Kroger Creates Partnership with UC for Innovation

Note other partnerships methioned in the last paragraph such as with Centrifuse.

Kroger creates partnership to boost innovation in Winsight Grocery Business

Kroger will work with the University of Cincinnati to launch an innovation hub staffed with engineers and software developers. The hub's goals will be to create systems that improve the customer experience and to nurture tech talent, said Kroger executive   ...  Chris Hjelm.

Kroger to Open Innovation Center at University of Cincinnati
Restock-fueled initiative will provide creative space for developers to work with faculty, students

The Kroger Co. has revealed its plans to operate an innovation lab out of the University of Cincinnati (UC) in a move that company officials say is fueled by Restock Kroger. 

Kroger plans to staff its lab, located in UC's new 1819 Innovation Hub, with research and development engineers and software developers who will work closely with UC faculty as well as student co-op members and interns. 

Chris Hjelm, Kroger's EVP and chief information officer, said the effort is another way the company is investing to create the "now and future of retail," and it will provide the Kroger Technology team with a "creative space to partner and develop solutions to redefine the grocery customer experience."

"The 1819 Innovation Hub is a coworking community where we will build and discover the next generation of technology and talent," Hjelm said. "Our vision is to create a talent pipeline that supports our business and positions the region as a place for digital and technology students and professionals."

Additionally, Kroger Technology is partnering with the  Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber's "Cincy Is IT" initiative to bring top tech experts into the area and support Cincinnati-based Cintrifuse, a public-private partnership that works to stimulate growth in the Midwest through innovation delivered by startups. .... " 

By Rebekah Marcarelli  

Talk: Adversarial Risk Analysis

Of interest in particular, due to the adversarial element.   Risk analysis does not often enough consider the intelligent nature of agents that create risk.   Competitors for example, and now even intelligent agents in the form of assistants or other machine driven systems.

The OBAIS department at the Lindner College of Business, University of Cincinnati, invites you to attend the Lindner Research Excellence Seminar and Professional Development Discussion:

Research Seminar:
Date and time: Friday, April 6, 2018, 10:30AM-12:00PM 
Location: Lindner Hall 218
Speaker: Dr. David Banks, Duke University
Title: Adversarial Risk Analysis

Abstract: Adversarial Risk Analysis (ARA) is a Bayesian alternative to classical game theory. Rooted in decision theory, one builds a model for the decision-making of one's opponent, placing subjective distributions over all unknown quantities. Then one chooses the action that maximizes expected utility. This approach aligns with some perspectives in modern behavioral economics, and enables principled analysis of novel problems, such as a multiparty auction in which there is no common knowledge and different bidders have different opinion about each other.

This presentation is based on:
Rios Insua, D., Rios, J., Banks, D. L., “Adversarial Risk Analysis,” Journal of the American Statistical Association, 2009.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1198/jasa.2009.0155
Banks, D. L., Rios, J., Rios Insua, D., “Adversarial Risk Analysis,” Chapman and Hall/CRC, 2015, ISBN 9781498712392.

https://www.crcpress.com/Adversarial-Risk-Analysis/Banks-Aliaga-Insua/p/book/9781498712392

Best wishes,
Yichen Qin,  Assistant Professor
Department of Operations, Business Analytics, and Information Systems
Lindner College of Business, University of Cincinnati
Website: http://business.uc.edu/academics/departments/obais/faculty/qinyn.html
Email: qinyn@ucmail.uc.edu

UC Center for Business Analytics

 Had .a conversation with Glenn Wegryn of the UC Center for Business Analytics.  More to follow.

Inform and Improve Decisions with Analytics

The UC Center for Business Analytics brings together organizations and a world-class, multidisciplinary group of faculty and students to educate and exchange ideas and best practices on how to apply analytical methods for enhancing business and organizational performance.

Through the sponsorship of visiting scholars and executives in residence, the center aspires to be the world-renowned venue for the exchange of ideas on the most critical problems facing organizations, and how to best apply analytics to help solve these problems.

In collaboration with its corporate sponsors, the center accomplishes this through symposia, student projects, community training and applied research focused on the use of techniques such as data visualization, data mining, predictive modeling, simulation and optimization to solve important problems faced by businesses, government and non-profit organizations. ... " 

@UCBusAnalytics @uofcincy

Industrial Simulation vs Agent Models

Had thought about this difference for some time.  A new examination brought this paper up.  A good technical, practitioner eye view.  Here DES means Discrete Event systems (Classic Industrial Monte Carlo simulation) and ABS means Agent Based Systems.  My other, older, observation is that ABS systems are very hard to maintain and augment, their use of the 'agent' model does not simplify their useful design.

