UC Berkeley IEOR launches Master of Analytics degree program to help address shortage of workers with data and analytics skills
UC Berkeley’s Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research (IEOR) has just launched Berkeley Master of Analytics, a new professional degree program in the College of Engineering that will equip the next generation of analytics professionals with the latest tools and methods in data analytics, optimization, risk modeling and simulation to help meet the severe shortage of workers with data and analytics skills. The program will accept applications this fall and enroll its first cohort of students in Fall 2022.
Business leaders are feeling immense pressure to adapt to a rapidly changing marketplace, and innovate fast in the modern economy. The ability to convert large-scale data into valuable insights and data-informed decisions through advanced analytics that optimize processes and manage risk effectively is increasingly seen as a key to success. Therefore, companies are urgently searching for employees with data and analytics skills to stay competitive.
“In every sector of the economy, from healthcare to transportation, from energy to finance, there is a severe shortage of analytics professionals who have the skills necessary to analyze large amounts of data and offer solutions to challenges that organizations face,” said IEOR department chair, Alper Atamturk. “Berkeley’s new Master of Analytics program will train students in advanced analytical methods and tools to help fill this talent gap. Graduates will be able to develop innovative models and find data-driven solutions to challenges in scheduling, resource management, risk management, pricing and finance and supply chains in any industry where making data-driven decisions at scale is important.”
Employers seek workers that are not only equipped with data and analytics tools but those who are skilled at applying these tools to solve practical problems in a business setting. Students with a STEM background have technical skills, but do not always have experience in applying those skills in practice. Graduates of the new Berkeley Master of Analytics program will be industry-ready, with the necessary training to raise the right questions to develop innovative models, find creative solutions to rapidly changing business and industry challenges, and communicate and implement their solutions.
The new program is designed to prepare graduates for industry roles with a streamlined curriculum that provides a mix of practical training and education with deep quantitative methods and techniques. The 11-month program starts with a two-week intensive Python programming bootcamp in the summer before the fall semester. Students will then acquire deep technical knowledge by completing core courses on analytical methods covering data analytics, optimization, risk modeling and simulation in the fall semester. In the spring semester, students will study elective courses on decision analytics with industry context along with an analytics lab course, where starting from raw data, they will develop end-to-end analytics projects in teams. The program will culminate with a ten-week summer internship, in which students will deploy their skills on real challenges.
Applications for the new program will open on September 15, 2021. To partially alleviate the challenges due to the ongoing pandemic, the GRE scores will not be required for Fall 2022 applications. The early application deadline for the program is January 6, 2022 and the final application deadline is March 2, 2022.
To learn more about the Berkeley Master of Analytics program, visit analytics.berkeley.edu.
