The Institute is delighted to announce its practicum sponsors for the Master of Science in Analytics (MSA) Class of 2024. Student teams are tasked with projects from 18 sponsoring organizations. Once again this year the Institute welcomes an impressive line-up of new and returning sponsors to work with our students over the next 8 months, including our first projects with the Air Force Safety Center, Antares Audio Technologies, Exovera, Hitachi Energy, Skin Laundry, Wells Fargo, the NC Department of Health and Human Services, and the US Department of Education.
“We are extremely grateful to all of the sponsoring organizations—new and returning—for providing our students this valuable opportunity to develop their skills,” said the Institute’s director Dr. Michael Rappa. “The practicum is key to the MSA learning experience. It’s terrific to see our students working on real-world projects with such a diverse group of sponsors. The Institute applauds their commitment to the education of aspiring data scientists.”
A total of 46 practicum proposals where received through an open solicitation earlier in the year. The proposals were reviewed by a panel of faculty and staff members who weighed the scope, challenge, and learning value of the project. All of the projects are conducted under confidentiality and there is no fee for sponsors to participate.
Since 2007 the Institute’s students have engaged 288 team projects with 147 lead sponsors from industry and government. Interested organizations are welcome to contact the Institute to learn more about practicum sponsorship.
Air Force Safety Center (Albuquerque, New Mexico) – The Air Force Safety Center develops, implements, executes and evaluates Department of the Air Force aviation, occupational, weapons, space and system mishap prevention and nuclear surety programs and policy. The center oversees mishap investigations, evaluates corrective actions, ensures implementation and maintains the mishap database department-wide. It also conducts research to promote safety awareness/mishap prevention and develops and directs safety and risk-management education for all safety disciplines. (Sector: Armed Forces)
Align Technology (Tempe, Arizona) – Twenty years ago, Align pioneered the world’s first clear aligners. Since then, they have continuously innovated with new medical products and technologies that are revolutionizing treatments for doctors and their patients. (Sector: Medical Equipment Manufacturing)
Antares Audio Technologies (Santa Cruz, California) – Antares Audio Technologies is best known as the developer of Auto-Tune, the industry standard for professional pitch-correction and the tool of choice for the most prominent vocal effect in popular music. Antares tools and technologies include microphone modeling, formant and throat modeling; harmonizing and doubling; and noise reduction. Their solutions are used in music production as well as sound design for video and games. Most of these key technologies are available for licensing. (Sector: Musicians)
Atrium Health (Charlotte, North Carolina) – Atrium Health is a nationally recognized leader in shaping health outcomes through innovative research, education and compassionate patient care. Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, Atrium Health is proud to be a part of Advocate Health, the third-largest nonprofit health system, serving nearly 6 million patients across six states. It provides care under the Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist name in the Winston-Salem, North Carolina, region, as well as Atrium Health Navicent and Atrium Health Floyd in Georgia and Alabama. (Sector: Hospitals and Health Care)
Bank of America (Charlotte, North Carolina) – Bank of America is one of the world’s largest financial institutions, serving individuals, small- and middle-market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services. The company serves approximately 56 million U.S. consumer and small business relationships. It is among the world’s leading wealth management companies and is a global leader in corporate and investment banking and trading. (Sector: Banking)
Brightly (Cary, North Carolina) – Brightly, a Siemens company, the global leader in intelligent asset management solutions, enables organizations to transform the performance of their assets. Brightly’s sophisticated cloud-based platform leverages more than 20 years of data to deliver predictive insights that help users through the key phases of the entire asset lifecycle. More than 12,000 clients of every size worldwide depend on Brightly’s complete suite of intuitive software. Paired with award-winning training, support and consulting services, Brightly helps light the way to a bright future with smarter assets and sustainable communities. (Sector: Software Development)
Central Intelligence Agency (McLean, Virginia) – The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is the Nation’s premier agency for providing global intelligence in the ever-changing political, social, economic, technological and military landscapes. Its mission is straightforward but critical: protect America’s national security. By collecting valuable foreign intelligence, conducting timely analysis, and executing covert actions, CIA preempts threats and protects everything we hold dear. From data analysis to clandestine operations to cyber security, our efforts are innovative, impactful, collaborative, and driven by its mission. (Sector: International Affairs)
