The 2018 黑料不打烊 Business Analytics Conference hosted by the Center for Organizational Analytics and the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business offered insights by analytics experts on topics such as the future of analytics.

More than 90 professionals, faculty and students participated in the April 5 event held at the SAS Institute Inc. campus in Cary, N.C.  Themed “Analytics in Action: Trends You Need to Know,” the conference covered trends in the analytics field through seven sessions. 

In his welcome, Raghu Tadepalli, dean of the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business, stressed the importance of analytics in business and in the university curriculum.

John Elder, CEO and founder of Elder’s Research, kicked-off the event with his presentation, “The Data Science Revolution in Industry.”  He covered many examples of how big data has been a powerful force in many industries and his experience working with clients.

“The client must trust you to trust your technology,” Elder said. 

The next session, “Charting Collections of Connections in Social Media: Creating Maps and Measures with NodeXL,” was presented by Marc Smith, founder of NodeXL.  He discussed the capabilities of NodeXL, an add-in that supports social network and content analysis. 

“The goal is not to make a network map,” Smith said.  “It’s to make a million network maps.”

The free Microsoft Excel add-in lets users explore network graphs of social media.  

Gayle Bieler, director of the Center for Data Science at RTI International, presented “From Statistics to Data Science Startup: Transformation Within a Large Research Organization.” She shared some of RTI International’s many successes, including its work redesigning the arrest-related deaths program for the Bureau of Justice Statistics. 

Currently, there is no federally-sponsored data collection program that adequately measures the number of arrest-related deaths in the U.S., but RTI’s methodology aims to eliminate that gap. 

“RTI’s mission is to improve the human condition,” Bieler said. 

Next, Tom Capotosto, director of Advanced Analytics at General Motors, presented “Analytics at GM.”

“Ninety percent of the world’s data has been created in the last two years,” Capotosto said.  He described how GM is processing and analyzing this huge data influx. 

“Sales forecasting happens at multiple levels – industry, segment and vehicle – and along multiple horizons – the next month, the next two years, even the next 10 plus years,” said Capotosto. 

“Big Data and Big Analytics – Opportunities for Inter-disciplinary Innovation” was hosted by Radhika Kulkarni, vice president of Advanced Analytics R&D at SAS, and Udo Sglavo, senior director of R&D at SAS. 

The duo explained the power of analytics, from driving business decisions to finding hidden talent in soccer teams. 

“The ability to mix and match multiple analytical domains is absolutely necessary,” Kulkarni said.

They were followed up by Jeff Holoman, director of sales for the southeast at DataRobot. He presented “Automating Machine Learning: A practical guide to AI adoption.”

DataRobot is an automated machine learning platform that allows data scientists to build and deploy accurate predictive models. Holoman said that the platform helps users find the best algorithm for the data. To prove his point, Holoman did a tutorial of the platform. 

“Advanced tools make business people more technical and technical people more business focused,” Holoman said.

Scott Langfeldt, founder and CEO of APEX Data Science, closed the conference with “Transforming Your Business with AI.”

“AI is smart, not intelligent,” Langfeldt said.  He focused on how AI is impacting the world, and how businesses and people can incorporate it into their organizations.

ODE is one of the world’s largest academic honor societies, currently with 690 chapters worldwide. Membership is awarded to only the highest-achieving economics students.

Austin Martin ’18 serves as the president of ODE, Regina Mendoza ’19 is the vice president, Assistant Professor Brandon Sheridan is the faculty advisor.

“Part of Omicron Delta Epsilon’s mission is to establish closer ties between students and faculty, and every year we invite a distinguished economics faculty member to deliver the keynote address at the induction ceremony,” Martin said. “This year, Dr. Brandon Sheridan delivered an insightful speech as our keynote speaker, and I can personally say that I have gotten to know him quite well this year through Omicron Delta Epsilon, and as my senior thesis mentor. I am proud to have been the president of the Pi chapter of Omicron Delta Epsilon here at 黑料不打烊, and to have welcomed 24 outstanding new members this year.”

