Program Overview
The M.S. in Business Data Science and Analytics (MS-BDSA) degree is a unique cross-disciplinary program designed to be completed in one calendar year (January–December). There are three main themes that drive the educational experience in our program: business strategy, data tools and management, and experiential learning. The curriculum is the result of an educational partnership between the College of Business, College of Natural Sciences and College of Engineering to ensure our students have a strong background in business, statistics and computer programming. With a strong focus on real-world data, corporate partnerships are integral to our program’s curriculum.
Our goal is to train students to have the talent required to be successful data advocates, users, and translaters across multiple business functions.
- Business Strategy: Students are trained in using data analytics to improve business performance and communicating at a strategic level.
- Data Management: This involves a focus on data mining, statistics and marketing technology.
- Data Tools: Students learn in-depth knowledge of Python, Hadoop, AWS, R, Tableau, Power BI, Alteryx, SQL, Google Analytics, and other data science and analysis tools
- Experiential Learning: Every semester of the program, students are required to work on a live business analytics project sponsored by a corporate partner. See below on this page for additional details.
“The opportunity to work with the MSU business analytics program was a wonderful experience for the Michigan Lottery. They worked extremely hard researching our industry to provide the most accurate answers possible. The students’ expertise in business analytics could be seen throughout the project, especially with their final presentation and recommendations. The MSU business analytics program provides tremendous value to organizations who are searching for answers to complex data issues. We look forward to working with the program again in the near future.”
Amanda Perkins
Research Department, Michigan Lottery
Engage Our Top Talent
Corporate Project Sponsor
Every spring and fall, we feature live big data projects sponsored by corporate partners. Our spring project involves the ACC 822: Project Management course, where the entire cohort is guided by faculty through a corporate-sponsored project. Our Fall Capstone project aligns with ITM 888. Each project is assigned a faculty coach and a team of students to work remotely on the topic presented over approximately 10 weeks. These students are expected to function in a consultancy-style capacity, communicating directly with the corporate team providing deep analysis and development for the sponsoring organization.
We are thrilled to have PACCAR Winch on board as our spring 2021 corporate sponsor!
Due to COVID-19, we provided students the opportunity to perform their capstone project in Spring term and graduate one term delayed. We are grateful to our capstone sponsors for the Spring 2021 term for providing this opportunity for our students: Commonwealth Engineering, Apple, Michigan Lottery, MSU IPF, MSU OPB, and Stryker.
Past Corporate Sponsors
Past sponsors include Amway, Accident Fund Insurance, Auto Owners Insurance, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Carhartt, Consumers Energy, Diageo, Dow, Farm Bureau Insurance, GM, Great Expressions Dental, Meijer, MGM Resorts, Michigan Lottery, MSU Advancement, MSU Federal Credit Union, MSU Hockey, NSF, Old Nation Brewing, OnStar, Owens Corning, Quicken Loans, Sunset Grown, State of Michigan, Steelcase, Stryker, Urban Science, USA Tech, USAA, Valassis, Vertafore and many more.
Becoming a Corporate Project Sponsor
We recruit throughout the year for the corporate project piece of the program. Please contact the program director for more details on how to sponsor a project.
Hire an Intern or Full-Time Job Candidate
Employers are welcome to recruit in a manner that works best for their needs. Please contact the program director to set up a recruiting plan that works for you! We also have two formal events during the year:
- Fall Analytics and Insights Career Fair: Designed to assist M.S. in Business Data Science & Analytics students in finding full-time job opportunities for their December graduation and to help provide prospective students a networking platform to learn about the field. This fair is open to all feeder majors at MSU such as statistics, computer programming, etc.
- Spring Insights & Analytics Internship Fair: Specifically for M.S. in Business Data Science & Analytics and Marketing Research students seeking internships for the summer.
Resume Books
Resume books are available upon request to connect directly with the students.
Corporate Information Session and Post-Day Interviews
Host a one-hour information session to showcase opportunities at your company and then conduct interviews the following day to screen for talent.
Class Speaker
Visit the students in class to speak directly on a current topic. Contact the program director for details.