MSA students have the option of completing professional certifications in statistical programming in addition to their normal studies. SAS certifications are the most popular among our students: currently 95 percent of the class has earned the SAS Base certificate, and 33 percent have passed the SAS Advanced Programmer level. The industry journal, Computerworld, recently listed SAS certifications at the top as having the greatest value in the job market.
Student Named SAS Ambassador
MSA Class of 2011 candidate Sabah Sadiq has been named a SAS Student Ambassador. The SAS Student Ambassador Program is a competitive program that recognizes and supports students who use SAS technologies in innovative ways that benefit their respective industries and fields of study. Sadiq is one of a small number of students selected for the honor from a global pool of candidates. She will present Continue reading “Student Named SAS Ambassador”
Institute Hosts LSU Faculty
Today the Institute hosted a visit by a contingent of Louisiana State University faculty from the Department of Applied Statistics and the Department of Information Systems and Decision Sciences, for a discussion of the MSA curriculum. Louisiana State is considering plans to revamp an existing M.S. in Information Systems and Decision Sciences into an analytics-focused degree modeled after the MSA. The LSU faculty met with Institute staff, faculty and a panel of MSA students for a daylong discussion about how the MSA degree is structured and delivered.
Kaur Selected for Leadership Program
Bank of America has selected MSA student Gurleen Kaur for its prestigious Quantitative Management Associate Program (QMAP). This is the second year in a row BoA has tapped a MSA student for QMAP. The program is designed to prepare future business leaders of BoA who are grounded with quantitative skills and experiences. Only about twenty candidates from the nation’s leading universities are selected to enter the QMAP program each year. Several of the bank’s top leaders in quantitative areas are alumni of the program. BoA also recruits MSA students for positions throughout the bank.
Director Discusses MSA Learning Model
The Institute’s director, Dr. Michael Rappa, spoke with a group of students and faculty at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge today about the MSA program. The MSA’s unique learning model has attracted a great deal of interest in LSU, following a visit to the Institute by the Deans of Agriculture and Business earlier in October.
Chancellor Highlights Pioneering MSA
At his installation ceremony today, Chancellor Randy Woodson used the special occasion to highlight NC State’s MSA degree in his speech to faculty, students and friends of the university. The MSA, now in its fourth year, is the nation’s first full-fledged graduate degree program in Analytics. The success of the MSA program can be attributed to several factors, namely the rapidly expanding importance of Analytics throughout the economy, the speed Continue reading “Chancellor Highlights Pioneering MSA”
Analytics Practicum Projects Kick-off
The MSA Class of 2011 Analytics Practicum projects are now off and running. Students are paired into eight teams of 4 or 5 members, and will work over the next seven months on a challenging business problem with real data from our corporate sponsors. This year’s sponsors are all new to the MSA program. They include: Allscripts, Dex One, Quaero, M&T Bank, Sharefile, Tekelec, and Trident Marketing. Continue reading “Analytics Practicum Projects Kick-off”
MSA Gains National Affiliation
The Institute’s Master of Science in Analytics (MSA) degree program has been designated as a Professional Science Masters (PSM) degree under a nationwide initiative sponsored by the Sloan Foundation and run by the Council of Graduate Schools, a national organization dedicated to the advancement of graduate education and research. Although not part of the initial PSM movement, the MSA had adopted through its own design many of the same guiding Continue reading “MSA Gains National Affiliation”
Director to Speak at Triangle AMA
The Institute’s director, Dr. Michael Rappa, will speak at a gathering of the Triangle Chapter of the American Marketing Association on Wednesday, October 20. Dr. Rappa’s talk, titled “Confessions of a Data Analyst,” will discuss the challenges of deriving meaningful insights from complex data and will offer useful advice to marketing professionals based on three decades of experience. The luncheon talk is part of a daylong program on Marketing Analytics.
Guest Lecture – John Brocklebank
We are delighted to have Dr. John Brocklebank, Vice President, SAS Institute and a distinguished alumnus of NC State to speak today with students in the Master of Science in Analytics (MSA) degree program. In his current executive position, Dr. Brocklebank oversees SAS Solutions OnDemand, Advanced Analytics Lab, SAS Drug Development, Education Value Added Assessment System (EVAAS) ASP educational testing (K-12), and is responsible for product R&D, marketing, sales, program management, IT, quality assurance, and documentation. Dr. Brocklebank joined SAS in 1981 after earning his Ph.D. in Statistics from NC State University. He is recipient of the 2009 SAS CEO Award of Excellence. Dr. Brocklebank is the author and many publications in statistics and several patents.