Guidelines for Design and Analysis in Agent-Based Simulation Studies
by Parastu Kasaie and W David Kelton

‘ ... As originally DES-modelers, self-taught and still new to the world of ABS modeling, we have occasionally observed a gap between traditional simulation theory (mostly developed for DES) and current practice of ABS models in the literature. These include the lack of justification for choosing ABS models over simpler modeling paradigms; a general tendency for development of “realistic,” heavily detailed ABS models despite the tradeoff between complexity of analysis and transparency of findings; modelers’ personal internal assumptions and mechanisms for agents’ behavior and interactions without explicit validation and consideration of alternatives; instances of excessively parameter-rich ABS models requiring specialized calibration techniques (not generally discussed for DES models); unclear definition of errors in ABS applications as relevant to different sources of modeling mistakes vs. natural stochastic uncertainties; specific challenges faced in validation of ABS models due to their multi-level structure; as well as further special issues in experimentation and sensitivity analysis of these models.’  ... " 

More from W David Kelton.

UC Center for Business Analytics

A very late invite, I just received, but here it is:

You are invited to a free special event at University of Cincinnati,  Lindner College of Business tonight at 7:30 PM in Room 112. 

J.T. Kostman, Chief Data Officer, Time, Inc., and  Neil Hoyne, Head of Customer Analytics, Google will present.

This event is sponsored by the UC INFORMS Student Chapter

More information here.

#UCBusAnalytics

(Did anyone get slides for these,  if so pass them along and I will post them)

Mobile Water Data Sampling Startup

Great local startup story.    In the Cinci Enquirer  " .... This month, Jacob Shidler, now 31, found himself launching an iPhone app, being involved in a NASA flyover to analyze these pesky toxic algal blooms ....  His product, Liquid, is basically an electronic, online version of the scientific method. ....  With the cloud-based system – built predominantly by Shidler’s business partner, software developer Caleb LeNoir – researchers and scientists can collect, analyze and share data in real time. .... They’re working on wirelessly hooking up scientific instruments straight into the Liquid system. ....  "

Taking a closer look at their site, which has a number of useful examples.

More about his related work at UC.

New Head of UC Center for Business Analytics

My former colleague, Glenn Wegryn has been appointed director of the UC Center for Business Analytics. See  Much more about that announcement here.  Congratulations.   @UCBusAnalytics

Anaytics Summit in Cincinnati this Friday

This Friday,  Analytics Summit 2015, Last chance .... 

Friday, May 29, 2015 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM (Eastern Time)
Marriott Kingsgate at the University of Cincinnati
(513) 487-3800, 151 Goodman Dr. Cincinnati, Ohio 45219

Analytics Summit 2015 is the premiere analytics event of the year. This year we will feature TWO keynote presentations: one by John Elder (an ​international ​expert ​and author on ​data ​mining ​and applications of advanced analytics, as well as ​a ​well-known ​speaker ​and author) and one by Stephen Few an international expert in the fields of business intelligence (a.k.a. data warehousing and decision support) and information design, and a recognized world leader in the field of data visualization.

We will have full-day tracks on different areas of analytics: descriptive, predictive and prescriptive, as well as an additional track focused on "Building Your Analytics Team".

More info and registration.

@UCBusAnalytics

Analytics Summit 2015: May 29

Analytics Summit 2015 

Friday, May 29, 2015 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM (Eastern Time)
Marriott Kingsgate at the University of Cincinnati
(513) 487-3800
151 Goodman Dr. Cincinnati, Ohio 45219

Analytics Summit 2015 is the premiere analytics event of the year. This year we will feature TWO keynote presentations: one by John Elder (an ​international ​expert ​and author on ​data ​mining ​and applications of advanced analytics, as well as ​a ​well-known ​speaker ​and author) and one by Stephen Few an international expert in the fields of business intelligence (a.k.a. data warehousing and decision support) and information design, and a recognized world leader in the field of data visualization.

We will have full-day tracks on different areas of analytics: descriptive, predictive and prescriptive, as well as an additional track focused on "Building Your Analytics Team".

More info and registration.

@UCBusAnalytics

Risk Analytics Day

The UC Center for Business Analytics will host Risk Analytics Day on February 11, 2015  8AM - 4:30PM at the Tangeman University Center (TUC) on the campus of the University of Cincinnati

Three speakers will present in the AM and the afternoon will be hands on risk analysis and simulation. Parking, breakfast. and lunch are included with registration.

