Academics From Institutions in Mexico Trained on Data Visualization and Analytics at Stevens

Can you picture it? All the accurate numbers you need at your disposal. 

Since numbers don’t lie, the data gives you an advantage. There is one challenge in this scenario, though – the inability to clearly understand what the numbers are saying. 

“Decision-makers often have a difficult time understanding the story the data is telling, which is why the ability to analyze data and make strategic decisions is crucial for today’s decision-makers,” says Stevens Institute of Technology professor Jose Emmanuel Ramirez-Marquez, whose recent work explores how data visualization is used to understand community based behavior/risk and improve decision-making. 

Through data visualization, large amounts of complex information can be communicated clearly via graphic designs. Visuals are simpler to understand, have a stronger impact, are engaging for a wider audience, and significantly improve comprehension, communication and decision-making.

Real-world cases discussed in the Immersion Lab in the Babbio Jr. Center, home of SSE.

Alliances with international academic and research institutes

Stevens understands how data analytics and data visualization hold the keys to optimizing enterprises, from finance to marketing to IT, operations research, planning and management. A leading provider of systems education and research, the School of Systems and Enterprises (SSE) at Stevens, launched ten years ago, recently held its Data Visualization and Analytics Camp for academics from Mexico.

The two-week camp, which was coordinated by Stevens and the Universidad Politécnica de Yucatán, and sponsored by the Research, Innovation and Higher Education Ministry from the Yucatán Government, was designed so that faculty members from different universities in Yucatán, México can transmit the knowledge acquired to the classroom at the institutions they represent, and for scientific and technological research. 

The group of academics from were introduced to data mining, as well as techniques for the analysis, visualization and presentation of data. The group attended specialized seminars and discussed real-world cases in the Immersion Lab in the Babbio Jr. Center, home of SSE, to gain an understanding of the latest tools to manipulate and visualize large amounts of data for application in real-world industrial systems.

“The goal of the camp was to enable academics to develop a basic understanding of manipulating datasets, and on designing, implementing, and analyzing simple real world scenarios, with the idea that they can replicate that knowledge into their institutions for academic and research purposes,” says Victor Camara of the Universidad Politécnica de Yucatán.

14 faculty from multiple institutions in Mexico – the Autonomous University of Yucatan, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Metropolitan Technological University, Yucatan Polytechnic University, Mérida Technological Institute and the Higher Technological Institutes of Motul and Progreso, as well as the Heuristic Innovation Center – attended and completed the camp earlier this month.