Empowering Student Success and Professional Growth

The Center for Data Science and Analytics (CDSA) is eager to talk with you about how we can partner with your organization and further your research needs while providing you access to a steady flow of student talent for recruiting.  Along with corporate research partnerships, we offer multiple ways to get involved. Take a look at our options below.  
Equifax lab

External Partnerships Opportunities

Dr. Priestley working in the lab with students explaining the project code on the monitor behind her.

Project Labs and Internships

While research labs focus on breaking new ground, CDSA's project labs are focused on helping you solve day to day problems while having an ongoing pipeline of student talent to vet for employment. Overseen by university faculty, a project lab provides financial support for students as well as real-world, hands-on experience. A project lab is a great fit for companies looking to have an ongoing relationship with the School of Data Science and Analytics as well as a continuous pipeline of potential talent. 

A traditional internship outside of a research or project lab is a direct relationship between a student and the hiring organization. It is a great fit when there is an immediate need for students to support short-term projects. 

The ideal outcome from a successful project lab or traditional internship is a mutual agreement for full time employment following graduation alongside the project results delivered. 

Capstone Class Sponsorship

Capstone classes are a terrific way to access masters or undergraduate students and to contribute to their educational journey. Class sponsors provide data and a real business problem they would like explored through the analysis of that data. The sponsor kicks off the semester by explaining the data and business problem, participates in several touch bases with students to answer questions and provide feedback on progress throughout the semester, and then reviews the final results that the students generate.

The class is divided into teams on the first day with members from a mix of degree programs. The teams then analyze the data to address the challenges posed by the sponsor. The final exam is a live presentation by each team to a group of the sponsoring company’s executives. Those executives then determine which team wins the award for best project for the semester. It is not uncommon for the sponsoring company to be so impressed with the students they interact with that one or more job offers are made to students from the class.

Dr. Priestly reviewing data for with masters or undergraduate students capstone project.
Data Science student explaining his research at a networking event.

Networking Events and Webcasts

CDSA enjoys hosting networking events for professionals to interact with each other, as well as our faculty and students. A typical networking event involves an intimate group of professionals, faculty, and students meeting for a few hours of food, discussion, and a guest presentation. CDSA's Corporate Spotlight Series is specifically focused on having a company explain to the students what they do and discussing what a career at their company would look like. 

Our webcast, Data Science Perspectives, features industry leaders from the local area, as well as around the country, discussing their own career journey, what trends they see in the analytics and data science space, and what they look for when hiring talent.

Student Mentoring Program

We all remember how tough it was to learn how things worked in the “real world” after we graduated. Our student mentoring program pairs individuals from industry with individual students to form a mentoring relationship. The mentor can provide career guidance and advice, as well as exposing the student to what a typical workday is like. From providing input on course selection, to assisting with resume creation, to providing feedback on mock job interviews, to helping assess job offers, mentors can have a big impact on students.

CDSA works with mentors at the individual level and it is also possible for an organization to have a formal program to enable multiple analytics and data science focused employees to get involved with KSU students in a programmatic way. When the program launched in Spring of 2021, there were mentors from a broad range of Atlanta-based companies including The Coca-Cola Company, Chick-fil-A, Georgia Pacific, Southern Company, and InterContinental Hotels Group. 

As of Fall semester 2024, we have folded the CDSA mentoring program into the College of Computing and Software Engineering (CCSE) mentoring program. As both a student and a mentor, you can identify your background as being in data science so that you can be properly paired. You can find information on the CCSE program and the registration forms at this link. 

Data science graduate student mentoring undergraduate students reviewing a coding project
Data Science graduate students attending a upskilling workshops.

Corporate Upskilling Workshops

In addition to the certificate programs below, CDSA also offers customizable employee upskilling workshops on a variety of timely topics. A few examples:

  • Data and analytics literacy for non-technical employees.
  • How to effectively present and communicate analytical findings.
  • The ethical considerations that surround data science and artificial intelligence.
  • Foundations of data science using SAS, R, or Python and many more.

CDSA can work with you to develop a program that can be delivered to multiple cohorts within your organization over time in order to keep your team’s skills current.

Internal Support CDSA Services for the KSU Community

Internal Research and Project Support

The Center for Data Science and Analytics provides support for scholarship, grants, conference preparation, and other academic projects for both faculty and students. These support requests typically should come with a funding source in order to enable CDSA to make resources available.

The School offers a wide range of training and educational opportunities for individuals interested in learning more about data science. In addition to the school’s academic offerings, CDSA’s online certificates that include, Applied Statistics using R, Applied Data Science using Python and Applied Data Science using Rapid Miner. These online certificates have been developed to meet the needs of working professionals - the material is on-demand and self-paced with heavy emphasis on application, rather than on theory. This same material is terrific for faculty and students who want to expand their knowledge.

Data Science research students working on a group project

Internal Training Support

Please note that while these certificates come with a fee, faculty and staff have free access to any of these certificate programs. Students in our Masters or Ph.D. programs in Data Science and Analytics or Computer Science can also take advantage of them for no fee.  

Analytical support (SAS, R, Python, SQL, Matlab) is available for faculty, staff and students at KSU by appointment. Please email Cara Reeve (cmisurac@kennesaw.edu) to set up an appointment.