Analytics for all at Notre Dame

When Martijn Cremers became dean of the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business in July 2019, he laid out his strategic vision for the College. The first item: “analytics, analytics, analytics.”

Cremers, the Martin J. Gillen Dean, recognized that knowledge of analytics is fundamental to all aspects of a business education – from accounting and finance to management and marketing. Further, the College leadership recognizes the critical need to prepare Mendoza graduates for the burgeoning job market for professionals who understand the integral function of tech in business operations and executive decisions.

As Mendoza enhances its offerings in information technology and analytics programs, the College continues to emphasize its mission of “business as a force for good” throughout as a key differentiator. Rapid advancements in artificial intelligence (IT) and data analytics present increasingly complex ethical questions, necessitating a greater demand for innovative coursework, informed discussions and applied learning opportunities that challenge students to think deeply about potential repercussions.

Through research and curricula that integrates ethics throughout, as well as ongoing engaging conferences, talks and discussions led by tech industry leaders, Mendoza’s programs continue to explore and emphasize the ability of business to contribute positive change to human flourishing on a global scale.

To support the enrollment growth in analytics programs, Mendoza has undertaken a number of classroom and facility renovations to update technology. Most recently, the College completed a comprehensive renovation of the Giovanini Commons in its lower level, which included building a new tech classroom to accommodate up to 70 students. Among its advancements, the space houses 92 monitors and screens to encourage group work and applied learning. 

Analytics for Everyone

The College of Business began laying the foundation for a renewed program emphasis on IT and analytics in May 2016 when it reorganized the Department of Management to form two distinct departments – Management & Organization (M&O) and IT, Analytics and Operations (ITAO) – partly to better focus on analytics and tech. The department currently has 26 full-time faculty members with three research and teaching areas – information sciences, business analytics and operations management.

“We have had strong representation in the areas of information systems and operations management, but our explosive growth over the last few years has been in business analytics, where we have hired a number of faculty with Ph.D.s in foundational analytics disciplines of statistics and computer science,” says Rob Easley, the John W. Berry Sr. Department Chair and Professor of Information Technology, Analytics and Operations Department. “We are thus in a position to make methodological contributions in analytics. We continue to hire IS and OM faculty as well who work with analytics techniques in their respective disciplines.”

ITAO has been a driver for advancing the study of analytics across the College. Offering degree programs for undergraduates, graduate students and executives, the department essentially provides a program to fit a broad variety of student career aspirations and scheduling needs. 

For Mendoza undergraduates, ITAO launched a new undergraduate major in business analytics in fall 2017 that is fast becoming one of the most popular majors offered on campus, with a current enrollment of 190 juniors and seniors for the 2019-2020 academic year. (Mendoza students declare a major at the end of their sophomore year.) The business analytics major is oriented toward statistical methods and data analysis. The program of study focuses on topics such as predictive analytics and data visualization with a heavy emphasis on statistics and mathematical methods. Career interests tend to include consulting, data science, business analysis, sports analytics and machine learning.

In addition to the business analytics major, ITAO continues to offer the business technology major, which recently changed its name from IT management to better describe its focus on the development and use of digital technologies to solve business problems and improve their processes, products, services and business models. Coursework covers topics such as application development, strategic business technologies, IT project management and cybersecurity. Graduates often go into careers in consulting, technology startups, technology implementation, process improvement, business transformation and cybersecurity.

At the graduate level, there are degree programs for varying levels of work experience as well as several formats. Further, all carry a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) designation, which allows international students to apply for two additional years to remain and work in the United States.

“We provide a variety of different graduate analytics programs designed for different audiences,” says Mike Chapple, academic director of one MSBA program and an ITAO associate teaching professor. “Our Chicago program is designed for working professionals, while our South Bend programs are targeted at both recent college graduates and professionals entering middle management. We custom-tailor our analytics curriculum to the specific needs of each of those groups.”

Mendoza currently offers three master’s degree business analytics programs:

Master of Science in Business Analytics-Chicago: Launched in 2014, the Notre Dame MSBA-Chicago is a one-year, 30-credit-hour program held in Notre Dame’s downtown classroom space well located on South Michigan Avenue. With a January start date, the program is intended for working professionals at all levels, providing a rigorous education in applying analytical techniques to massive data sets to solve business problems – knowledge that has become critically important due to revolutionary advances in information technology. Students attend classes on alternating weekends, plus three extended sessions at the Stayer Center for Executive Education on the Notre Dame campus in South Bend. The coursework emphasizes business application so that students gain experience in solving real-world problems.

