MSA '26 students test out VR Present headsets

Institute Hosts “Tours, Talks & Tech” Open House

Posted on by Val Schwartz

On Wednesday, October 8 from 4-6 p.m., the NC State Institute for Advanced Analytics team hosted an open house called Tours, Talks & Tech at the IAA.

Goodnight Executive Director Bill Rand spoke about the impacts of AI on data science education and practice, and offered a brief summary of his vision for the Institute moving forward.

Goodnight Executive Director Bill Rand

Assistant Teaching Professor Sarah Egan Warren provided opportunities for guests to try the VR Present technology she developed in partnership with NC State’s DELTA.

A panel of Institute alumni discussed the ways they’re leveraging AI in their roles, as well as ideas for how to identify job candidates with strong critical and creative thinking skills. Many thanks to our panelists:

  • Moderator: Aimee Marva ’15, Senior Director, AML Analytics & Operations, Ally
  • Ruth Goulding ’18, Principal Data Scientist and Software Engineer, Visionist
  • Shreye Saxena ’18, Senior Data Scientist II, Axios
  • Jim Box ’14, Principal Data Scientist, Healthcare & Life Sciences, SAS
  • Hiwot Tesfaye ’16, Technical Advisor, Responsible AI, Microsoft
  • Elaine Huspeni ’22, Senior Data Scientist, AVP, Fifth Third Bank
Aimee Marva '15, Ruth Goulding '18, Shreye Saxena '18, Jim Box '14, Hiwot Tesfaye '16, and Elaine Huspeni '22

The open house was a great opportunity for alumni, current and prospective MSA students, faculty, staff, and friends of the IAA to build connections and learn from one another.

This event was part of NC State’s Data Science & AI Week (October 6-10).

Dr. Bill Rand

Welcome, Dr. Rand!

Posted on by Val Schwartz

On July 1, Bill Rand joined the Institute for Advanced Analytics as its Goodnight Executive Director. Rand, who comes to us from NC State’s Poole College of Management, is responsible for ensuring the IAA’s curriculum excellence, high-quality student experiences, and effective enrollment management, as well as fostering cross-campus collaboration. Learn more.

Aric LaBarr

Congratulations to Dr. LaBarr

Posted on by admin

The Institute congratulates Dr. Aric LaBarr on his new faculty position in Winston-Salem. Dr. LaBarr has been a mainstay instructor at the Institute since its earliest years, while completing his Ph.D. in Statistics, and therefore, he has played a role in the education of most of our 1,500 graduates. He is without question one of the country’s finest instructors in our field of study. We wish him the very best in his new endeavor.

Venture 3 – corner of Main and Varsity.

On the Move

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NC State University’s Board of Trustees approved the Institute’s proposal to relocate to Venture 3 Building on Centennial Campus in June 2025. Our current lease in Alliance Building will not be renewed due to the major tenant’s decision to lease the entire building. Venture 3 is located at 900 Main Campus Drive, directly across the street from Alliance.

Continue reading “On the Move” →
Navarra students 2025

Institute Hosts Students from Spain

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The Institute for Advanced Analytics recently hosted a group of 40 undergraduate students from the University of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain for a weeklong immersion program. The students, all of whom are studying economics and data science, received instruction from Institute faculty and alumni on topics ranging from data visualization to Bayesian statistics. They learned professional networking strategies from the Institute’s career services team, and had the opportunity to put those skills into practice with current MSA students, alumni, and even NC State’s mascots — Mr. and Ms. Wuf! During the evenings, the students enjoyed bowling, ice skating, and exploring the Raleigh area. 

Continue reading “Institute Hosts Students from Spain” →
Valerie Schwartz

Schwartz Speaks at Conference

Posted on by admin

The Institute’s head of admissions Val Schwartz will highlight our MSA program at the 10th Annual WIDS Conference in Reston, VA. There, she will be part of a panel discussion entitled, “Mastering Data: Insights into Masters Degrees in Statistics and Analytics,” alongside representatives from Duke University’s Master of Interdisciplinary Data Science, Duke University School of Medicine’s Master of Biostatistics, New York University’s M.S. in Applied Statistics for Social Sciences Research, and Wake Forest University’s M.S. in Statistics.