On Friday, October 27, the UConn Operations and Information Management (OPIM) Department conducted a workshop on predictive modeling. This workshop is one of the technology workshops that the department is conducting in order to enhance the OPIM Innovate Initiative.
OPIM adjunct Professor Marshall Doughtery, a Management Information Systems (MIS) graduate, was the facilitator of the workshop and currently teaches courses on data and text mining, and SAS Analytics. In this workshop, Marshall explained predictive modeling and its real world applications. He also introduced the audience to SAS and SAS JMP. SAS is an analytics software and SAS JMP is a product that focuses on building data models and predictive analytics.
“Predictive modeling is a process that uses data and algorithms to predict outcomes,” said Professor Doughtery, and its influence in the field is growing daily. Being able to utilize these predictive modeling skills is important because data science is one of the “fastest growing and important fields in the job market,” Once students have this skill set, they will become one of the most wanted candidates for jobs. Therefore, the more exposure OPIM Innovate and the rest of the department can give its students, the better they will be prepared for the future.
Learning the basics is helpful, but what set apart this workshop was the hands on experience students were able to receive. Gyuho Song, a UConn graduate student studying Material Science Engineering, has been coming to the Innovate workshops since last semester. Although Song is not in the School of Business, he emphasized the importance of predictive modeling and being able to truly understand it before using it. Having an activity during the workshop not only enhances the students’ focus, but it allows students to apply the knowledge they’ve learned. Song said that the interactive aspect of the workshop was his favorite part because he was amazed at how he could learn about predictive modeling and apply his newfound knowledge all within ninety minutes.
Although it is challenging to include all the important topics in a ninety minute workshop, Professor Doughtery felt pleased with the outcome, as most students were engaged and invested.
The next workshop will be held on Friday, November 3, on Unity Virtual Reality Programming in the OPIM Gladstein Lab on the third floor of the School of Business.