KU 'big data' research center names first corporate partner

LAWRENCE — The newest research center at the University of Kansas School of Business has established its founding corporate partnership. DST Systems, a leading provider of information processing and software services and products to companies around the world, has agreed to a three-year partnership with the Center for Business Analytics Research.

Created in 2012, CBAR’s mission is to advance the science and practice of business analytics by bridging industry and theory to promote research, outreach and teaching. As a trending industry field, business analytics refers to the skills, technologies, applications and practices businesses use to gain insight, to make informed and optimal decisions in all areas, to manage uncertainty and to improve outcomes.

As a founding corporate partner, Kansas City-based DST will have access to cutting-edge research in data analytics and priority access to faculty and students conducting such work, said Julie Numrich Murray, who leads corporate partnership at the School of Business. The company will also be influential in the development and direction of the CBAR program. The center’s faculty associates will work with DST management on data analytics projects that will both add value to DST and advance the center’s research mission.

“The opportunity for unique dialogue regarding industry needs in the area of business analytics will be invaluable,” Numrich Murray said. “Pushing the limit of existing data analytics and building models for solving complex business problems will go a long way toward helping businesses manage uncertainties.” 

The center is led by Prakash Shenoy, the Ronald G. Harper Distinguished Professor of Artificial Intelligence, a scholar of decision sciences and supply chain management at the business school.

“This relationship provides us with a unique way to expand the DST employer brand and establish a network of potential employee candidates,” said Beth Sweetman, vice president of global human resources for DST. “More than that, the program will allow us the opportunity to research new ideas in a cost-effective way and observe a business scholar’s work ethic prior to employment.”

DST Systems was founded in 1969 as a division of Kansas City Southern Industries and has grown to become the largest provider of third-party shareholder recordkeeping services in the financial services marketplace.

For more information on CBAR, or to discuss corporate partnership opportunities at the School of Business, contact Julie Numrich Murray at 785-864-4449 or email.