Master of Science in Business Analytics: The residential version held on Notre Dame’s main campus welcomed its first cohort in fall 2019. Mendoza leadership recently announced a plan to more than double enrollment with two cohorts of 40 students each starting fall of 2020. The 10-month program is for “pre-professional” students with less than two years of work experience, which includes recent graduates of undergraduate programs, as well as international students interested in the STEM designation. The 31-credit-hour program includes 27 hours of required courses and four credit hours of electives. The program’s goal is to provide a rigorous education in applying analytical techniques to massive data sets to solve business problems and offers foundational classes such as data management, predictive analytics and machine learning, as well as specific applications in sports analytics, marketing research, emerging issues in analytics and data storytelling. The program also provides focused career planning and coaching.

MBA/MSBA dual degree: The 68-credit hour dual degree allows students, who typically have at least five years of working experience, to earn two Notre Dame graduate degrees in two years. The first year focuses primarily on MBA core courses, including an introduction to business analytics in the spring to provide a foundation for a summer internship. The second year includes required courses in data storytelling, machine learning and spreadsheet decision modeling, as well as a range of electives to suit career objectives. 

Outside the Classroom

All of the MSBA programs also emphasize experiential, hands-on learning through capstone projects, which are the culmination of the program.

“By linking theory to practice, experiential learning opportunities like the capstone projects in the MSBA program increase both students’ engagement and the effectiveness of learning,” says Scott Nestler, academic director for the residential Notre Dame MSBA program.

Student teams work to analyze a problem on behalf of a sponsoring organization. They gain relevant data and in-house subject matter expertise. Using skills acquired through the MSBA program, students establish a thorough understanding of the problem and the associated data, then develop and execute a project work plan that analyzes the data, devise actionable conclusions and recommendations, and provide insight into the basis for those recommendations.

Skills developed through the capstone project include the ability to provide effective communication regarding the analytics process and results, as well as an understanding of key aspects of analytics solution development. The capstone project is, ultimately, mutually beneficial for the students who work on it, as well as the companies who will make use of its results. Previous projects have included working with IBM to refine potential sources and available text data for its AI platform Watson and determining data sources for Entergy Integrated so the energy company can better predict power outages.

Of course, not all learning happens in the classroom. Students have the ability to participate in a number of analytics-related clubs at Notre Dame, such as the MBA Business Analytics Club, the ITAO Club for undergraduates and the Sports Analytics Club.

“There are numerous ways for students to get involved outside of the classroom,” Nestler says. “One of the more exciting opportunities includes several dozen students, both undergraduate and graduate, working on projects with Notre Dame Athletics teams and administrators.”

Analytics students have gained real-world experience by participating in hackathons and case competitions. This includes MBA/MSBA student Peter Zanca, who recently won the 2019 NBA Hackathon, an annual event that challenges teams of students, statisticians, developers and engineers to build tools to solve real data problems faced by the NBA. Zanca, who served a summer internship with the Indiana Pacers and also works with ND Athletics, credited his success “to the skills I’ve learned in the past year at Mendoza, from data management to data visualization to storytelling.” Mendoza looks to build on the success of its business analytics offerings in the near future.

“The ITAO department continues to grow its business analytics offerings at the master’s level, and it has also added a supply chain and operations MBA concentration to complement the existing – and very popular – business analytic concentration,” Easley says. “We are working with our new dean toward launching a Ph.D. in business analytics as well.”

Peter Zanca: Hacking a Win

Basketball competitions aren’t always won on the court. University of Notre Dame graduate business student Peter Zanca recently took home first prize in the 2019 NBA Hackathon, an annual event that challenges teams of students, statisticians, developers and engineers to build tools to solve challenging data problems faced by the NBA.

Zanca, who is pursuing a dual MBA/Master of Science in Business Analytics degree, competed in the Hackathon final round on Sept. 21, 2019 with teammate C.B. Garrett, a recent graduate of Syracuse University. The competition, held at the NBA office in Secaucus, N.J., featured two tracks – basketball analytics and business analytics.

Zanca and Garrett won the basketball analytics track, earning prizes that include lunch with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, tickets to an NBA game, a gift card to the NBA Store and a technology product. A total of 27 teams representing 36 colleges and universities competed. Projects were evaluated based on creativity, rigor of statistical work and the quality of presentation.

The judges for the basketball track were Cathy Engelbert, WNBA commissioner and former CEO of Deloitte; Nate Silver, founder and editor-in-chief of FiveThirtyEight; Charlie Rohlf, senior director of basketball technology and products for the NBA; and Phil Chang, senior manager of basketball analytics for the Los Angeles Lakers.