Anonymous $15m Gift Funds 'Analytics at Wharton' Launch

In the US, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania has established a unit called Analytics at Wharton, using an anonymous $15m gift to bring together the school's teaching, research, and industry engagement initiatives to generate business insights.

The gift has been used to create the Data Science and Business Analytics Fund, which will support new opportunities through which to expand the impact of big data analytics on areas such as sports and entertainment, healthcare and medicine, and network science and the media. Analytics at Wharton will be led by Professor Eric Bradlow (pictured), in the newly created role of Vice Dean for Analytics. Bradlow is the co-founder of the Wharton Customer Analytics Initiative, and he also serves as the K.P. Chao Professor and Professor of Marketing, Economics, Education, and Statistics and the Chair of Wharton's Marketing Department.

Analytics at Wharton will also bring together five existing programs at the school, including Customer Analytics, which focuses on analytical methods to further business intelligence; People Analytics, which uses data to help organizations understand the character, culture, collaboration and careers at their organizations; and the Penn Wharton Budget Model, a nonpartisan initiative that provides economic analysis of public policy's fiscal impact.

Wharton Dean Geoffrey Garrett explains: 'The creation of Analytics at Wharton demonstrates our commitment to using big data to transform how business is done. This gives us the opportunity to expand our analytics research, curriculum, and industry engagement to respond to the enormous interest from our students, our faculty, and business at large in championing the responsible use of data to benefit society.'

Web site: www.wharton.upenn.edu .