The Data Science Executive Advisory Board finally met after two winter storm cancellations. Two new EAB members, Jim O'Neil, '93, Chief Information Officer at HUBSPOT, and Greg Karamitis, VP of Analytics for DraftKings (not present) were introduced to the board and warmly welcomed.
A subject of great interest to both the EAB and the Data Science program is the Graduate Qualifying Project (GQP). To address this topic, Tom Kilkenny '83, (IBM) presented the logistics for the newly minted GQP component of the WPI Data Science curriculum. It details the benefits that the GQP is expected to bring the students, the industrial sponsors, as well as project-based education at WPI. Tom chairs the EAB subcommittee, comprised of both Data Science faculty and board members, who have been working since last board meeting on developing this GQP proposal. The presentation was their unveiling and kick-off to soliciting board members to consider sponsoring a GQP student project team for the coming year.
A second highlight of the meeting was a Research Poster session. Students from three affiliated departments, Computer Science, Mathematical Sciences and the Robert A. Foisie School of Business, showcased their research project poster presentations during the morning break. There was very lively discussion around the varying projects.
The final agenda item was a brain storming session regarding deliberations by the EAB Sponsorship Sub-Committee, led by co-chairs Kajal Claypool '02 (MIT) and Patricia Florissi (EMC), on various methods for developing sponsorship for Data Science activities at WPI.