.jpeg)
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — As organizations grapple with the explosion of data and the need to make informed, evidence-based decisions, Brown University's School of Professional Studies launched a new master of science in business analytics (MBAn). This 16-month online program is designed for ambitious working professionals with 2+ years of experience seeking to advance their careers by mastering the skills needed to turn messy real-world data into actionable insights for decision-making.
Program leaders say that Brown’s program distinguishes itself from traditional business analytics offerings. While many assume data is already clean and ready for use, the program emphasizes the critical first step of organizing and preparing raw, imperfect information — a stage often overlooked but essential for meaningful analysis.
According to program leaders, without the constraints of a conventional business school, the program draws on Brown's tradition of interdisciplinary teaching through the Open Curriculum to deliver academically rigorous yet practically relevant training. The program combines conceptual understanding of data structures, statistical concepts, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) with hands-on application to real business problems and current industry data.
“This program is built around the realities professionals face every day,” Sandra Smith, dean of the School of Professional Studies says. “Our students learn to work with the kinds of imperfect, complex data they’ll encounter in the workplace and turn it into insights that drive real results.”
Andrew Banasiewicz, Professor of the Practice of Business Analytics at the School of Professional Studies leads the Master’s in Business Analytics as the academic director. A career business analytics practitioner, researcher and academic, Banasiewicz brings nearly two decades of corporate leadership in predictive analytics and 15+ years of university teaching and program leadership to this role. He has also authored eight books and over 40 scholarly works focused on data-driven decision-making.
During the Master’s in Business Analytics program, “you'll master the complete analytics pipeline — from transforming raw, real-world data into strategic insights to communicating findings that drive decision-making across your organization,” Banasiewicz says. “Supervised and unsupervised machine learning and text mining are data analytic engines that power AI technologies, enabling students to bridge theory with practice in addressing complex organizational challenges.”
Students will learn the full analytics pipeline, through a series of interdisciplinary courses including:
- Business Analytics and Decision Making, introducing students to data-driven decision-making processes.
- Statistical Methods for Business Analytics, covering core descriptive, predictive and inferential techniques.
- Data Curation, Exploration and Visualization, emphasizing hands-on work with real-world datasets.
- Predictive Analytics and Forecasting, teaching model building, validation and time-series methods.
- Machine Learning, Deep Learning and LLM, preparing students to apply supervised and unsupervised algorithms.
- Text Analytics, exploring unstructured text data and mining it for actionable insights.
- Multimodal Analytics, integrating statistical, machine learning and emerging AI approaches to solve complex business problems.
- Business Analytics Capstone, where students tackle real-world business challenges in a culminating project.
The program also offers an optional 2.5-day residential experience on Brown’s Providence campus each spring, allowing students to engage with faculty and peers in workshops and networking sessions.
Business analytics is growing quickly, with job openings up 35% and average starting salaries topping $100,000, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — underscoring strong demand for professionals who can turn data into insights.
The first cohort of the Master of Science in Business Analytics is set to begin in Fall 2026 and applications are now being accepted.