The University of South Carolina’s Office of Innovation, Partnerships, and Economic Engagement (OIPEE), in partnership with IBM and the USC/Columbia Technology Incubator, is offering the latest iteration of the IBM Skills Academy with a course in Data Science.

Participants who complete the course will earn a digital badge that reflects an ability to use advanced data science methods and tools to implement unique data models that can solve challenging problems across all industries. The course is designed so that participants can benefit and apply lessons to whatever career field they choose to pursue.

Last summer, UofSC hosted its first IBM Skills Academy course in Artificial Intelligence and graduated its first group of students. This new practitioner-level course in Data Science builds off that success and will teach participants how to extract knowledge from massive amounts of data, using methods such as statistics, machine learning, data mining, and predictive analytics. No matter the field of study or career path, a working knowledge of data science can help students, workers and organizations solve problems and gain a competitive advantage.

“Our mission is to help close the gap between academia and industry by leveraging our partnerships to give our students and graduates the necessary skills to be highly productive employees on day one,” said OIPEE Executive Director Bill Kirkland. “This goes for the community as well as the state’s flagship university, UofSC aspires to take the feedback we receive from industry and help build up the state’s workforce that can fill the demand for high-paying jobs, both now and in the future.”

OIPEE will host informational webinars. Register online for the Wednesday (Feb. 3) webinar or for the Feb. 9 webinar. Both informational sessions begin at 5:30 p.m.  The course begins Feb. 16, also at 5:30pm. The Data Science course will be taught by faculty from the College of Engineering and Computing and will explore concepts, relevant technologies and industry use cases. Classes will run twice a week and will include a mix of lectures, videos of subject matter experts, and interactive labs.

About IBM Skills Academy at UofSC

IBM Skills Academy is a comprehensive training and badging program designed to empower people of various backgrounds with the skills needed to excel in the job market.  Through a blended learning approach, participants learn at their own pace that best suits their individual learning style.  Once students pass the final exam, they will earn an IBM Digital Badge — a digital recognition of skills which can be shared on social and professional networks.  The badges — verified and administered by Pearson VUE Acclaim — can also be part of users’ digital signature and feature on networking platforms like LinkedIn. Future courses will be offered in Cybersecurity, Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT), Cloud Computing, and Design Thinking.

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Future jobs in architecture, engineering and construction are going to look quite different than they do today.

These industries will rely heavily on automation and robotics, and FIU’s Robotics Academy is at the forefront of preparing their workforce.

For its efforts in this area, the academy has been named one of 40 finalists nationwide for a prestigious Igniting Innovation Award from the American Council for Technology and Industry Advisory Council (ACT-IAC).

The Robotics Academy, powered by a $1M National Science Foundation grant, offers training focused on robotics and automation technologies using artificial intelligence (AI), immersive technologies (virtual and mixed reality) and big data analytics.

Researchers from the College of Communication, Architecture, + The Arts (CARTA) and the College of Engineering & Computing (CEC) collaborated to launch the academy to create personalized experiences to train and support building industry workers, professionals, business owners, entrepreneurs, educators and policymakers.

The Robotics Academy consists of immersive learning, an innovation network and an automation marketplace. It makes use of the resources housed in the Robotics and Digital Fabrication Lab, a joint effort of CARTA and CEC created via funding from FIU’s Technology Fee program.

“Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing the world across all industries, and the architecture, engineering and construction industry is no exception,” said Miguel Alonso Jr., senior investigator, AI/machine learning/software team lead and visiting associate professor in the School of Computing and Information Sciences. “The Robotics Academy is harnessing that revolution and integrating it throughout the platform to create customized, adaptive and immersive learning experiences, powering search and intelligently connecting job seekers with employers.”

Finalists will display their innovations at the Igniting Innovation 2020 Conference and Awards event on Aug. 3 at the Marriott Marquis Washington, D.C. hotel. Attendees will vote to select the Top 8 “best-of-the-best” innovations and the overall Igniting Innovation Award winner.

The American Council for Technology and Industry Advisory Council (ACT-IAC) is a nonprofit educational organization established to improve government’s service delivery and operational performance through the effective and innovative application of technology.

ACT-IAC provides a unique, objective and trusted collaborative forum where government and industry executives are working as partners to address critical issues, apply best practices and pioneer innovative solutions. ACT-IAC also provides high-quality learning and educational opportunities to improve the knowledge and expertise of the government workforce.

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