Data & Analytics | News

Arkansas Tech Biz Students Explore Analytics Work in Internship Program

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 05/20/14

College of Business students at Arkansas Tech University will have the chance to pursue paid internships in the field of data analytics and data visualization. The arrangement comes from nGage Labs, which is based in Scottsdale, AZ but runs an analytics innovation center in Little Rock. Arkansas State's main campus in Russellville is about 80 miles away. nGage provides companies with applications to manage the analytics of the mobile activities of their customers.

In the three-month program, students will be matched with an nGage mentor and given an overview regarding nGage's technologies. From there they'll be matched up to work on a "suitable project" out of the nGage portfolio. According to nGage, interns will follow its "innovation sprint" planning process and gain contact with its analytic and technology staff.

"The nGage Labs Summer Internship Program offers an excellent opportunity for our business data analytics students to be exposed to the real-world challenges of national brands in analyzing, rationalizing and visualizing their business data," said Business College Dean Ed Bashaw. "We are gratified that nGage Labs, an exciting emerging-growth technology company, partnered with us in the evolution of our program and seeks the skills the students in our business data analytics program possess."

Rod Ford, nGage's CEO, added that the initiative will help "build bridges" to make sure the company has access to people with the right skills sets for his firm's activities. "Several previous attempts to seek synergy in skills of graduating students with the needs of emerging growth technology companies have not yielded satisfactory outcomes. It is beyond cognizance, especially for a region where all resources should be highly aligned and optimized, that the link between academia and industry isn't perfectly aligned. Capital formation is the oxygen of entrepreneurship but a relevantly trained and eager work force is the fuel. The communities that understand and demand the alignment of skills supply and skills demand have emerged as the entrepreneurial and technology hubs of this country."

The program will be managed by nGage CTO, Kyle Hollaway, and will end with an intern-led project presentation and review with a panel consisting of company C-level executives.