Data Harnessing Symposium to offer insight on big data, machine learning, AI and more

Nov. 1, 2019

This paid piece is sponsored by the USD Beacom School of Business.

Whether you’re new to the world of big data, looking to better derive insights from data or curious about the emerging worlds of artificial intelligence and machine learning, an event coming up at USD is for you.

The second annual Data Harnessing Symposium will be from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Nov. 7 in the Muenster University Center ballroom on USD’s campus. The event is a partnership between the USD Beacom School of Business and the College of Arts & Sciences.

“We hosted the inaugural symposium to highlight the possibilities data provides for knowledge discovery. We were, and are, especially interested in communicating those possibilities to our students at USD,” said Thomas Tiahrt, assistant professor of decision sciences, POET professor of business analytics and symposium co-chair.

“Data has the potential to improve outcomes in health care, government, energy, technology, materials and science. The favorable response from last year’s event led us to hold the symposium again this year.”

Data harnessing combines the technical skills that enable the storage, processing and analysis of data sets with statistical skills to extract knowledge from large data sets and present the results in an understandable form to decision-makers.

“The Symposium on Data Harnessing provides real-world examples of the need for the skills operational analytics undergraduates and business analytics graduate students learn every day in the Beacom School of Business,” Tiahrt said. “Our graduates are filling the demand for analytics talent and transforming data into actionable knowledge in the world of business.”

In 2018, the Beacom School of Business dedicated the  POET Center for Business Analytics, an academic center dedicated to enhancing study in the field of business analytics.

“POET has been a tremendous partner in helping us drive innovation in this field,” Tiahrt said. “The business school partnered with the departments of computer science, mathematical sciences, physics and psychology to bring top experts to campus for the symposium.”

Speakers at the symposium include:

  • Sameer Antani, branch chair, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, who will discuss AI for Augmenting Medical Decision Making.
  • Steve Cross, vice president and senior leader, data and analytics, Great West Casualty Co. His lecture is Data – The Key Asset of an Organization.
  • David Toback, professor of physics and astronomy, Mitchell Institute at Texas A&M University. He will speak on Big Computing in High Energy Physics.
  • John Anderson, executive director, Central Plains Research Data Center at the University of Nebraska Lincoln. He will speak on Harnessing Restricted Federal Data for Research.

Over the years, many companies have increased the amount of data they are storing, collecting and obtaining. But there is a variation in the amount of ability to use this data, said Cross, who will speak on how businesses can use data as an asset.

“For many companies, data is a necessary evil. However, the growing and prevailing trend is that data is, along with people, of course, the greatest corporate asset,” he said.

“The real opportunity is to make this data come alive. Just like getting the best out of our people, we need to get the best out of our data. Data harnessing is simply taking disparate information and making it tell a story.  And just like any good story, there are plot twists and surprise endings along the way! Data is that powerful. It tells stories we did not know existed.”

And while fields such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and supercomputers might seem a bit out of reach, there are ways businesses of any size can begin tapping into them when working with data.

“The beauty is the growth of open-source solutions,” Cross said.

“Intelligent and curious individuals are able to create powerful solutions utilizing what is essentially free software. My recommendation has always been to find and harness — pun intended — individuals with the curiosity to learn and command such solutions. Often, it only takes one individual to be that change agent.”

The Data Harnessing Symposium is free and open to the public, but registration is required. Simply register at usd.edu/datasymposium to attend the event.

The event is one of many ways the USD Beacom School of Business is evolving to meet the data science needs of modern organizations.

The school launched an Master of Science in Business Analytics program last year, offering in-depth knowledge and expertise in data management, analysis, visualization and optimization. The program will help meet the demand for business analysts in all sectors of the economy: manufacturing, banking, service, hospitality, agriculture, tourism and retail.

Students benefit from a wealth of resources, such as access to SAS software, the recently established POET Center for Business Analytics and the Ellis Finance & Analytics Lab as well as connections to a variety of industry leaders. In support of the business analytics degree, USD officials cited labor force data showing that positions for management analysts and market research analysts are expected to grow between 8 percent and 20 percent in South Dakota through 2024.

“In today’s economy, data-driven decision-making isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity,” said Venky Venkatachalam, dean of the Beacom School of Business.

“This new program will support regional and national businesses by providing them a trained workforce ready to tackle the most basic yet challenging aspects of any project — how to make a data-informed decision.”

Ellis Finance & Analytics Lab offers USD Beacom students ‘digital sandbox’ for studying data

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Data Harnessing Symposium to offer insight on big data, machine learning, AI and more

Whether you’re new to the world of big data, looking to better derive insights from data or curious about the emerging worlds of artificial intelligence and machine learning, an event coming up at USD is for you.

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