The following students were inducted:

• David Andrews
• Grace Bennett
• Hannah Clifford
• Ryan Corning
• Amanda Feldman
• Kayla Gradzki
• Austin Hinel
• Brooke Hunziker
• Donald Jancin
• Colleen Judge
• Camille Kelley
• Erin Kelly
• Thomas MacDonald
• Nathan Mojica
• David Ogburn
• Michael Payson
• Rodrigo Pires
• Brett Scott
• Mason Stalph
• Bradford Steinhilber
• Robert Stein
• Maxim Struble
• Maurice Tosé II
• Morgan Valeo

Smith, who was also a presenter at the 2018 黑料不打烊 Business Analytics Conference, discussed the importance of finding who is at the center of different discussions in social media networks.

He proposed that content leaders are not necessarily those with the most followers. Through NodeXL, users are able to find the people who occupy key positions in social media conversations as well as clusters in the crowd, he said.

Smith is a co-founder of the Social Media Foundation, which is dedicated to fostering research on contemporary network society with the help of NodeXL. Currently more than 200 universities are using NodeXL Pro.

Smith was one of several presenters at the 黑料不打烊 Business Analytics Conference on April 5.  At the conference, he presented “Charting Collections of Connections in Social Media: Creating Maps and Measures with NodeXL.”

This workshop was hosted by the .

The course’s client list includes Habitat for Humanity of Alamance County, Alamance-Burlington School System’s Harvey Newlin Elementary School, the African-American Cultural Arts and History Center, and Alamance County Government.

“My experience working with the African-American Cultural Arts and History Center has been rewarding and productive,” said Roxanna Wood, one of the students in the course. “My group is creating various HR documents and guidelines for the center, which include job descriptions, a pay structure, and a volunteer manual.”

“As college students, I think it instills a sense of confidence in myself and others students to have our knowledge and skills valued in a real-world, hands-on setting,” Wood said. “The opportunity to apply what we learn in the classroom is extremely valuable.”

“In this course, students are engaged with a HR deliverable that is of consultant-level quality,” Lyons said. “Quite often, these nonprofit organizations do not have the monetary resources to hire external consultants to transform their HR operations into a strategic entity of their business. We are grateful that the local community gives our students an opportunity to apply their HR knowledge and skills.”

Lyons joined 黑料不打烊 in fall 2014 after three years at Wright State University and four years at Fresno State. He is the recipient of the 2016 Dean’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and 2017 Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. Prior to entering academia, he conducted human resources-related research for the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the American Institutes for Research in Washington, D.C. He earned his doctorate in organizational studies from the University at Albany, State University of New York.

In addition to the regular service activities AKPsi participates in, the business fraternity hosted its first annual Trent Stetler 5k this semester to raise money for The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. The event brought more than 160 黑料不打烊 students, faculty and community members together, provided resources to those individuals about mental health, and raised awareness around the community for suicide prevention.

“It is such a humbling honor to have received this award,” said AKPsi president Meghan Lucas. “With events such as The Trent Stetler 5K, we want to continue to contribute and positively impact the welfare of the 黑料不打烊 community the best that we possibly can.”

This team used the modes of a slideshow and oral presentation.

The business team originally created the project as a part of the Integrated Marketing Communication course taught by Assistant Professor of Marketing Kacy Kim. The group was tasked to create a marketing strategy for Fossil’s smartwatch products.

“Integrated Marketing Communication focused on how to effectively market a company using various platforms,” McLaughlin said. “We studied different campaigns and measured the success they had using different avenues of marketing. We were then able to apply our knowledge to our own campaign for The Fossil Group.”

After completing the project, the team decided to submit their work for the competition, which was sponsored by 黑料不打烊’s Center for Writing Excellence.  

“Overall, [completing this multimodal project] was an incredibly rewarding experience that taught me about the intricacies of the campaign process and how a marketing strategy is brought to life,” Bunder said.

