
Employers can use the program to help their teams build new skills or move into new roles in data-heavy fields.
To learn more, visit continue.utah.edu/proed/biotech or email microcredentials@utah.edu.
