The 190 students graduating this week from Columbia’s Data Science Institute aren’t heading into a single field—they’re stepping into roles that span tech, research, health, government, and more—bringing data science to problems that cross disciplines and institutions.

Some are joining tech powerhouses like Google and Microsoft. Others are heading to NASA, the United Nations, and the World Bank. One has taken a managerial role in beauty tech as another conducts healthcare research and another becomes a software engineer. A few are moving into PhD programs. Others are launching startups.

What they share goes beyond a foundation in computation and statistics. They carry an understanding of the power of those tools—and the responsibility that comes with them.

“Technical fluency isn’t enough,” said Garud Iyengar, Avanessians Director of the Data Science Institute and Professor of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, during a reception for graduates. “During your time here, you also came to understand something harder to teach—how to think critically about data science. How to ask what it can do, and maybe what it should do.”

That mindset– thinking not just about what data science can do, but what it should do — is at the core of DSI’s mission: using data for good. DSI graduates are doing just that, within their careers and within the DSI community itself.

Two students were recognized for their service and leadership. Isaac Peabody received the Patricia J. Culligan Award for Service and the Data Science Institute Course Assistant Award. Jaclyn Vu received the DSI Community Catalyst Award for her work across a range of roles—from serving on student council to later joining the student affairs team.

For this graduating class, while every diploma says “data science,” the work they’ll go on to do—from climate to finance, infrastructure to public health—won’t fit in any single category. They all studied data science. Now they’re out in the world, putting it to work.