Cliff T. Ragsdale teaches several courses for the Institute in the area of operations research, based on his best selling text “Spreadsheet Modeling and Decision Analysis.” One of Cliff’s special talents is making his subject, which can be quite challenging technically, widely accessible. His courses do not have flashy bells and whistles, but are consistently ratedContinue reading “Instructor Spotlight: Cliff Ragsdale”
Daily Archives: May 23, 2019
Industry Spotlight: Consulting
When a new technology arrives, consulting companies can quickly add staff and expertise to build institutional capacity centered around the technology in ways companies focused on delivering their own products and services cannot. Large consulting companies like Booz Allen and McKinsey, as well as smaller analytics-centric firms like Elder Research, thus constitute a significant jobContinue reading “Industry Spotlight: Consulting”
Industry Spotlight: Baseball (Sports) Statistics
The U.S. baseball season opens Thursday, March 28, and celebrates the 48th season of analytics in baseball, beginning with the founding of the Sabermetric Society in 1971 (the same year that Satchel Paige entered the Hall of Fame). Analytics has come a long way in sports, and now has its own conference, the MIT SportsContinue reading “Industry Spotlight: Baseball (Sports) Statistics”
Industry Spotlight: Package Delivery Business
Nothing better illustrates the encroachment of data science and analytics on the older “economy of tangible things” than the business of delivering packages. The use of analytics in package delivery is not new. Companies like UPS and Fedex are longtime users of operations research methods like optimization and simulation to route inter-city shipments, site newContinue reading “Industry Spotlight: Package Delivery Business”
Industry Spotlight: Credit Scoring
In the U.S., credit scoring is dominated by three companies – Experian, TransUnion and Equifax, employing roughly 30,000 people. An important player in the scoring methodology is FICO, previously Fair Isaac Corporation, and the scores are typically called “FICO scores.” Credit scoring is the oldest application of predictive modeling, fulfilling a need that has beenContinue reading “Industry Spotlight: Credit Scoring”
Industry Spotlight: Agriculture
Weeds are big business – the global herbicide market is over $35 billion annually. Weeds are also big government (think “invasive species”). California’s listing of weeds is called Encycloweedia, and the state publishes a quarterly newsletter called Noxious Times. Colorado publishes a similar periodical, Invader. The weed-killer Roundup is the focus of lawsuits that illustrateContinue reading “Industry Spotlight: Agriculture”
Industry Spotlight: Precision Agriculture
The application of analytics to agriculture has given rise to what is called “precision agriculture,” a science that seeks to take advantage of and use detailed information that is local in time and place. Tractors and farm equipment are being equipped with sensors and software that allow them to respond automatically to external data, andContinue reading “Industry Spotlight: Precision Agriculture”
Job Spotlight: Risk Analyst
Many jobs are centered around risk management. If you’re looking through job postings, of course, you’ll see lots of jobs whose purpose is to make sure that nothing bad happens – the equivalent of locking the doors and closing the windows. More interesting from a statistical perspective are the jobs that assume that bad thingsContinue reading “Job Spotlight: Risk Analyst”
Industry Spotlight: Automotive
The auto industry serves as a perfect exemplar of three key eras of statistics and data science in service of industry: Total Quality Management (TQM) First in Japan, and later in the U.S., the auto industry became an enthusiastic adherent to the Total Quality Management philosophy. Fundamentally, TQM is all about using data to improveContinue reading “Industry Spotlight: Automotive”
Job Spotlight: Data Scientist
Data science is one of a host of similar terms. “Artificial intelligence” has been around since the 1960’s and “data mining” for at least a couple of decades. “Machine learning” came out of the computer science community, and “analytics,” “data analytics,” and “predictive analytics” came out of the statistics and OR communities. Among all ofContinue reading “Job Spotlight: Data Scientist”
Course Spotlight: Survival Analysis
Convinced that he, like his father, would die in his 40’s, Winston Churchill lived his early life in a frenetic hurry. He had participated in four wars on three continents by his mid-20’s, served in multiple ministerial positions by his 30’s, and published 12 books by his 40’s. Little did he know that more thanContinue reading “Course Spotlight: Survival Analysis”
Instructor Spotlight: David Kleinbaum
David Kleinbaum developed several courses for Statistics.com, including Survival Analysis, Epidemiologic Statistics, and Designing Valid Statistical Studies. David retired a little over a year ago from Emory University, where he was a popular and effective teacher with the ability to distill and explain difficult statistical concepts with clarity and concision. David had a flair forContinue reading “Instructor Spotlight: David Kleinbaum”
Likert scale assessment surveys
Do you work with multiple choice tests, or Likert scale assessment surveys? Rasch methods help you construct linear measures from these forms of scored observations and analyze the results from such surveys and tests. “Practical Rasch Measurement – Core Topics“ In this course, you will learn practical aspects of data setup, analysis, output interpretation, fit analysis, differentialContinue reading “Likert scale assessment surveys”