 Risk Analytics Day Registration Here

Speakers
"The Flaw of Averages and How to Cure It"  Sam L Savage
"Benford’s Law as a Risk Analytics Tool"  Mark Nigirini
"Valid Models and Analysis of Risk in Complex Real-World Settings:  Simulation as a Method of Choice" David Kelton

Software Demonstrations:
Hands-On Simulation Modeling and Analysis with Arena 14.50.
SIPmath™ interactive Simulation in Excel: 10,000 Trials Before Your Finger Leaves the Key, Without Macros or Add-ins.

- See more here

@UCBusAnalytics

Health Scanning with Sweat Sensors

From our local University of Cincinnati, whose board I was on for years:

" ... A University of Cincinnati partnership is reporting a significant leap forward in health diagnostics that are more accurate than what’s available today, yet considerably less invasive than something like a blood screening. It’s a lightweight, wearable device that analyzes sweat by using a smartphone.  UC researcher Jason Heikenfeld is holding next generation of sweat sensor pad and flexible bluetooth circuit. .... 

In an article published in the latest issue of IEEE Spectrum Magazine, Jason Heikenfeld, a UC professor of electrical engineering and computing systems, highlights new developments regarding the gadget that can gather vital medical information in almost real time.  ... " .    Bravo. Look forward to hearing more.

11th UC Business Intelligence Symposium this Week

Business Intelligence Symposium registration closing soon

The 11th Business Intelligence Symposium is coming next week on Thursday October 9 to the Lindner College of Business at the University of Cincinnati.  This is a very well attended event and if you are considering attending, please register soon.

Click here for more details and registration information

The Symposium will showcase presentations from thought leaders in business analytics. Featured speakers from Facebook, GE, SAP and Fifth Third Bank will discuss how big-data analytics can be used to give companies a competitive advantage. The event will also include opportunities for networking with other leading analytics professionals. Attendees will receive continental breakfast, box lunch and free parking. ... 

@UCBusAnalytics

Cincinnati Business Intelligence Symposium

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE SYMPOSIUM

The 11th Cincinnati Business Intelligence Symposium on October 9, 2014 will showcase presentations from thought leaders in business analytics. Each presenter will discuss how big-data analytics can be used to give companies a competitive advantage. The event will also include opportunities for networking with other leading analytics professionals. Attendees will receive continental breakfast, box lunch and free parking.

Business Intelligence Speakers

Andy Kriebel: Data Visualization Guru, Facebook    "From Insights to Actions - Using Big Data to Drive Market Changing Decisions"

Jude Schramm: Chief Information Officer, Digital: GE Aviation   "The Industrial Internet: How GE is Optimizing Assets and Operations with Big Data and Analytics"

Steven Pino, National Vice President of Business Analytics Services North America SAP  "Reimagining Sports and Business with Big Data"

Jeff Ficke: Senior Vice President, Payments Strategy & Innovation, Fifth Third Bancorp "TBA"

DETAILS AND REGISTRATION INFORMATION HERE

@UCBusAnalytics

Local Short Course on Web Analytics

Just reminded of this, I know the people involved and it will be quality.  Useful for anyone involved in the space.

The UC Center for Business Analytics is pleased to announce its next short course:
Fundamentals of Web Analytics September 11-12, 2014

With over 500 websites created and 2 million Google searches made every minute of every day, there is no shortage of data online.  Understanding how to use all this data to uncover meaningful insights is a challenge faced by many digital marketers and analysts today.  In this 2 day course, we will review the basic principles of analysis particularly in the digital space.  We will discuss web analytics architecture, implementation and overall strategy with the goal of not only providing the best practices and examples of how web analytics can be done right but to empower attendees to be more data-driven with business decisions, particularly in the digital space.

Course Fee:  $595
Location:   Kingsgate Marriott at the University of Cincinnati  151 Goodman Drive, Cincinnati, Ohio 45219
For more information and registration ... 

UC Analytics Summit 2014: Real World Impact

ANALYTICS SUMMIT 2014: Real-World Impact from Business Analytics

The Center for Business Analytics in the Lindner College of Business at the University of Cincinnati is pleased to announce Analytics Summit 2014 on Friday, May 23, 2014.

Analytics Summit 2014 is the premiere analytics event of the year offered by the Center for Business Analytics. It will feature keynote presentations by Eric Siegel, founder of Predictive Analytics World and author of Predictive Analytics: The Power to Predict Who Will Click, Buy, Lie, or Die, and by Jack Levis, Director of Process Management at UPS.  

