Industry Partners
To ensure students are exposed to in-demand technologies and techniques, MSc CDA features industry-based instructors in each course, so students receive real-world learning experiences and connections to potential internships, sponsored projects, and industry events.
MSc CDA has partnered with local, national, and international organizations to help students develop in-demand analytics skills and knowledge, leading to exceptional career opportunities:
- IBM MSc CDA students benefit from IBM’s Client Innovation Centre Nova Scotia. IBM Services is a world leader in AI, automation, blockchain, the Internet of Things, 5G, cloud, and quantum computing at scale.
- Chief Data Office, Employment and Social Development Canada The Chief Data Office and Saint Mary’s University organized a “Data for Good” hackathon focused on issues related to poverty.
- David Sobey Centre for Innovation in Retailing and Services Collaborate with MSc CDA to organize multiple hackathons focusing on retail innovations and services.
- Citco
- CGI
- Emera Energy Inc.
- Sobeys
MSc CDA is a Registered Education provider for the Certified Analytics Professional designation. CAP® is managed by INFORMS, the largest professional society in the field of operations research, management science, and analytics. By completing the MSc CDA program, graduates will have fulfilled the education requirements for CAP® credential and are prepared to write the qualifying exam.
Industry Projects
Industry funded applied projects provide an excellent opportunity for students to hone their skills as both full stack developers and data analysts. Projects address a major data analytics problem identified by industry partners, emphasizing project management, and applying the skills and knowledge gained through MSc CDA coursework.
Read about the Saint Mary’s Retail Robot project – featuring MSc CDA students Abhishek Vijayakumar Latha and Francis Kuzhippallil
Funding for various industry projects emanates from a variety of national and regional agencies:
|
Funding Source |
Sample Projects |
| Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) | Generalized sequential data mining using enhanced object representations based on preliminary clustering profiles. |
| Mitacs National Research Council
Mitacs is a national, not-for-profit organization that builds partnerships to support industrial research. All funding includes generous industry contributions. |
Integration of Machine Learning and AI Based Optimization from IoT Data streams and Business Information Systems.
Generalized framework for Prescriptive Machine Learning using IoT data streams. Development of machine learning and artificial intelligence toolbox to monitor data center risks and performance. |
Internships
Students from our recent MSc CDA cohorts secured a variety of exciting internships working with Fortune 500s, SMEs, governments, and not-for-profits.
| Citco: Cloud Engineer | Statistics Canada: Data Science Engineer |
| CGI: Senior Consultant | IBM Canada: Application Developer |
| Deloitte Canada: Consultant | Nova Scotia Power: Data Analyst |
| Canada Revenue Agency: IT Developer/Analyst | Emera: HR Data and Process Analytics Manager |
| Equitable Life of Canada: Int. Developer | RBC Capital Markets: Data Analyst |
| Equisoft: Data Migration Specialist | Acuicy: Full Stack Developer |
Industry Challenges
Students build their professional networks and gain invaluable experience working on real industry challenges through hackathons and design competitions. MSc CDA regularly sends teams to local and national competitions – with outstanding results.
Teams from MSc CDA finished first in multiple Nova Scotia Open Data Hackathons, sponsored by Microsoft, IBM, Socrata, and the Province of Nova Scotia.
MSc CDA finished as the top Canadian team and third overall in the prestigious International Business Analytics (IBA) Challenge. MSc CDA has sponsored teams in industry and government events alike:
- RBC Next Great Innovator Hackathon, Toronto
- Data for Good - Poverty Hackathon, Chief Data Office, Government of Canada
- Data Visualization Competition, University of New Brunswick
- Innovative Design for Accessibility (IDeA) student competition
- IBM Bluemix Hackathon
- Atlantic Lottery Hackathon, Payzant Home Hardware Hackathon: David Sobey Centre for Innovation in Retailing & Services
