The investment will fund scholarships and data science education events benefiting students in Minnesota and beyond.

The MinneAnalytics Board of Directors has approved $100K in investments for data science education initiatives in 2018. The funding marks an increase from the $62,900 spent in 2017 and an overall trend of increasing investment in education by the organization.

“Due to our generous sponsors, we have the means to put more optics on the the need for talent in this industry,” said Dan Atkins, co-founder and executive director of the organization. “We are able to reinvest in the community by providing direct support and opportunities for students pursuing a career in the field of data science and analytics.”

According to Atkins, funding will be split between student scholarships and education events. Last year, MinneAnalytics funded scholarships for students at twelve colleges and universities across the Midwest. The number of scholarships is expected to increase substantially in 2018.

MinneAnalytics has plans to repeat and expand its MinneMUDAC data science competition, an event co-organized by Winona State University designed to give graduate and undergraduate students direct experience with large sets of data while competing for cash prizes. Last year’s event on Nov. 4 drew more than 60 teams from 50 schools. The organization will also expand its reach to the high school level with a pilot competition this April hosted by Hamline University.

Thank you to our amazing members and sponsors for making this reinvestment in the community possible.