MSBAPM Winter Graduation Ceremony for December 2014 graduates will be held on 12/5/2014 at 5:30pm in the GBLC. Please come business casual dressed for the event. RSVP is a must. Invite only event.
MSBAPM
Graduate Career Connections
UConn welcomed 17 companies at the Graduate Business Learning Center for a fall Graduate Career Connections Event. More than 200 students participated in the event, of them about 130 were BAPM students, to learn about the various companies. A few companies conducted interviews on site. A press release with more information is soon to come, keep a look out!
Priceline Data Challenge
Priceline is partnering with UConn to host a data challenge. Students will perform research and build predictive models on customer search behaviors. The finalists will present their project to the Priceline executive Board at Priceline headquarters in Norwalk, CT. Registration for the competition will close on November 12th at midnight and the challenge official starts today! Results of the top team will be posted after Thanksgiving.
Team Registration: http://goo.gl/forms/1HkbMkw6uf
Diwali
Date: October 24, 2014
MSBAPM hosted a Diwali event, a Hindu festival, that was celebrated this year on October 24th. GBLC’s Observation deck was decorated with lights and craft throughout. “Housie,” a tradition game in India similar to bingo was played and prizes were given out. There were two amazing dance performances and a solo singer who performed that night. The evening concluded with all attendees dancing and enjoying traditional Indian food.
Top Big Data & Analytics Masters Programs: Preparing Students for a Digital Future
We’re very excited to share that we have been listed as one of over 25 ‘most prominent big data and analytics degree programs” by BI Software Insight. Big data is a revolution that will transform our lives and our uniquely combined degree focusing in both analytics and project management is positioning our graduates for success. Our graduates are prepared to leverage and manage data as well as develop data-driven solutions. See more at Top Big Data & Analytics Masters Programs.
Master’s Student Team Leverages Digital Marketing Analytics for Logicbroker
Logicbroker can now create the optimal prospect profile to further enhance its customer acquisition strategy as a consequence of our Master’s student team’s work. Continue Reading
Students “Make Data Tell a Story” in MSBAPM Capstone Course
Analyze…Manage…Communicate… Analyze an industrial size dataset, manage the project risk and time commitment, present and “sell” your results to all the stakeholders. This was the theme of the capstone course in the MS in Business Analytics and Project Management (MSBAPM) program, taught by Sudip Bhattacharjee, Mark Tschiegg, and Michael Vandusen from January – April 2013. The final student presentations were held on Monday, April 22 at the Graduate Business Learning Center (GBLC) in downtown Hartford.Continue Reading
MSBAPM/Swiss Re Networking Event
On Thursday March 22, 2012, the MS in Business Analytics and Project Management (MSBAPM) held its second MSBAPM/Industry Networking Event in the Graduate Business Learning Center (GBLC) in downtown Hartford, co-sponsored with Swiss Re, the leading global reinsurance company, based in Zurich. Swiss Re was represented by Michael O. Van Dusen PMP, Director, Operations, Business Engineering, Swiss Re America Holding; Peter Langan, Xinwei Zhang, and Patricia Quinn. Several faculty and staff from the Operations and Information Management (OPIM) department and students from the MSBAPM program also attended.
After a meet and greet, the executives gave an overview of Swiss Re and the Business Engineering (BEN) group, which does internal consulting projects for the firm. Projects may involve process improvement, change management, etc., and can range in size from one million dollars to several hundred million dollars. The executives then ran a small teamwork and collaboration game to illustrate the importance of communication and teamwork in projects. The winning team was thrilled to receive Swiss chocolates as a reward! The executives then resumed discussion on project work and ended the talk with an overview of salary and job prospects for students trained in project management. Everyone had a good time.
Picture: Swiss Re Exec. Michael O. Van Dusen speaking.
MSBAPM and The Hartford Networking
On Thursday, Nov 17, 2011, the MS in Business Analytics and Project Management (MSBAPM) held its first MSBAPM/Industry Networking Event in the Graduate Business Learning Center (GBLC) in downtown Hartford, co-sponsored with The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. In addition to several faculty from the Operations and Information Management (OPIM) department, several top executives from The Hartford were in attendance. These included Ruben Fechner, VP Commercial Lines; Sundar Subramanian, AVP Commercial Lines; Nitin Korgonkar, Director IT Program Management; Chris Ross, Director IT Program Management; and Betty Davis, Director IT Program Management.
The event started with a wine and cheese networking hour, followed by a very interactive presentation by all the executives from The Hartford, led by Mr. Fechner, on The Hartford’s approach to project management. Students were told how The Hartford focuses on the customer (both end customer and business sponsor) in a DMAIC/Six Sigma process that hones in on Critical to Quality (CTQs) characteristics of products and processes right from the project initiation phase to project completion. The emphasis is single-mindedly on on-time, on-budget, to-scope and ROI on all their projects, and the project team would not hesitate to pull the plug on projects that do not perform on all these metrics. The presentation was peppered with questions from the audience with all the executives joining in to share their experiences in answering each question. The Hartford team then talked about what makes a good Project Leader, not just a project manager, someone who would inspire, be decisive, be detail oriented and analytical, be accountable and be a good communicator. They were not looking for someone to merely be a “project reporter,” since that information can easily be gathered from Earned Value analysis. The presentation ended with Mr. Fechner saying that products can be copied by competitors, but project management skills in the team cannot be easily replicated, and therefore can be a competitive advantage.