Three day-long tracks will also be offered that span the three broad categories of analytics (Descriptive, Predictive and Prescriptive Analytics) as well as a fourth track on Analytics Applications in Social and Mobile Media sponsored by Business Technology Summit 2014. The tracks include analytics-expert speakers from Disney, Macy’s, Kroger, Elder Research, Fifth Third Bank, Boot Camp Digital and many more.

For more information and to register. 

Discounted registrations are available through May 9 and for groups of 5 or more attendees who register at the same time. Note that the event will be held at the Kingsgate Marriott at the University of Cincinnati. The event may also be followed on Twitter by using #AnalyticsSummit

In conjunction with Analytics Summit 2014, INFORMS will be offering their Certified Analytics Professional (CAP) exam at the University of Cincinnati on May 22. For more information on applying for certification, click here.  

USquare, Suite 300 
225 Calhoun St
Cincinnati, OH 45219
513-556-7140
UCBusAnalytics@uc.edu

@UCBusAnalytics

Data-Driven Operations Research Analyses in the Public Sector

From University of Cincinnati Operations, Business Analytics, and Information Systems (OBAIS) department at the Lindner College of Business (LCB). Please reply to uday.rao@uc.edu to add / modify / delete addresses in this distribution list.

The OBAIS department’s Arnoff Lecture will be on Monday, March 31, 2014. Please feel free to attend and advertise this event, which I believe will be spectacular.

Speaker: Professor Lawrence M. Wein, Stanford University
Topic: Data-Driven Operations Research Analyses in the Public Sector
Date, Time, Location: Monday, March 31, 7:30 PM, Lindner Hall Room 112 (Fealy Auditorium)

He writes: I will describe several recent projects in the public sector, including screening and treatment for childhood obesity, allocating blood for transfusions, optimizing ballistic imaging performance using spatiotemporal crime data, allocating ready-to-use food to undernourished children in developing countries, and optimizing the biometric aspects of India's universal identification (UIDAI) program. Each project started with a large longitudinal data set that guided the mathematical modeling, and resulted in a recommended policy that outperforms the current policy. I will briefly describe the problem motivation, the data set, the mathematical model (which was embedded into an optimization problem), the statistical analysis required to calibrate the model, the numerical results from solving the optimization problem, and the policy implications.

__________________________________

Uday S. Rao
Associate Professor
Operations, Business Analytics, and Information Systems (OBAIS)
Room 528, Carl H. Lindner College of Business
2925 Campus Green Drive, University of Cincinnati
Cincinnati, OH 45221-0130
Email: raous@ucmail.uc.edu
Ph: 513 556 7138, Fax: 513 556 5499

From Mess to Model Analytics Training

Have seen some of the material for this class, highly recommended at all levels:

On April 17-18, the Center for Business Analytics in the Lindner College of Business at the University of Cincinnati will be offering a training course called “From Mess to Model.” This course serves as an introduction to the power of analytics and structured problem-solving methods for dealing with ill-defined and complicated problems. It will teach attendees how to design, formulate and implement analytics models for complex business problems. Attendees will learn how to use influence diagrams, decision trees and other tools to define and explain complicated scenarios. 

The class will also focus on proper spreadsheet design and modeling to facilitate analytics-based decision making. Finally, specific tools including optimization and simulation methods will be presented to solve practical problems. Problem settings will be drawn from many different areas of business including finance and risk, marketing analysis, forecasting, supply chain management and others. All model building will be done within Excel utilizing advanced Excel functionality and powerful Add-Ins that attendees will be able to download for free. The material should be suitable for those with a basic understanding of Excel. The class will be taught by Professors Jeff Camm and Mike Fry from the University of Cincinnati.

For more information and to register see: https://www.regonline.com/UCMessToModel
Discounted registrations are available through March 31 and for groups of 5 or more registrants.

We are also excited to announce the date for Analytics Summit 2014: Friday, May 23, 2014 at the Kingsgate Marriott at the University of Cincinnati. This year we will feature TWO keynote presentations: one by Eric Siegel (founder, Predictive Analytics World and author, Predictive Analytics: The Power to Predict Who Will Click, Buy, Lie, or Die) and one by Jack Levis (Director of Process Management at UPS and frequent speaker on the topic of analytics). We will have full-day tracks on different areas of analytics: descriptive, predictive and prescriptive, as well as a special track focused on implementing analytics methods through social and mobile media. Confirmed speakers in these tracks include representatives from such companies as Macy's, Disney, Fifth Third, and many others.

