Carlson School Expands Data Science Degree Offerings

The Carlson School of Management is launching a part-time version of its Master of Science in Business Analytics Program (MSBA) to provide area working professionals the skills needed to better harvest, process, and analyze data. The first cohort of Part-Time MSBA students will begin classes in September, 2015. 

“McKinsey has predicted that by 2018 the United States could face a shortage of 1.5 million analysts and managers with the knowledge and skills to analyze big data and extract critical insights,” says Professor Gedas Adomavicius, academic director of the program. “Building on the success of the inaugural full-time MSBA class, this new part-time component enables individuals and companies to add those capabilities through an evening program.”

Designed for working professionals

The Carlson School’s part-time offering will begin this fall and have the same academic requirements as the school’s Full-Time MSBA program. Part-time students will complete their 45 credits by taking six to nine credits per semester over a three-year period with classes held in the evening, rather than through a one-year program of three intensive semesters with classes held during the day. Students will be grouped into cohorts that proceed through the program together, ensuring each incoming class can develop program-long connections to fellow students.

“The PT-MSBA program is equipped to bridge the gap for working professionals looking to create higher-order value for their organizations. A distinguishing feature of the Carlson MSBA is the repository of cutting-edge data-rich teaching cases developed in house that bring to life various aspects of business analytics in the classroom."

Hands-on learning

A hands-on, integrative project course will allow students to apply the analytics methodologies, techniques, and tools they learned throughout the program in the context of a specific analytics challenge. This capstone project will provide experience with the entire data analytics cycle, starting from business and data understanding as well as data cleaning and integration and ending with the development and presentation of results, interpretations, insights, and recommendations.

"Companies today are inundated with data from their own systems, and the broader mobile, social and sensor ecosystem that we all live in. Yet, very few have the analytical talent with ability to harness these big-data into actionable insights,” says Professor Ravi Bapna, chair of the Information and Decision Sciences department at the Carlson School.  

Led by internationally renowned faculty

The Carlson School’s MSBA Program is taught by some of the world’s leading researchers in business intelligence, information systems, and data-driven decision making including Adomavicius, Bapna, and Alok Gupta. The Carlson School’s Management Information Systems programs are currently ranked third in the nation by U.S. News & World Report.

The application for admission is available now, and open through August 1, 2015.