U.S. News and World Report’s guide to the best careers published this month lists data miner as one of a dozen “ahead of the curve” careers for 2009:
Data mining is a great career for people who would enjoy using statistics to unearth patterns in data, using ever more powerful software. Opportunities are particularly good if you also have business sense and the ability to tease out the information that bosses really want to know.
The Institute is pleased to announce a newly established Industry Advisory Board (IAB) to provide guidance on the MSA curriculum. The IAB is composed of two-dozen companies that represent a variety of industry segments from across the country. The first meeting of the IAB is scheduled for February on NC State’s Centennial Campus. Participating companies Continue reading “Companies Join Advisory Board”
As most students are leaving campus for winter break, MSA students are gearing up to complete an intensive communication boot camp designed by professional industry trainer Bart Queen of C3 Communications. Employers want most to hire recruits with stronger communications skills. The MSA program addresses this need head-on with 30 hours of communications training over three days of the winter break. Students are divided into Continue reading “Students Tackle Communications Boot Camp”
Jack Shostak, associate director of statistical programming at the Duke Clinical Research Institute (or DCRI—part of Duke University), spoke with MSA students about the analytical challenges of working with clinical data. Shostak is author of SAS Programming in the Pharmaceutical Industry (SAS Press, 2005) and co-author (with Glenn Walker) of the forthcoming 3rd edition of Common Statistical Methods for Clinical Research with SAS Examples.
Laura Ladrie and John Jernigan delivered a presentation today on the Institute’s use of various web-based student services (calendar, forum, email, etc.) to a standing room only audience at UNC Cause held November 17-19 in Greensboro. The purpose of the conference is to promote cooperation, information exchange and the leveraging of IT among the 16 campuses of the UNC System. The topic of the talk is a timely one. The UNC System administration is working diligently to consolidate services, reduce operating costs and deliver high quality service to its students. The reliance on web-based services enables the Institute to be flexible, fast and cost-effective in the deployment of its innovative curriculum.
John Correllus, director of business intelligence for the North Carolina Department of Commerce, spoke with MSA students today about the department’s Economic Development Intelligence System (EDIS) online database. Using EDIS, individuals can access reporting and mapping tools that are deployed through SAS’s BI platform. The use of geographic information in conjunction with analytical techniques has been an ongoing area of study for MSA students under the instruction of Dr. Hugh Devine. In the session students were shown a practical application of analytics for economic development along with the integration of mapping tools. Students discussed the reports and maps that can geographically display information such as demographics, consumer expenditures and income.
With the opening today of its new facility in the Venture 2 Building, the Institute has consolidated its operations in a single location on Centennial Campus. The new space occupies 8,000 square feet of the building’s top floor and includes a classroom, student work areas, teleconference rooms, and offices for faculty and staff—with ubiquitous, secure wireless Internet access. Situated in the heart of the five-building Venture complex, Venture 2 offers much needed accommodations to operate the Master of Science in Analytics degree program and its current cohort of 35 students. Located in Suite 530, the Institute is neighbored on the fifth floor with NC State’s DELTA unit. Special thanks to the Institute’s associate director, Kathy Green, who led the effort to design and furnish the new facility. UPDATE: An open house for friends of the Institute is scheduled for 12:00-2:00 PM on Friday, December 5.
The Analytics Practicum is a team-based component of the MSA curriculum that gives students an opportunity to work together on real-world projects sponsored by industry. The Institute is pleased to announce our project sponsors for 2008-09 include: Continue reading “Analytics Practicum Projects Announced”
A special feature of the MSA program is the option for students to gain valuable professional certifications in parallel with their degree. Such certifications include SAS (Base Programming, Advanced Programming, and Predictive Modeling), Six Sigma (Green Belt), and communication skills from industry trainer. Individuals with professional certifications are highly sought after by employers. In the first three months of the program, 95% of the MSA Class of Continue reading “MSA Students Earn Professional Certifications”
The Institute is pleased to announce that David Dobson (MSA Class of 2008) has been selected as one of the winners of the student poster contest of the M2008 Data Mining Conference for his paper entitled “Segmenting Textual Data: Analyzing Questions on Auto Insurance Claims.” David will attend the conference in Las Vegas later this month to accept the prize. Dobson is currently a member of the faculty at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Vancouver. Congratulations, David, on the well-deserved recognition of his work!