Manning School Graduate Program Grows to Meet Industry Needs
Image by Ed Brennen
08/25/2022
By Ed Brennen
To gain a deeper understanding of his work at Amazon, where he helps protect the privacy of data generated by Alexa smart devices, Varun Bisht 鈥21 decided to get a Master of Science degree in business analytics (MSBA) from the Manning School of Business.
鈥淚鈥檓 glad I chose this program. The tools and the knowledge I鈥檝e gained have given me more insights into my job,鈥 says Bisht, who completed his degree last December 鈥 and was promoted to senior information technology audit manager for the Alexa Secure Artificial Intelligence Foundations team six months later.
Bisht is among a growing number of professionals, from a wide range of fields, who are learning how to transform raw data into business intelligence and insights with an MSBA degree from 51视频. Since launching in 2016 with 13 students, the program has awarded 113 degrees 鈥 including 18 in its most recent cohort this summer.
Program Coordinator Luvai Motiwalla, a professor in the Operations and Information Systems (OIS) department, says the demand is not surprising given the business world鈥檚 growing need for employees trained in data mining, data modeling, natural language processing and machine learning. Data science jobs are projected to , according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. As of late August, there were more than 285,000 data science-related jobs posted on LinkedIn.
鈥淚nitially, most of the big companies were going after data analysts and data scientists, but now all the small and midsized companies are moving into the digital economy and getting into machine learning to stay competitive and provide a good experience for the customer,鈥 Motiwalla says. An already rising tsunami of data has been fueled by the pandemic, he adds, as locked-down consumers were forced to use digital payments and many health care services moved online.
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鈥榃in-win-win proposition鈥
A major component of the MSBA program is the capstone project, which gives students the opportunity to work in small teams with a corporate sponsor and faculty advisor to provide data analytics solutions for real-world business problems. Since 2017, 13 companies 鈥 including MFS Investments, DCU, Dell Technologies, Santander, UKG and Storm Smart 鈥 have sponsored 40 capstone projects.
OIS Chair and Assoc. Prof. Amit Deokar, who has advised six capstone projects over the past five years, says he鈥檚 been impressed with not only the variety of topics, but also the 鈥渟ophistication of the presentations.鈥 He calls the program a 鈥渨in-win-win proposition鈥 for students, sponsors and faculty advisors, who are able to keep abreast with relevant problems that industries are facing.
Joe Piotrowski, director of investment business strategy at MFS, says the capstone projects allow the firm to 鈥渇ront-run some ideas鈥 that may ultimately be factored into parts of its investment process 鈥 while also making sure that it鈥檚 keeping up with the times.
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Steven Irish, chief operating officer of Lowell-based Enterprise Bank, says the growing financial institution hasn鈥檛 yet hired as many analysts and data scientists as it would like, so the capstone projects help fill an important need.
鈥淲hen we do look to hire, we鈥檒l have a lot more insight into what鈥檚 current and what skills they should have,鈥 says Irish, a former adjunct in the OIS department.
Joe Collins, director of supply chain operations at Dell, says the company has hired close to a dozen UML grads over the past five years, thanks largely to the relationship with the MSBA program.
鈥淭he skills that students are learning in these programs are of great value,鈥 he says.
Setting Up for Success
Motiwalla, who begins his 25th year at UML this fall, notes that nearly 80% of MSBA graduates have jobs after completing their degrees 鈥 in an industry where the mean wage is around $108,000 a year.
Ryan Joliat 鈥14, 鈥21 returned to UML for the MSBA program several years after earning a Bachelor of Business Administration degree with a concentration in marketing.
鈥淚 had no background with data analysis or business analytics before that, no coding experience,鈥 says Joliat, who worked with DCU on his capstone project and is now a data analyst intern with the credit union. 鈥淣ow I鈥檓 using Python (a scripting language) for machine learning almost every day, building on the foundation that the program gave me.鈥
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鈥淚 learned a lot more technical skills like Python and SQL than I was expecting, which I loved. It鈥檚 highly applicable to what I do,鈥 says Janvrin, who earned a Bachelor of Science in industrial engineering from Northeastern University in 2012. 鈥淚 also appreciate how the program wants people to continue having a relationship with 51视频 by keeping in touch with the dean and faculty on LinkedIn. That鈥檚 a really good part of this.鈥
Bisht, a native of Nepal who earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of New Mexico after serving in the U.S. Army for eight years, took MSBA courses online and on campus while working for Amazon in Medford, Massachusetts.
鈥淚t鈥檚 an amazing program 鈥 very structured,鈥 he says. 鈥淭he professors are very knowledgeable. The value they add to what鈥檚 out in the industry sets you up for success.鈥