{"id":8909,"date":"2023-01-06T09:03:08","date_gmt":"2023-01-06T15:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin-new\/?post_type=campus_story&p=8909"},"modified":"2023-01-06T09:03:08","modified_gmt":"2023-01-06T15:03:08","slug":"these-creative-problem-solvers-make-profound-contributions-and-good-pay","status":"publish","type":"campus_story","link":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/story\/these-creative-problem-solvers-make-profound-contributions-and-good-pay\/","title":{"rendered":"These creative problem solvers make profound contributions \u2013 and good pay"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>
Natasja Iversen, Oshkosh, liked problem-solving games and math. The senior, pictured with Kurt Pflughoeft, director of the UWSP Center for Data Analytics, is majoring in data analytics for a high-demand career and great return on her educational investment.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Natasja Iversen loved math in high school. She took a computer programming class and became interested in a career path that combined them. \u201cI found data analytics was a happy medium,\u201d said the senior from Oshkosh.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always liked problem-solving games. I like to visualize how to improve a process,\u201d Iversen said. UW-Stevens Point was the right-size university, recommended by friends from a summer camp.<\/p>\n

Grace Nemecek, Wrightstown, wanted to pursue her love of golf with a degree that would lead to a high-paying job in a stable profession. She explored data analytics, and with help from faculty, found opportunities to dive into analysis projects.<\/p>\n

She worked on a project with the Athletic Training program, which was researching a virtual reality (VR) simulation with the UWSP hockey teams. She analyzed various aspects of player metrics, including reaction times, to determine if VR training could improve on-ice performance and reduce concussions.<\/p>\n

Applied learning experience is key in UW-Stevens Point\u2019s data analytics program, which encourages students to pursue projects that pique their curiosity. Students learn programming principles with a focus on analysis and how to solve business problems.<\/p>\n

Without data analysis, gut instinct is often used for unstructured decisions, said Kurt Pflughoeft, the Sentry Insurance Endowed Chair of Computational Analytics. \u201cUnfortunately, this process results in the decisions being right only about 50 percent of the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe goal of data analysts and data scientists is to increase the performance of the decision-making process. The proof for the success of our data analytics program is with our graduates and interns who are having a profound impact on a diverse set of organizations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Pflughoeft helped shape UW-Stevens Point\u2019s data analytics program, which was launched in 2017 with a major gift from Sentry Insurance.<\/p>\n

Data analysts are problem solvers, driven by creativity and curiosity, said Nik Butz, Sentry Insurance Endowed Chair of Business Analytics. \u201cDo you want to find a new creative way to think about a problem. Are you curious how it came about, how we can do it better?\u201d<\/p>\n

Health care, financial services, insurance, government, technology, law enforcement and retail are among the industries who rely on insights from data analysis to reduce risks, save money, improve marketing, drive growth and build customer satisfaction.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to like to play with the numbers and interact with people. That\u2019s a big part of the job,\u201d Pflughoeft said. \u201cIt\u2019s talking to the decision makers, figuring out their objectives and goals, prepping the data, performing analysis and making recommendations. \u00a0In essence, it\u2019s a holistic effort to try to solve a problem.\u201d Pflughoeft said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving some logic abilities is good,\u201d he continued. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to be a mathematician, but you do have to be meticulous. Paying attention to details will allow one to discern patterns and relationships by analyzing the data.\u201d<\/p>\n

UW-Stevens Point\u2019s data analytics program provides a well-rounded experience, Butz said. \u201cWhat makes our program stand out is the business core. You learn to talk with other functions within the business. You learn to be a team player. You learn communication, you learn about presenting, you learn about leadership.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the main focuses of the School of Business and Economics is to emerge career-ready with in-demand skills,\u201d Butz said. \u201cYou can find a job in so many fields, leveraging your skills in any area of interest you have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jack Kuerschner, Neenah, was long interested in math and wanted to learn more about programming.\u00a0 When he transferred to UW-Stevens Point \u201cthis was one of the first majors I saw that would place me in the School of Business while also giving me the opportunity to try some programming,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He soon learned about Sentry Insurance and its Senior Capstone Project for data analytics students to learn while working at the company. Kuerschner, Iversen and Nemecek all were selected to be part of the Sentry Capstone projects.<\/p>\n

Return on her educational investment was important to Iversen. \u201cIf I\u2019m going to college, I didn\u2019t want a huge debt, and I wanted to pay it off quickly. An affordable school like UW-Stevens Point and a career with high income will help me achieve that,\u201d she said<\/p>\n

She graduates in December and already has a job. She will continue with Hartland Business Systems, Little Chute, where she interned earlier this year. Her job involves back-end coding, using Power BI for clients in grocery, hospital and other businesses. She enjoys examining data sets to pull out patterns and adjusting variables to make predictive models.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are so many opportunities for careers in data analysis. Name a company, and they probably have a need for data analytics,\u201d Iversen said.<\/p>\n

Starting salaries for data analysts in Wisconsin are $65,000-$70,000.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>
Golf and the data analytics program attracted Grace Nemecek to UW-Stevens Point. The 2021 graduate works for LexisNexis. (Photo courtesy of UWSP Athletics\/Kylie Bridenhagen)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

High salary and job security also drove Nemecek. The one-on-one instruction, opportunities to work on projects independently and ability to network professionally were huge factors in her success at UW Stevens Point, she said. After graduating in 2021 and completing a master\u2019s degree in Michigan in 2022, she is now a data scientist with LexisNexis Risk Solutions, an international company. Based in Minneapolis, she works in Governance to build and fraud and credit predictive models.<\/p>\n

Kuerschner is a data analyst with Sentry\u2019s Contact Center, managing datasets and creating dashboards to help business areas gather insight into their call data, he said. \u201cWe help them identify trends, areas for improvement, and metrics that allow them to take steps to improving the call experience for associates and the customer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Students can choose from opportunities locally, regionally or nationally at small firms where they will do a wide array of activities or opt to have a more specialized focus in larger companies, Pflughoeft said.<\/p>\n

Data is all around, Butz noted, citing social media, GPS tracking and cell phones. \u201cOur students have been doing stuff with computers their whole lives. Isn\u2019t it exciting to learn a new way to apply it, one that contributes to society at the same time? Data gives us new understanding, and for those who are truly curious, this is a really cool opportunity to understand more about their world. We\u2019ll give you the tools to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Natasja Iversen loved math in high school. She took a computer programming class and became interested in a career path that combined them. \u201cI found data analytics was a happy medium,\u201d said the senior from Oshkosh. \u201cI always liked problem-solving games. I like to visualize how to improve a process,\u201d Iversen said. UW-Stevens Point was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":8913,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","institution":[95],"story_category":[],"class_list":["post-8909","campus_story","type-campus_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","institution-uw-stevens-point"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story\/8909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/campus_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8909"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"institution","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/institution?post=8909"},{"taxonomy":"story_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story_category?post=8909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}