NEWS RELEASE  FEB. 12, 2018

MinneAnalytics Approves $100K in Funding for Analytics Education Initiatives in 2018

Investment will fund scholarships and data science education events benefiting students in Minnesota and beyond

MinneAnalytics, the nation’s largest regional analytics community and events organization, announced today it has approved $100,000 in investments for data science education initiatives in 2018. The funding marks an increase from the $62,900 it invested in 2017 and continues the organization’s objective to increase its funding of education initiatives each year.

“Due to our generous sponsors, we have the means to address the need for more talent in this rapidly growing profession,” said Dan Atkins, cofounder and executive director of MinneAnalytics. “We’re 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.”

Candidates with data science skills are increasingly sought after by employers. According to McKinsey Global Institute, the “US will experience a shortage of 190,000 skilled data scientists by 2018,” while IBM predicts the need for data scientists “will soar by 28% by 2020.”

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 Minnesota’s Winona State University. It is designed to give graduate and undergraduate students direct experience with large sets of data while competing for cash prizes. Last year’s event on November 4 drew more than 60 teams from 50 schools. MinneAnalytics will also expand its reach to the high-school level with a pilot competition
this April hosted by Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota.

About MinneAnalytics
MinneAnalytics is a nonprofit organization serving Minnesota’s data science and analytics community by providing accessible, authentic, and engaging events. The organization facilitates the sharing of knowledge and ideas among analytics professionals across business, technology, and decision science through several industry-specific events and conferences each year.

In addition, MinneAnalytics hosts student analytics challenges and analytics leader forums, and provides student scholarships. MinneAnalytics events are free to attendees due to the generous support of many sponsors. The community has grown to include more than 12,000 members, with job titles ranging from CEO and CTO to data scientist and quantitative analyst. The variety of organizations ranges from the Fortune 500, to startups, academia, and the curious.

# # #

Media contact:
Jackson Atkins
Communications Manager
jackson@minneanalytics.org