Master’s students complete individual projects with live data, in partnership with companies, organizations and nonprofits
A sports nutrition company needed to cut its shipping costs. A high school baseball team wanted a leg up on its competition.
Both called in consultants who could analyze stats, crunch numbers and deliver a data-driven solution.
The consultants—Daniels College of Business graduate students—came through.
For more than 10 years now, well-known companies, government organizations and nonprofits have brought their challenges to the Daniels Department of Business Information and Analytics. In over 600 instances, students have had the answers.
The consulting projects are the capstone of the master’s in business analytics program—assignments that pay huge dividends for students, companies and the University alike.
Phil Beaver
“We’re one of three programs in the country that has individual, live capstones,” said Phil Beaver, a professor of the practice and director of the MS in business analytics program. “I want every one of our students to be ready to be an analyst by the time they graduate.”
Over the years, students have partnered with local organizations of all sizes, in virtually every industry: Denver International Airport, the Denver Nuggets, the Denver Symphony, Habitat for Humanity and Humane Colorado, to name a few.
Beaver has done the legwork to make those connections happen. He is constantly probing companies, looking for opportunities he can offer students each quarter. (Beaver estimates he has met with about 750 organizations in the last decade.)
“It’s been a huge, huge benefit to our program for me to go out and talk to their executive suites, talk to their boards, talk to their lead analytics person to hear what they’re doing and what they need,” he said. “It’s been a real win-win for us to have our connectivity to the market. It’s one way to get our students out there, one way to get our name out there, and a way to keep our finger on the pulse of what’s happening.”
Emily Ropeter
Meaningful student projects
As someone who wants to work in sports analytics, Emily Ropeter had no problem picking from the broad array of capstone projects up for grabs. She spent the fall working with Mullen High School’s baseball team for her capstone, developing an app and a database that tracks what pitchers are throwing during their games, in real time. A player and coach can use the information to analyze their strengths and weaknesses. Ultimately, Ropeter said, the database can help advise a player on the best pitch to throw at any given point in a game.
“Getting any hands-on experience with sports in general is really valuable and fun for me,” she said. “It sets me up really well [for the future]. To physically show what I’ve learned in the program, versus just saying what I’ve done in an interview, is really valuable.”
Working with Mullen also opened Ropeter’s eyes to a wider range of career paths that she hadn’t initially considered. It’s not just statistics and graphs, she said. “Knowing there are a lot of avenues in the sports analytics world is pretty exciting.”
Dom Castanoli
Dom Castanoli completed his capstone project with Carbs Fuel, a sports nutrition manufacturer that primarily produces energy gels and water hydration mixes for endurance athletes.
His task: determine the most cost-effective shipping carrier to fulfill each order.
“To be an effective analyst, I had to learn the ins and outs of Carbs Fuel,” he said. “For many of the questions I was asking myself and the Carbs Fuel stakeholders, there were unexpected answers that forced me to re-evaluate how I was approaching the larger problem I was trying to solve. I was kept on my toes and really challenged.”
Castanoli concluded that, by using a software interface that compares prices in real time, Carbs Fuel could cut monthly shipping costs by 3-5%, saving thousands of dollars.
Presenting his final recommendations gave him an immense feeling of accomplishment.
“This experience has given me the confidence to tackle any data analytics problem within any organization,” Castanoli said. “I’m no longer afraid to ask questions and to think outside of the box. I now see the value I can create for an organization and am eager to capitalize on the newly found value I see in myself.”
Companies see the value too. The work students perform is immediately applicable and ready for use.
Long-term benefits
It’s not unusual for capstone projects to lead to jobs for students, immediately or down the line.
“We’ve had students come back and tell us that during an interview with another company, they saw they had done a consulting project, asked about it, and that’s what got them the job,” Beaver said. “[The capstone is] giving students real-world experience before they go out the gate.”
Because each student works with their own faculty advisor, Beaver says, capstone projects also connect teachers and researchers to the corporate world.
“It gives them something to bring into the classroom,” he said. “That drives our curriculum.
“If that’s what they need out there, that better be what we’re doing here.”