Participating in Stevens’ Industry Capstone Program allowed us to connect with students and gain a different perspective on business problems. The students were tasked with analyzing large data sets to provide insights. Wakefern is committed to supporting the communities we serve and value the opportunity to support higher education programs.

I can’t say enough about how tech savvy the students are, and their level of engagement was fantastic. Our CHRO asked them a lot of great questions, and the students were able to answer them from both a technical perspective and in laymen’s terms, so people not as familiar with the analytics could understand the strategy.

Each time we sat down with the students, I was more and more impressed. They validated some key points we’ve been discussing and also brought in some great new concepts that made us think differently about the challenge at hand.

The Industry Capstone Program was a very special experience. I worked for Hoboken Hospitality Alliance, which helps support local restaurant operators & vendors. We mainly worked with Community delivery, a platform where people can order food online from local restaurants without being charged an extra fee. My main job was to promote this app. We also successfully helped one of the local restaurants do an email campaign.

As a data scientist, it’s very important to know how to translate a business outcome into a machine-learning problem. This experience has helped me understand business objectives and how to ask the right questions before implementing a solution.

Taking on this challenge was very helpful for my future studies and career. My suggestion to future students is to participate deeply in the ICP, understand the needs of enterprises and real business operations, and be willing to learn new skills. Employers will take notice.

 It gives me an opportunity to leverage my business experience and be helpful to young people.

Working as a faculty advisor at Stevens allows me to share the extensive industry consulting expertise I’ve gained from 20+ years in data warehousing and analytics across industries globally. I especially enjoy helping students better understand the importance of business alignment, defining business value and communicating effectively with business users.

As a growing company we thoroughly enjoyed working with the students and faculty in the Stevens Industry Capstone Program. With professional guidance from the faculty, the students prepared detailed materials and research that was instrumental for our product development, business presentations, partnerships, and more importantly, our market strategy. The work they conducted will live long after the class is concluded!