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
    • Our students benefit from IBM’s Client Innovation Centre Nova Scotia. IBM Services is a world leader in the ability to apply AI, automation, blockchain, the Internet of Things, 5G, cloud, and quantum computing at scale to make the promise of Cognitive Enterprises real
  • Chief Data Office, Employment and Social Development Canada, Government of Canada
    • The Chief Data Office and Saint Mary’s University organized a “Data for Good” hackathon focused on issues related to poverty
  • Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, Government of Canada.
    • Innovation Science and Economic Development Canada and Saint Mary’s University created a unique scholarship program to recruit and train Canadian data scientists for jobs in the Canadian public service.
  • Citco
  • Leadsift
  • REDspace
  • CGI
  • MLT
  • Emera Energy Inc.
  • Sobeys

Certified Analytics Professional Logo

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 and emphasize project management and applying the skills and knowledge gained through MSc CDA coursework.  Here is a summary of recent industry sponsored projects:

 

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)

Individual Discovery Grant:  Generalized sequential data mining using enhanced object representations based on preliminary clustering profiles. $125,000

Mitacs National Research Council

Mitacs is a national, not-for-profit organization that builds partnerships to support industrial research.  Mitacs funding provided internships for students in companies such as Hanatech, Clinical Logistics, and HomeExcept. All funding includes generous industry contributions.

Mitacs

  • Integration of Machine Learning and AI Based Optimization from IoT Datastreams and Business Information Systems. Collaboration with Perennia.  $160,000  
  • Generalized framework for Prescriptive Machine Learning using IoT datastreams. Collaboration with Hanatech. $160,000

Mitacs-Accelerate Cluster Graduate Research Internship Program

  • Agent Based Auditing of Financial Market Transactions using Deconstructed Deep Learning. Collaboration with Citco. $90,000
  • Development of machine learning and artificial intelligence toolbox to monitor data center risks and performance. Collaboration with Missing Links Technology. $80,000

Mitacs-Standard Cluster Graduate Research Internship Program

  • Designing Student Success: Building a Mobile Application to Improve Student Retention and Persistence. Collaboration with Ipse Media. $160,000
  • Technology Advancement in existing AED. Collaboration with Revive Solutions Inc.$363,820

Nova Scotia Business Inc.

Productivity and Innovation Voucher Program

Two R&D Projects with Bluelight Analytics and EffProp.com. $40,000

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 the Nova Scotia Open Data Hackathon in 2017 and 2018, sponsored by Microsoft, IBM, Socrata, and the Province of Nova Scotia.

  Business Analytics Challenge

MSc CDA finished as the top Canadian team and third overall in the prestigious The International Business Analytics (IBA) Challenge. MSc CDA has sponsors 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
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