For more information and to register see: https://www.regonline.com/AnalyticsSummit2014 
Discounted registrations are available through May 1 and for groups of 5 or more registrations.
_____________________________________
Michael J. Fry, PhD
Associate Professor and Lindner Research Fellow
Assistant Director, Center for Business Analytics
Department of Operations, Business Analytics 
      & Information Systems
Carl H. Lindner College of Business
University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH
mike.fry@uc.edu  (513) 556 0404

Robots Reading your Mind for Behavior

From the University of Cincinnati.  Work on robots controlled by thought.  " ... Brain-computer interface uses electroencephalography (a measure of the brain's electrical activity) to help distinguish which brain signal corresponds with the body's performance of a particular intended action. In these experiments, Shikha Chaganti, a graduate student in computer science advised by Ralescu, specifically targeted brain impulses generated when a person thought about going from a sitting position to standing and vice versa. Computers process this data -- which can be reinforced by combining it with measures of electrical activity in muscle -- in order to detect these brain signals and interpret their intent. The idea is to allow a person to use thought alone to communicate with a computer about the intent to move. ... " 

Data Mining Day

I am planning to attend:

The Center for Business Analytics in the Carl H. Lindner College of Business at the University of Cincinnati is pleased to announce

Data Mining Day
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Tangeman University Center
University of Cincinnati

The day will kick off with a networking breakfast where attendees will get to meet fellow analytics professionals as well as master's students from the University of Cincinnati programs in Information Systems and Business Analytics.

Our ​keynote ​speaker ​ will ​be ​John ​Elder,  ​PhD, ​of ​Elder ​Research, ​Inc. ​Dr. ​Elder ​is ​an ​international ​ expert ​and author on ​data ​mining ​as well as ​a ​well-known ​speaker ​on ​this ​subject. In addition to our keynote speaker, we will also have presentations from other leading experts on data mining. Nick Street, PhD, Professor and Department Executive Officer of the Management Sciences Department at the University of Iowa, will discuss data mining applications in healthcare. Randy Collica, Sr. Solutions Architect at SAS, will present on using text analytics to determine customers' future monetary values and future risk.

You may choose to attend only the morning sessions (including breakfast, keynote and other presentations plus lunch) or the morning plus afternoon sessions which also gives you access to the data mining software demonstrations where you will be able to choose two of three sessions offered by SAS Enterprise Miner, RapidMiner and Frontline System's XLMiner (limited number of seats available in each session).

For more information and to register, please visit: https://www.regonline.com/DataMiningDay

For more information on the Center for Business Analytics at the University of Cincinnati:
 http://business.uc.edu/centers/analytics-center.html
___________________________________________________________
Michael J. Fry, PhD
Associate Professor and Lindner Research Fellow
Assistant Director, Center for Business Analytics
Department of Operations, Business Analytics
      & Information Systems
Carl H. Lindner College of Business
University of Cincinnati
Cincinnati, OH
mike.fry@uc.edu
(513) 556 0404

Essentials of Business Analytics

Continue to make my way through this new text.  Which seeks to position the three kinds of analytics: Descriptive, Predictive and Prescriptive.  As I have preached many times in writing and talks.  It always makes sense to proceed in that order.

  First simply look at the data in alternate forms and devise new ways to describe it.  Sometimes that alone can solve your problem.  Then seek pattern in your data to find the best opportunities for improvement.  That too can often be a place to stop and immediately derive value from your exploration.  An then, take your discoveries and insert them directly into your decision process to provide ongoing value.

 Essentials of Business Analytics by 
Jeffrey D. Camm, James J. Cochran, Michael J. Fry, Jeffrey W. Ohlmann, David R. Anderson, Dennis J. Sweeney, Thomas A.Williams

I have been making my way through parts of this book, a great resource both at the overview and technical detail level.

Impressed by the book covering so much of this journey.  It looks at the descriptive and proceeds to depth.  It covers the simplest numerical methods and leads to methods learned in graduate school that we used to call 'operations research'.   It covers a wide variety of current software methods, from spreadsheet packages to advanced solvers.  And many detailed visualizations.  It addresses a wide variety of application areas. An early section describes applications, some surprising.  No matter what your area of application is, you will find inspiration here.  Useful for managers, practitioners and students at different levels.

One criticism, the topic of Big Data seems somewhat reluctantly brought in.    It has a natural connection to the topic, that could be further developed.

Still, an excellent text to browse and learn from.  I have a half dozen topics bookmarked already.

Disclosure: Some of my work is briefly mentioned in the book, starting a the bottom of page 7.   Contact me to discuss particulars.