Spears School of Business

 

A team of four Oklahoma State University business analytics students recently placed second in the University of Pittsburgh’s Business Analytics Case Competition.

 

Baylee Dobler, John Moss, Jack Newman and Evan Jordan, students in the 4+1 master’s in business analytics and data science program (MS BAnDS), won second place in the virtual contest while competing against 24 teams. The team won $2,000.

 

“As both undergrad and grad students enrolled in the MS BAnDS program and regular undergraduate courses, there are a lot of different directions we get pulled pretty much every day,” Moss said. “Placing second in this competition was great validation for our efforts as a team and as 4+1 students in the program. It’s always great to celebrate with teammates and feel good about all the hard work we put in.”

 

The team participated virtually in two rounds of competition using a business analytics case with data from a sporting goods store. The OSU team was one of 12 to advance to compete for a position in the top three, at which point the students were provided with additional data and given an hour to analyze and make their final presentation to the judges.

 

“This competition was unique to other analytics competitions in that it focused heavily on business strategy and marketing, which were supported by minimal analysis,” Moss said. “This competition was an opportunity for us to use our creativity as a team and practice what I believe to be the more typical scenario for a business or data analyst.”

 

Dr. Goutam Chakraborty, director of the business analytics and data science program, was pleased with how the four students performed.

 

“I am amazed at the superb performance by this team,” he said. “These are undergraduate students who are carrying their undergrad load plus additional graduate courses as part of the 4+1 program. So, they are extremely busy with classes, projects and yet managed to secure the second spot ahead of other prestigious schools such as Carnegie-Mellon, Indiana, Boston University, Rutgers and others. This shows both the grit of these students and the bench strength of our faculty who prepare them for such competitions.”

 

For more information about the master’s in business analytics and data science program at OSU, visit the website.