Data Analytics 

Curriculum

The curriculum provides students with fundamental data-driven analytical methods and skills to interpret and present digital data and produce practical and meaningful insights of customers, products, services, and marketplaces, which can lead to better, more informed business decisions, innovative business models and sustainable competitive advantages.

Towards the end of the program students will have the opportunity to apply classroom knowledge in real-life data analytics problems through the required course of Global Capstone Action Learning Internship.

Upon completing the program students should develop applied knowledge and interdisciplinary understandings of data asset, data collection, data management, data communication, data storage, data visualization, data mining, machine learning, data security, information privacy, and business intelligence in the industries of consulting, accounting, finance, marketing, IT, supply chain and logistics, gaming, sports, fashion, or health care.

The program takes place on the LIU Post campus with classes held during the evenings and weekends.  Students may take the majority of the coursework in the fall and spring semesters, and complete the required analytics capstone internship in the following summer before graduation.

The program offers both full-time and part-time options.  Full-time students can complete the program in one year.  Part-time students may spread their studies over a longer time frame, and complete the program in two years.

Foundation course:

• Business Statistics (MDA 525, 3 credits)

Core courses:

• Foundations of Data Science with R and Python (MDA 530, 3 credits)
• Data Management (MDA 610, 3 credits)
• Data-driven Decision-making and Business Intelligence (MDA 620, 3 credits)
• Introduction to Big Data Analytics and Machine Learning (MDA 710, 3 credits)
• Data Privacy and Regulatory Compliance (MDA 730, 3 credits)

Seminar course:

• Applied Business Analytics (MDA 720, 3 credits)

Electives:

Students take two graduate-level courses offered by the COM (6 credits) in the following graduate programs:

• MS in Accountancy
• MBA/Global MBA
• MS in Information Systems
• MS in Management Engineering

Capstone course:

• Global Capstone Action Learning Internship (MDA 821, 3 credits)

This career-oriented capstone course provides students in the latter stage of the program synthesizing, practical, in-depth field experience of working with business organizations on a real-world data analytics project based upon a learning contract approved by the program director and the mentor in the hosting or sponsor firm either in the United States or abroad.  Each internship requires at least one month or 100 hours under supervision of a data analytics practitioner on site.  At the end of the internship the student will prepare a substantial Capstone Project Report concerning his/her experience, and give a presentation to invited executives and program sponsors.

The MDA program is seeking internship sponsor/host organizations around the world.  Please contact Dr. Ling Zhu, the program director, at ling.zhu@liu.edu for the opportunity.

Core Faculty

• Dr. Ling Zhu, program director, Associate Professor of Management Information Systems

Ph.D. in MIS, The University of Arizona; J.D., Fordham University

Expertise: information privacy law, corporate IT strategy, blockchain technology and intellectual property, and global data protection policy

• Dr. Jiamin Wang, Professor of Management

Ph.D. in Management Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University; Post-doctoral Fellowship in Operations Management, The University of Toronto

Expertise: business analytics, business statistics, service operations, and decision analysis

• Dr. Baichun Xiao, Senior Professor of Management

Ph.D. in Management Science, University of Pennsylvania

Expertise: business statistics, operations management, and optimization

• Dr. Tong (Tony) Bao, Associate Professor of Marketing

Ph.D. in Marketing, Cornell University

Expertise: digital marketing

• Dr. Ibrahim Siraj, Assistant Professor of Accountancy

Ph.D. in Accounting, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Ph.D. in Finance, University of New Orleans

Expertise: accounting and financial analytics

• Dr. Mark Fasciano, Assistant Professor of Data Analytics and Computer Science

Ph.D. in Computer Science/Artificial Intelligence, University of Chicago

Expertise: Blockchain Technology in securities, machine learning, innovative tech enterprises, and entrepreneurship

Career Outlook

• In its Corporate Recruiters Survey Report 2017 the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) finds a worldwide trend that 71% of employers plan to recruit candidates from non-traditional business master programs, among which data analytics is on the top of the list.  Candidates with master’s degrees in data analytics are sought most often by US and European employers, and by industry, employers in the consulting, finance and accounting, and health care industries.
• In its 50 Best Jobs in America Report 2017 Glassdoor, one of the largest online jobs and recruiting sites, ranks Data Scientist as No.1 job in the country with more than 27,000 job openings and a median base salary of $110,000, while the job title of Analytics Manager as No. 5, Intelligence Analyst as No. 31, and Business Intelligence Developer as No. 47.
• According to Glassdoor’s website, as of November 2017 New York state alone has more than 3,000 job openings for the title of “Data Scientist,” more than 1,000 positions containing keywords of “business analyst,” and more than 600 positions related to “data analyst.”

Advisory Board

Executives, representatives and scholars from the following institutions and organizations have been invited to serve on the advisory board of the program:

• 1-800-flowers
• AIG
• Canon
• CISCO
• Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
• Fordham University
• Google
• KPMG
• PWC
• Wayfair
• University of Arizona

Nespola Scholars

The COM and the Nespola Foundation, in the name of LIU Trustee Mr. Richard Nespola, have established the Nespola Scholars program to offer merit scholarships with limited monetary award to successful applicants in the MDA program.

To apply for the Nespola Scholars, the candidate should:

• Have been admitted into the MDA program;
• Have an undergraduate GPA of at least 3.0 (out of 4);
• Submit an essay-format impact statement with a minimum of two pages and maximum of five pages and up to 1,000 words on (1) the impact of digital transformation (and data analytics in particular) on any of the following industries, and (2) the candidate’s plan to pursue the research topic during his/her study in the MDA program:

o   Transportation (including any logistics services)

o   Higher education (applying data analytics at the college level for purposes of student enrollment and retention in an era of demographic change)

o   Sports (applications of sports analytics)

o   Environment (application of environmental analytics in climate services, weather forecast, natural disasters, smart cities, sustainable growth, and renewable energy)

o   Cancer research (applying big data analytics and cloud computing to cancer research)

A recipient of the scholarship must make a written commitment to matriculate in the MDA program.  Before graduation, the recipient should prepare a two-to-five-page report and give a presentation to Trustee Nespola on his/her findings of transforming the industry through data analytics.

The Nespola Scholars will serve as student ambassadors for the MDA program, representing and promoting the program at various student and academic events held by the COM and LIU.  After they graduate, the scholars will also serve as mentors for the next class of the scholar program.

The COM and Trustee Nespola will make arrangement and provide opportunities for the Nespola Scholars to meet leading industry executives and obtain mentorship in pursuing a career in data analytics.