{"id":5395,"date":"2016-12-20T11:00:34","date_gmt":"2016-12-20T17:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/?p=5395"},"modified":"2016-12-19T09:08:10","modified_gmt":"2016-12-19T15:08:10","slug":"capella-students-win-first-place-at-minnemudac-data-analytics-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/capella-students-win-first-place-at-minnemudac-data-analytics-competition\/","title":{"rendered":"Capella Students Win First Place at Data Analytics Competition"},"content":{"rendered":"

After almost a month-long effort, on November 5th<\/sup>, 2016 Capella University graduate students Murali Sastry and Jared Mehlhaff beat 28 other teams to take first place at the MinneMUDAC: Dive Into Water<\/a> analytics competition.<\/p>\n

Sastry and Mehlhaff are students in the Master of Science in Analytics program, and credit the knowledge and skills gained in the program for their success. \u201cThe Capella MS in Analytics program helped us cover all aspects of the MinneMUDAC project, from understanding data, to modeling, and lastly, to preparing a presentation,\u201d Mehlhaff says. \u00a0He also credits their win to the experience gained from working with real-world problems at Capella, as well as their training and experience with SAS\u00ae software.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur students were able to showcase their abilities as analytics professionals and leaders,\u201d says Rhonda Capron, EdD, dean of the School of Business and Technology at Capella. \u201cWe\u2019re very proud of their success. I especially want to thank Melissa Zgola, Faculty Chair, Stefanie Rae, Faculty Advisor and all Capella staff who provided support and guidance throughout this competition.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What Is MinneMUDAC?<\/h4>\n

MinneMUDAC is the result of a partnership between Midwest Undergraduate Data Analytics Competition<\/a> (MUDAC), an organization with a history of conducting analytic competitions in the academic community; Social Data Science<\/a> (SDS), a nonprofit focused on applying analytic insights to the public sector; and MinneAnalytics<\/a>, a 7,000 member, nonprofit organization committed to advancing the analytic professional community.<\/p>\n

The MinneMUDAC: Dive into Water data analytics competition, held throughout the month of October 2016, invited teams of graduate and undergraduate students from across the country to analyze multiple years of Minnesota economic and water quality data, with the objective of developing real business insights and actionable recommendations. More than 80 judges assessed each team in three separate skill areas: cleaning and preparing the data, doing the statistical analysis, and presenting their findings in a public environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur purpose was to generate student interest in and commitment to a career in data science with a goal of providing a real world opportunity for students to showcase their talents,\u201d says Mark Gorman, co-chair of the event and MinneAnalytics board member. \u201cOur judges were impressed by the excellent job the teams did in demonstrating not only their skills in analyzing the data, but also in presenting that information effectively in the limited timeframe provided.\u201d
\n <\/p>\n

Advancing Analytics through SAS Partnership<\/h4>\n

Capella University teamed with analytics leader SAS to launch the Master of Science in Analytics in October of 2015. The program is designed to prepare data analytics professionals to interpret and transform data in order to develop solutions that resolve applied problems. In addition, students prepare to effectively provide insights and communicate results.<\/p>\n

When asked about his choice to enroll in the Capella program, Sastry says, \u201cIt catered to my specific needs \u2013 a flexible online program, good rankings, and had SAS as its vehicle to achieve coursework practice objectives.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re excited to see students wielding SAS to explore serious issues facing our society, such as water quality,\u201d says Emily Baranello, vice president of SAS Education Practice. \u201cSAS experience with real-world data paves the way to many rewarding career opportunities.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Interested in a career in data science and analytics? Learn more about Capella\u2019s <\/em>MS in Analytics program<\/em><\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

See graduation rates, median student debt, and other information at Capella Results<\/a>.<\/em><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two Capella students took the plunge into the prestigious MinneMUDAC data analytics competition and came out on top. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":5396,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[325,32],"tags":[34],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5395"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/81"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5395"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5399,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5395\/revisions\/5399"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}