Specialized Master in Business Analytics

Academics/Faculty

Headshot images of Fisher SMB-A Faculty members

Fisher SMB-A Core Faculty

The quality of any program rests on the quality of the faculty. Fisher’s world-class faculty are committed to preparing the next generation of business leaders. They bring with them a wealth of expertise and form a cornerstone of our college, providing unique experiential learning opportunities and maintaining our top-notch reputation for thought leadership and research. The experience and educational philosophies of our faculty members will contribute significantly to the texture of your Fisher experience, learning and growth. A partial list of faculty teaching in the program includes:

John Draper

Operations & Business Analytics;
Business Analytics;
Sports Analytics;
Data Science/Statistical Computing;
Executive Education;
Six Sigma methodology 

Elliot Bendoly

Operations & Business Analytics;
Information Technology;
Data Visualization;
Behavioral Operations;
Technology Management;
Sustainability & Corporate Responsibility

Greg Allenby

Marketing & Logistics;
Prescriptive Analytics;
Bayesian Analysis;
Capstone 

Roger Bailey 

Marketing & Logistics;
Applied Bayesian Modeling in marketing;
Pricing;
Quantitative Marketing;
Statistics

Ralph Greco

Operations & Business Analytics
Services;
Database Design, Management;
Information Technology;
Sustainability & Corporate Responsibility

Rakesh Mallipeddi

Operations & Business Analytics;
Information Technology;
Data Visualization; 
E-commerce Operations;
Operations Marketing Interface;
Technology Management;
Sustainability and Corporate Relations

Ismael Talke

Operations & Business Analytics;
Statistics

Charles Buchanan

Management & Human Resources;
Leadership;
Leadership Development;
Organizational Development;
Teamwork 

The Specialized Master in Business Analytics (SMB-A) curriculum combines an understanding of business with an understanding of analytics methods and techniques. This produces data-savvy business leaders and consultants with expertise in how to use analytics and lead analytics initiatives in business. By bridging the gap between business knowledge and computing/technical knowledge, our academic curriculum prepares students to credibly lead initiatives in business organizations from initial conception to full-scale implementation and deployment. 

 Explore the SMB-A program structure 

Computing: The SMB-A virtual lab

Experiential (hands-on) learning is a cornerstone at Fisher. SMB-A students learn the real-world skills that employers want. Each student is provided with a persistent virtual machine (VM) - basically a private windows PC in "the cloud".

Software

  • R
  • Rstudio
  • Python (Anaconda)
  • Jupyter notebooks
  • MS Office (Excel, Access, PPT, Word)
  • SQL server and data tools
  • Git for Windows
  • Tableau
  • Chrome and Firefox
  • Vim text editor
  • Notepad++
  • NppToR
  • PuTTY
  • FileZilla

How much is previous statistical/software experience needed?

The SMB-A program welcomes all experience levels and statistical computing knowledge; however, we don't assume any specific background knowledge upon entry into the program. We see a wide range of capabilities when people first enroll. Some have lots of experience in Tableau, SQL, R or other software, while some have never done any of that before. As a primarily R-focused program, with some Python and other software in our courses, our business faculty will instruct you from the base levels to be conversant and capable with them in your day-to-day. It will undoubtedly help if you have experience with software or quantitative methods, but you can pick those methods up as you navigate the program.

As a result of the SMB-A program, I seamlessly transitioned from a business support role to a role in analytics at my company mid-program. Not only did the degree prepare me with the necessary skills to support this transition, but the flexibility of the program structure also allowed me to continue working throughout. As a result, I was able to bring skills and knowledge learned through the program back to the workplace before I had even graduated.

Megan Appelt (SMB-A '19)Quant Analytics Associate Sr.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. | Columbus, Ohio

 

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