The new Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA) program at Goizueta had a successful year, first by securing a partnership with FedEx and then by hosting its first Business Analytics Conference. The dynamic duo of FedEx and Goizueta will partner on initiatives including recruiting access, data for student projects, conferences and a named scholarship.
“Continuous innovation has always fueled FedEx, and that includes a strong focus on the business use of analytics,” said Donald Comer, staff vice president of operations analysis for FedEx. “We’re proud to team up with Emory University and to be an early supporter of the MSBA program.”
At the Goizueta Business Analytics Conference, keynote speaker Khalifeh Al Jadda, formerly lead data scientist at CareerBuilder and now senior manager for data science at The Home Depot, spoke to a full crowd made up of eager MSBA students on the edge of graduation, seasoned analytics professionals and several Goizueta faculty and staff.
“Data is the new oil,” Al Jadda said. “Companies that own data today and know how to utilize their data build a lot of data products that bring millions, if not billions, of dollars in revenue.”
Attendees also enjoyed talks from leaders representing Microsoft Research, Carnegie Mellon University, Uber, LinkedIn and more.
Ramnath Chellappa, associate professor of information systems & operations management and the associate dean and academic director of the MSBA Program, says the program is unique in many ways. “What makes our program special is that we pay faithful attention not only to the data science but also the technology component. In fact, one portion of our curriculum is run on Amazon Web Services (AWS),” said Chellappa. “Our goal is to create business data scientists.”
The Class of 2019, the second cohort, is well underway with a class profile that includes 44 new students, nearly half of which are women. Fourteen percent of the class are domestic, and the remaining students herald from eight countries. This population tends to be younger, with ages ranging from 21 to 33, and they average three years of work experience with a mean GMAT of 724.
