BHEF Chair and Case Western Reserve University President Barbara R. Snyder Announces Plans for her Campus to Launch a Distinctive Data Science Program at BHEF’s Winter Meeting

Initiative Expands BHEF’s National Higher Education and Workforce Initiative into Cross-Disciplinary Field of Big Data

Washington, D.C. (February 13) — The chair of the Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF) highlighted  her university’s plans to launch an undergraduate program in data science at the national organization’s winter meeting last week.

“Case Western Reserve’s distinctive strengths make us particularly well positioned to prepare undergraduates for this rapidly expanding field,” Case Western Reserve President and BHEF Chair Barbara R. Snyder said. “Potential applications of data science stretch from healthcare and energy to manufacturing and nearly every other field. We intend to give our students the knowledge and skills required to contribute meaningfully in all of them.”

The Cleveland, Ohio university’s proposed data science effort reflects one of the principal aims of BHEF’s broader National Higher Education and Workforce Initiative – namely, to encourage universities and industry to come together to address emerging opportunities for both groups. Case Western Reserve academic officials consulted widely with leaders of local and national companies as they considered how best to develop a data science program whose content addresses the most pressing needs that businesses identified.

Companies long have collected and applied information on a wide variety of functions, but recent advances in technology have exponentially increased the volume, specificity and quality of data available for analysis. As a result, nearly every sector of the economy faces skyrocketing demands for people who understand how to draw meaningful insight from the deluge of facts and figures.

“Case Western Reserve’s nascent effort has enormous potential to address a significant national need, and we applaud Barbara and her team at Case Western Reserve for their leadership,” said Brian K. Fitzgerald, BHEF’s chief executive officer. “As we expand our National Higher Education and Workforce Initiative, this program will serve as a model as we create innovative undergraduate pathways in this, and other critical cross-disciplinary fields with our members and national partners in industry sectors vital to our nation’s economic growth and security.”

The undergraduate major under development at Case Western Reserve is expected to combine coursework in advanced mathematics, statistics, and computer programming with study of real-world data applications. It also is likely to involve extensive hands-on work on smaller projects and a capstone effort. University officials are working closely with industry partners to understand existing and potential needs, and establish potential placements for students to pursue internships or co-op experiences.

As part of the BHEF winter meeting, Snyder moderated a panel of Northeast Ohio organizations that have collaborated with Case Western Reserve on select data science efforts. The conversation centered on ways that data analytics can advance private-sector institutions, and how higher education can help them seize those opportunities.

The conversation focused on businesses’ demand for data scientists and data analytics-enabled professionals across multiple industry sectors. The potential impact of data analytics on businesses is akin to the impact of the Internet on commerce. Yet according to a recent IBM Tech Trends Survey, “only one in ten businesses have the required skills to use state-of-the-art technology in the field of big data and analytics.” McKinsey Global Institute predicts a nationwide shortage of 140,000 to 190,000 workers with “deep analytical skills,” and a deficit of 1.5 million managers capable of using big data analytics for actionable insights in their decision-making.

Members of the panel included:

• Mark R. Chance, Charles W. and Iona A. Mathias Professor of Cancer Research; vice dean for Research, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine; director, Case Center for Proteomics and Bioinformatics
• Chip Bell, managing director, Accenture
• Roger H. French, F. Alex Nason Professor of Materials Science; director, Case Western Reserve University Solar Durability and Lifetime Extension Center
• C. Martin Harris,  CIO and chairman, Information Technology Division, Cleveland Clinic
• David T. Liederbach, vice president, Global Strategy and Sales Transformation, IBM
• Stephen McHale, CEO, Explorys

BHEF’s Higher Education and Workforce Initiative provides a platform to develop strategic partnerships between business and higher education. Business leaders can provide support to students by creating programs for mentoring and internships, as well as on-site opportunities to expose students to real-world problems and solutions. Such partnerships are designed to ultimately create a more diverse talent pool entering the data science and analytics-enabled workforce.