Data Analytics

Data and Information analytics extends analysis (descriptive and predictive models to obtain knowledge from data) by using insight from analyses to recommend action or to guide and communicate decision-making. Thus, analytics is not so much concerned with individual analyses or analysis steps, but with an entire methodology. The world at-large is confronted with increasingly larger and complex sets of structured/unstructured information; from sensors, instruments, and generated by computer simulations; data is "hidden" in websites, application servers, social networks and on mobile devices. As a nation, assimilating information across disparate domains (e.g., intelligence, economics, science) has the potential to provide improved capabilities for decision makers. In commerce and industry, analytics-driven enterprises are becoming mainstream. Traditional enterprises are moving toward analytics-driven approaches for core business functions. In the government and corporations, cybersecurity problems are prevalent. The investment in advanced analytics capabilities could potentially be more broadly leveraged today and greater than any prior government investments in computing. Emphasis is now placed on disruptive data and information sources on the Web and Internet: using Web Science and informatics to explore social networks, platform competition, the "long tail" and economic or resource impacts of the search for new findings. Key topics include: advanced statistical computing theory, multivariate analysis, and application of computer science courses such as data mining and machine learning and change detection by uncovering unexpected patterns in data.