Digital Technology Credential Program

Mason offers new Data Analytics Credential to prepare students for careers in big data

Anonymous — Thu, 11 Mar 2021 16:47:33 +0000

Mason offers new Data Analytics Credential to prepare students for careers in big data Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 03/11/2021 - 11:47

In This Story

Liza Wilson Durant

Brett Hunter

George Mason University is offering a new Data Analytics Credential to help undergraduates hone their skills in handling big data.

The new credential is the second one offered in partnership with the Greater Washington Partnership’s Capital CoLAB. Mason launched the Digital Technology Credential in 2019 to support additional skills in data analysis, visualization, and cybersecurity for non-engineers. More than 150 students are currently enrolled in that program.

“The new Data Analytics Credential will enable hundreds of Mason students to offer their specialized data analytics skills to employers who are seeking to meet the talent shortfall in data science and analytics,” says Liza Wilson Durant, associate dean for strategic initiatives and community engagement for the Volgenau School of Engineering.

Liza Wilson Durant says the new credential is an exciting showcase of our industry partners engaging with students from multiple disciplines. Photo by Evan Cantwell.

The credential focuses on data storage and management and will make students more marketable, including for jobs as data analysts and data scientists, says Brett Hunter, associate chair of the Department of Statistics.

The credential is designed for undergraduates in statistics, computing, information technology, and data science who want to acquire the data analytics skills needed by high-profile employers in the metropolitan areas of Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Richmond.

Developed with the Greater Washington Partnership’s Capital CoLAB, the credential equips students across disciplines with the specialized data analytics skills that the Greater Washington Partnership employers have specified to be most important to their operations. The Capital CoLAB (Collaborative of Leaders in Academia and Business) is an action-oriented partnership of employers and academic institutions that executes initiatives to develop the talent needed for the jobs of today and tomorrow.

By enrolling in either the Digital Technology Credential or Data Analytics Credential programs, students will have direct access to opportunities and engagement with some of the largest employers in the region, including Amazon, Capital One, and Northrop Grumman.

“It is exciting to see our industry partners directly engaged with our students and reinforcing the demand for the skills they are acquiring by offering them internships and other experiential learning opportunities,” says Durant.

Many students in statistics, computational data science, computer science, and information science and technology will only need to take one to three additional undergraduate courses to earn the credential, Hunter says. They can use some of their elective courses to do that.

“The credential is not another degree, but essentially a badge you can put on your LinkedIn profile or electronic resume,” he says. “I think most statistics undergraduates will take advantage of the opportunity to communicate their skills in this new way.”

The badge associated with the Data Analytics Credential also represents an innovation for students and employers. “Micro-credentials like the Data Analytics badge reflect the ‘new currency’ in denoting skill achievement and helps our students move more easily from college to career,” says Marc Austin, Executive Director of Professional Development and Academic Ventures who leads Mason’s Continuing and Professional Development unit which administers the new digital badge.

More than 50 students have already enrolled in the new Data Analytics Credential program.

Students who are working towards earning the credential will receive several exclusive benefits from area companies, including:

Access to a student portal with paid internship and event opportunities.
Invitations to participate in annual internship fairs with employers looking to recruit students.
Access to professional development webinars and other ad-hoc opportunities.

Mason students can learn more and enroll in the new Data Analytics Credential here.

Topics

data analytics

Digital Technology Credential Program

Biostatistics

Big Data

Digital credential gives Mason graduates an edge on the competition

Damian Cristodero — Fri, 10 May 2019 09:30:00 +0000

Digital credential gives Mason graduates an edge on the competition Damian Cristodero Fri, 05/10/2019 - 05:30

Mason's Digital Credential Program featured in The Washington Post

Mason is one of the first universities to offer a generalist digital technology credential that could become a national model for collaboration between universities and businesses. Mike Fasil, an ISOM major graduating this month, is among the first students to earn it. Photo by Lathan Goumas.

George Mason University’s Mike Fasil doesn’t feel much like a trailblazer.

But 21-year-old information systems and operations management major from Springfield, Virginia, will be among the university’s first group of graduates awarded a generalist digital technology credential when he graduates on May 17.

“It’s really given me a better perspective,” Fasil said. “I feel like having [the digital credential] will help me. I can only see good things coming from it.”

Mason is among the first universities in the region to have launched a digital technology credential program intended to make sure that all students—regardless of their major—possess the digital skills needed to compete in today’s technology-driven economy.

The digital technology credential program emphasizes data analytics, visualization and cybersecurity and is set according to standards defined by employers from across the region. It merges the humanities and social sciences fields with data analytics and security and could become a national model for regional collaboration between universities and businesses.

The digital technology credential is being championed by the Greater Washington Partnership (GWP)—a civic alliance of CEOs in the region—through its Collaborative of Leaders in Academia and Business (CoLAB) Consortium, a group of 12 universities and 14 leading companies who work together to position the National Capital Region as a leading global hub for innovation.

Liza Wilson Durant, a professor and associate dean for strategic initiatives within Mason’s Volgenau School of Engineering, said this will mark the start of a large pipeline of students with specialized skills and abilities in data analytics and cybersecurity who will graduate from Mason and accelerate the productivity of the regional and national economy.

“Digital technology touches every aspect of 21st-century work, and these first graduates with the GWP Digital Technology Credential are armed not only with knowledge in their chosen profession, such as business or communications, but are positioned to impact decisions informed by their understanding of big data and cybersecurity,” she said. “Undoubtedly, their perspective will be highly sought after and invaluable to the companies and organizations they serve as they bring highly specialized technical knowledge to complement their skills in social sciences, humanities and business.”

Fasil, who will soon be starting a job with a local firm as a business technology consultant, first learned about the program last fall and concluded that adding the data analysis minor necessary for the digital technology credential was well worth it. The program kicked off this spring.

“I figured ‘Why not?’” he said. “Let me try it out and get a wide range of my academics. I researched it a little bit and saw that it was like a solution to a big problem to this area.”

Mason is well-suited to become the first of the participating regional universities to bestow digital technology credentials to its graduates. Its Department of Statistics within the Volgenau School of Engineering already offered a data analysis minor and needed only to add a cybersecurity element to one of the five mandatory classes necessary for eligibility for a generalist credential.

There were 10 students registered in the program this spring, and roughly 200 enrolled in the data analysis minor.

Future plans include making the generalist credential available online for working professionals seeking contemporary skills and building out a specialist credential for students who already have an extensive background in engineering and computer science.

“I think that more or less, I was just in the right place at the right time,” Fasil said. “Having this chance brought forward to me has really opened my eyes, and it’s been an amazing experience.”

Learn more about the digital technology credential.