“Beta Alpha Psi nominated Dr. Anderson due to her commitment to the community through service learning as well as her passion for inspiring curiosity in her classroom,” said Kristen Bellini ’18, president of 黑料不打烊’s chapter. “She serves not only as the site coordinator for the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, dedicating every Saturday to prepping tax returns for the Burlington area, but is also the faculty coordinator for the newly implemented M.S. in Accounting program.”

Anderson will receive the award, sponsored by the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA), at the Beta Alpha Psi annual meeting in Washington, D.C. on August 10.

In addition to this honor, the Lambda Xi chapter will be awarded $2,000.

The team was comprised of Jack Greenwald ’18, Chris Kincade ’19, Caroline Perry ’18 and Margo Pierson ’18.  Christy Benson, associate professor of business law, mentored and accompanied the team to Washington.

The Milgard Invitational Case Competition on Social Responsibility was created by the Center for Leadership & Social Responsibility in the Milgard School of Business at the University of Washington Tacoma.

One week prior to the competition, the 17 participating teams were presented with a case about the future of artificial intelligence and Microsoft’s corporate social responsibility strategy. The teams had 72 hours to analyze the case and submit their unique and feasible presentations to the competition organizers. All teams presented their solutions before a panel of judges at the University of Washington Tacoma campus.

“Competing at MICCSR was a great experience because it pushed us to research the future of artificial intelligence and develop a strategy that would include communities that are normally overlooked or disrupted by big tech,” said Perry, an international business major.  

The other participating teams were from University of Texas at Austin, University of South Carolina, Nanyang Technological University, University of Calgary, University of Hawaii Manoa, University of Florida, Brigham Young University, Florida State University, Georgetown University, University of Queensland Australia, Stetson University, Thammasat University, St. Xavier’s College, University of Vermont and Gonzaga University.

“It was an awesome opportunity both learning about the future of artificial intelligence, and presenting to Microsoft executives,” said Pierson, a management and marketing double major.  “This was the most challenging competition I’ve done yet, so receiving positive feedback from the judges who are experts in the field was incredible!”

Mallon co-authored the paper, “Resource configurations for new family venture growth,” with Stephen Lanivich, assistant professor of management and entrepreneurship at Old Dominion University, and Ryan Klinger, assistant professor of management at Old Dominion University.

The authors researched entrepreneurial resources and found all three types of resources (human, social and financial capital) are not always needed for growth in a firm. Rather, distinct bundles of resources usually containing human capital along with either social or financial capital consistently led to growth. This research provides insight for family ventures into optimal avenues of achieving growth.

Mallon’s research interests include international strategy, emerging markets and strategic entrepreneurship. His work has appeared in such journals as International Business Review, Journal of International Management, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, and Management Research. He received a "Best Paper" award at the 2016 Academy of Management Annual Meeting for research relating to new venture performance, and was a recipient of a Fulbright award to teach in Germany from 2009 to 2010.

The International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research publishes research related to the human and social dynamics of entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurial management in small and growing organizations. The journal has an international perspective on entrepreneurship and publishes papers that bring together issues of interest to academic researchers, educators, policy-maker and practitioners worldwide. 

Students visited various business, cultural, and political sites while in Vietnam including the Hanoi Stock Exchange, Topica Edtech group, Imperial Palace, and the War Remnants Museum, among others.

“I now have a greater appreciation for business because I got to see places like the Hanoi Stock Exchange and some smaller non-profit businesses,” said Robyn Lane ’20, one of the students of the course.  “We learned how they started their businesses and what their struggles are with creating a business in a communist society.”

The students completed coursework to enhance their knowledge of the political and economic development of Vietnam and its booming hospitality industry.

“Vietnam is so interesting because it is just moving into the free market sphere,” said Emily Fouche ’19. “It is so new and exciting for them to move away from entirely state-owned entities to privately owned businesses. The people we met in Vietnam were as interested in us as we were in them which allowed us to learn so much more about their hopes and dreams for their economic future.”

The course was led by Assistant Professor of Finance Todd Stonitsch and Assistant Professor of Accounting Ifeoma Udeh. 

The students were abroad from Jan. 4 to Jan. 22.