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Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Launches Graduate Program in Analytics

• By Kanoe Namahoe
• 04/24/13

New York's Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has teamed up with IBM to create a new graduate degree program in analytics. Scheduled to launch this fall through the Lally School of Management and Technology, the Master of Science in Business Analytics degree aims to prepare students for information technology jobs supporting big data.

"Data will be the lifeblood for businesses throughout the 21st century, and only a trained analytics professional can help unlock its hidden value," says Thomas Begley, dean of the Lally School, in a prepared statement. "In collaboration with IBM and Lally School faculty, we are proud to offer a degree program that will send skilled, distinctive candidates into the workforce, to help today's businesses address the wealth of opportunities and challenges that data poses."

The degree program will be a one year, 30 credit program. The curriculum will focus on three core components:

• A business core to show big data's role in business strategy, operations, growth and competitive standing;
• An analytics core, with training in predictive modeling, recognizing data patterns, managing data, statistical analysis, and exploiting big data;
• An experiential core with project-based courses in which students apply what they've learned to real-world business issues.

IBM will support Rensselaer's program with a number of resources, including curriculum materials, software, guest lecturers, and real-world case studies. The company donated a Watson system to the school in an effort to help "faculty and students explore new uses for cognitive computing and expand their understanding of big data and analytics."

Rensselaer will host a discussion panel on business analytics this Friday April 26 from 4 to 6 p.m. at its Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies Building (CBIS) auditorium. The session, featuring discussion and Q&A with experts from IBM and the Lally School, will focus on trends in big data and analytics.