Daimler Truck North America (Portland, Oregon) – Daimler Truck North America, a Daimler Truck AG company, is the largest heavy-duty truck manufacturer in North America and a leading producer of medium-duty trucks and specialized commercial vehicles. Headquartered in Portland, Oregon, Daimler Truck North America manufactures, sells and services several renowned commercial vehicle brands including Freightliner Trucks, Western Star Trucks, Thomas Built Buses, and Freightliner Custom Chassis. (Sector: Motor Vehicle Manufacturing)
Elevate (Fort Worth, Texas) – Elevate, and the banks it supports, provide responsible, tech-enabled online credit solutions to consumers for immediate relief today and help them build a brighter financial future. They are committed to rewarding borrowers’ good financial behavior with features like interest rates that can go down over time, free financial training and free credit monitoring (Sector: Financial Services)
Exovera (Vienna, Virginia) – From open source to insight, Exovera empowers our customers to better understand the complex geopolitical issues of the Great Power Competition. We offer an ecosystem of vertically integrated solutions, delivered through an open architecture and extensible data fabric, that enable results at scale for our clients. (Sector: Information Services)
Fifth Third Bank (Cincinnati, Ohio) – Headquartered in Cincinnati, Fifth Third Bank is among the largest money managers in the Midwest. It operates four main businesses—Commercial Banking, Branch Banking, Consumer Lending, and Wealth & Asset Management—and a network of financial centers in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Florida, Tennessee, West Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. Consumers have access to approximately 54,000 Fifth Third fee-free ATMs across the United States. (Sector: Financial Services)
Hitachi Energy (Zurich, Switzerland) – Hitachi Energy is a global technology leader that is advancing a sustainable energy future for all. We serve customers in the utility, industry and infrastructure sectors with innovative solutions and services across the value chain. Together with customers and partners, we pioneer technologies and enable the digital transformation required to accelerate the energy transition towards a carbon-neutral future. We are advancing the world’s energy system to become more sustainable, flexible and secure whilst balancing social, environmental and economic value. (Sector: Appliances, Electrical, and Electronics Manufacturing)
NC Department of Health and Human Services (Raleigh, North Carolina) – The Department of Health and Human Services manages the delivery of health- and human-related services for all North Carolinians, especially our most vulnerable citizens – children, elderly, disabled and low-income families. The Department works closely with health care professionals, community leaders and advocacy groups; local, state and federal entities; and many other stakeholders to make this happen. (Sector: Government Administration)
OneMain Financial (Evansville, Indiana) – OneMain Financial is the leader in offering nonprime customers responsible access to credit and is dedicated to improving the financial well-being of hardworking Americans. Since 1912, its growing suite of personal loans, credit cards and other products help people borrow better and work toward a brighter future. In 1,400 community branches and across the U.S., OneMain members help millions of customers solve critical financial needs, including debt consolidation, home and auto repairs, medical procedures and extending household budgets. (Sector: Financial Services)
Skin Laundry (El Segundo, California) – Skin Laundry is changing the way people treat and transform their skin through safe, effective, and affordable energy facials. The flagship location in Santa Monica opened in 2013, and there are currently over 30 clinics across the U.S. and around the globe. (Sector: Wellness and Fitness Services)
Trillium Health Resources (Greenville, North Carolina) – Trillium Health Resources manages specialty behavioral health care for eastern North Carolinians across 28 counties. Trillium is committed to transforming lives and building community well-being through partnership, access to services and proven solutions designed to help those we serve reach their fullest potential. Everyone on Trillium’s staff–care managers, call center, claims agents, project managers, and IT staff–all contribute to this mission. (Sector: Insurance)
U.S. Department of Education (Washington, DC) – The DOE mission is to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access. (Sector: Government Administration)
Wells Fargo (San Francisco, California) – Wells Fargo is a diversified, community-based financial services company with approximately $1.9 trillion in assets. Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco, Wells Fargo provides banking, investment and mortgage products and services, as well as consumer and commercial finance, through more than 7,300 locations, 12,000 ATMs, the internet and mobile banking, and has offices in over 40 countries and territories to support customers who conduct business in the global economy. With approximately 250,000 team members, Wells Fargo serves one in three households in the United States. (Sector: Financial Services)