Covers end-to-end processes relating to the capture, organization, use, and protection of data for analytical purposes. You will learn how to build an optimized relational database and use SQL to extract data to support an organization's analytics strategy and provide important managerial insights from raw data. Extraction, transformation, load (ETL) and data privacy/security will also be discussed in the context of modern organizations.

Prototyping and Product Development is an action-oriented and project-based course. You and your team will identify a problem, develop multiple prototypes that address the problem, and test prototypes through iterative experimentation. Class sessions will be a mix of hands-on exercises, selected readings, and guest speakers. The majority of class time will be devoted to project work to help teams complete their prototypes.

We cover natural language processing, deep learning, and artificial intelligence to apply them to text and image data. You will learn algorithms that are the backbone of technologies used by Google and Tesla. You will also learn about Transformers, a revolutionizing concept that has caused a paradigm shift in artificial intelligence. In teams, you will compete with peers to develop the best predictive models to process and analyze text data.

This course will introduce the latest practices and technologies for managing big data. It will first compare and contrast big data to relational data in both operational and analytical data systems. It will then explore modern technologies (e.g., Spark and NoSQL), cloud computing (e.g., AWS), and reference architectures for retrieving, storing, integrating and analyzing big data. Finally, it will demonstrate big-data-enabled AI applications.

Teams will solve an analytics challenge from a sponsoring company. The company will provide the data and the problem. You and your team will design a solution in the form of a set of visualizations and a model and assess the business impact in conjunction with the sponsoring company. Key questions: How much money will the proposed solution save? How many new customers will the proposed solution attract? The core deliverable is a presentation.

In the second capstone course you will assess the business impact of your solution and should be done in conjunction with the sponsoring company. Key assessment questions may include: a) how much money (or other resources) will the proposed solution save? b) How many new customers will the proposed solution attract? c) how much money will current customers spend? The core deliverable is a report on the business impact your proposed solution.

Course investigates practical challenges policy researchers face conducting impact evaluations. Develop capacity to replicate prominent empirical research using experimental & quasi-experimental methods & present results in compelling, accessible formats.Course primarily uses R (No prior exp. w/R expected). Course assumes prior grad-level instruction in experimental & quasi-experimental methods and Batten MPPs likely have completed RMDA II.

In this course, you acquire skills in analytics project scoping, planning, risk analysis and management, resource allocation and budgeting, monitoring, and real options thinking. You will use state-of-the-art software such as Microsoft Project and Jira to plan and execute large-scale projects. You will also consider the challenge of managing projects and develop an awareness of behavioral decision-making biases in project management.

In this course, you will build a more accurate and up-to-date understanding of what drives human behavior, understand the nature and complexity of moral issues that digital technology and analytics raise, and practice making decisions that balance your ability to use analytics and benefit people.

The threat of international terrorism in the wake of 9/11 prompted costly & controversial US military & stabilization efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Initially targeting terrorism, it expanded into regime change. Bush, Obama, & Trump administrations struggled to craft effective strategies, facing setbacks like ISIS & Taliban resurgence. What can we learn from this chapter in America¿s endeavor to counter terrorist and security threats abroad?