New NJIT Concentration Fuses Business and Sports Analytics for Cutting-Edge Decision Making

New Jersey Institute of Technology’s Martin Tuchman School of Management has announced a new concentration in business and sports data analytics that will be available to undergraduate students starting in the fall. This concentration will focus on teaching students the data science behind the booming sports industry, with a particular emphasis on the many professional and Division I collegiate teams in the New York metropolitan area, including NJIT’s own 17 Division I programs.

The School of Management already offers analytics courses as part of several other concentrations, such as accounting systems, finance, innovation/entrepreneurship, management information systems, and marketing. Dean Oya Tukel explained that the goal of creating this new concentration was to incorporate advanced analytics courses with a focus on artificial intelligence, which is becoming increasingly important in the business world. The emphasis will be on interpreting data and deriving insights for decision-making rather than simply crunching numbers in spreadsheets.

Lenny Kaplan, Athletics Director at NJIT, expressed excitement about the potential for collaboration between the Highlander teams and students in the business and sports data analytics concentration. He emphasized the importance of using analytics in sports to gain a competitive edge, even with limited resources compared to other programs. By utilizing data from tools like heart monitors and sleep trackers, coaches can make informed decisions that may lead to strategic changes in gameplay and ultimately impact the outcome of a game.