Master of Science in Data Analytics and Strategic Business Intelligence

The College of Management (C.O.M.) at L.I.U. Post offers a new, 30-credit, specialized Master of Science in Data Analytics and Strategic Business Intelligence program (M.D.A.) with a blend of data science, IT, and business courses to prepare students for the demand in industries for data-literate managers and data scientists with solid business knowledge and analytical skills.

The M.D.A. program is designed for recent graduates or working professionals in their early or mid-career phases. The ideal student should have basic quantitative and IT knowledge and skills through prior coursework or working experience, and be highly motivated to learn how to deal with data as a strategic asset and apply IT and analytic methods to make data-driven business decisions.

The program is a STEM Designated Degree Program, which allows international students eligible to apply for a 24-month STEM OPT extension after their initial post-completion OPT.

Admissions Requirements

Each applicant should submit the following items for admission:

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• A current resume up to two pages
• A personal statement that addresses the applicant’s reason for pursuing the M.D.A. degree and career aspirations
• A bachelor’s degree in any major with a minimum GPA of 2.75 (applicants in their senior year of the undergraduate program may apply but acceptance will be made contingent upon submission of the final transcript and receipt of the bachelor’s degree)
• Official transcript of undergraduate and any graduate studies
• Two professional and/or academic letters of recommendation that address the applicant’s academic and/or professional achievement and potential, and ability to complete a quantitative graduate program
• GMAT or GRE score is currently not required, however, admission preference will be given to those who submit those scores
• Applicants with at least two years of full-time work experience or another graduate degree with substantial quantitative training will also be given preference over those who do not submit GMAT or GRE scores
• International applicants who have not received their entire undergraduate education in an English-speaking country must submit official scores of either TOEFL (75 or higher) or IELTS (6.0 or higher). Those who have earned a graduate degree in the United States may apply for a TOEFL/IELTS waiver by sending a request to the program director
• Non-refundable application fee

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 L.I.U. 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 (M.D.A. 525, 3 credits)

Core courses:

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

Seminar course:

• Applied Business Analytics (M.D.A. 720, 3 credits)

Electives:

Students take two graduate-level courses offered by the C.O.M. (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 (M.D.A. 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 sponsoring firm either in the United States or abroad. Each internship requires at least one month or 100 hours under the 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 M.D.A. program is seeking internship sponsor/host organizations around the world.

Career Outlook

• In its Corporate Recruiters Survey Report 2017, the Graduate Management Admission Council (G.M.A.C.) 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 the 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 C.O.M. and the Nespola Foundation, in the name of L.I.U. Trustee Mr. Richard Nespola, have established the Nespola Scholars program to offer merit scholarships with a limited monetary award to successful applicants in the M.D.A. program.

To apply for the Nespola Scholars, the candidate should:

• Have been admitted into the M.D.A. 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 M.D.A. program:
  • Transportation (including any logistics services)
  • Higher education (applying data analytics at the college level for purposes of student enrollment and retention in an era of demographic change)
  • Sports (applications of sports analytics)
  • Environment (application of environmental analytics in climate services, weather forecast, natural disasters, smart cities, sustainable growth, and renewable energy)
  • 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 M.D.A. 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 M.D.A. program, representing and promoting the program at various student and academic events held by the C.O.M. and L.I.U. After they graduate, the scholars will also serve as mentors for the next class of the scholar program.

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