Panel Discussion on Education Analytics Practitioners: MS Degrees in Analytics by Timothy Hopper

As SAS's Keith Collins discussed in Monday's plenary, if businesses want to remain competitive in a modern era, they must learn to make sense of the growing amounts of data available to them. Universities are recognizing that turning data into decisions requires a particular skill set compassing the fields of computing, business, statistics, and management science. Michael Gorman, President of the Analytics section at INFORMS, led a panel discussion with faculty from four schools offering master's degrees in analytics.

Michael Rappa shared his experience with the Institute for Advanced Analytics, which he started at North Carolina State University (NCSU) in 2007. The University of Tennessee, represented by Kenneth Gilbert, introduced a similar program in 2010. Helmut Schneider spoke about Louisiana State University's master's degree, currently in pilot, and Diego Klabjan discussed the program at Northwestern University, which debuts next year. Characteristic of each program is foundational instruction on understanding businesses problems, formulating and solving data-driven statistical models, and communicating results. The speakers shared a desire to break free from traditional academic methods and instead focus on pedagogical methods that could prepare students for real-life problems. Although the programs teach students how to solve statistical problem with software (largely SAS products), the panelists emphasized the importance of teaching students to work in teams and communicate with nontechnical persons.

INFORMS' recent focus on analytics points toward the need for programs such as these, a point only confirmed by NCSU's decision to double its class size for 2012. Analytics and analytics degrees do not replace operations research. These programs will equip graduates with distinctive skills that will work well alongside operations research in helping organizations make better decisions in a complex world.