Analytics at Wharton selects projects to receive funding for the first time

Analytics at Wharton has selected eight projects to receive funding from the Wharton School's newly-created Data Science and Business Analytics Fund.

The eight inaugural recipients include a new Data Science for Finance course, a Women in Analytics and Data Science Conference, and a research project on the costs and benefits of using machine learning to analyze job application videos. They were selected last month from a pool of 23 proposals, according to a Wharton press release. 

“We are delighted by the quantity and caliber of the proposals submitted to Analytics at Wharton’s Data Science and Business Analytics Fund." Vice Dean of Analytics Eric Bradlow said in a press release announcing the recipients. "All of the proposals were intriguing in their own way and collectively reflect the incredible breadth of analytics knowledge being created at Wharton.”

Other winning projects submitted by Wharton professors include a research project on applying text processing algorithms to smaller datasets, a video series from Wharton People Analytics, an artificial intelligence project to optimize bidding on eBay, a study of applying big data to issues of insider trading and fraud, and a research project on materiality of businesses’ environmental, social and governance risks and opportunities. 

Analytics at Wharton was launched in May 2019 after an anonymous $15 million gift. The Data Science and Business Analytics Fund was created to invest in Wharton projects that involve analytics. 

“At Wharton, the keystone of our research has always been the creation of knowledge through the analysis of empirical data,” Deputy Dean Michael Gibbons said in the press release. “The Data Science and Business Analytics Fund and the projects it seeds will further elevate Wharton’s dominant reputation in the area of predictive analytics.”