Why Analytics?

Analytics describes the extensive use of data to guide evidence-based decision-making. This field has emerged during a time when massively large data sets are being collected throughout society. Analytics lives at the junction between numerous traditional disciplines including information systems and statistics. This program will provide a framework for thinking about the collection and use of so-called "big data" and students will develop skills for handling structured and unstructured data sets and for developing models to predict behavior in data-rich environments.

What Can I Do With a Co-Major in Analytics?

Anything you want. Skills that involve processing data into information that is used to support insight and innovation will serve you in any area of application. Marketers use these skills to target products and coupons, educators use these skills to identify students who might benefit from additional educational intervention, bankers use these skills to detect fraudulent credit card activity, and biologists use these skills to explore genomic data. Graduates of this program pursue data science careers in corporations, consulting, government agencies, and non-profit organizations.

What courses would I take?

You will take a common core of requirements that provide a foundation in the following areas: data description and summarization; data management; regression models; and visualizing data. In addition to the core coursework, students will take a track of courses that reflect a focus on a particular area of application of analytics or advanced methods. There are three tracks that students can choose from - Business Analytics, Predictive Analytics, and Geospatial Analytics.