New MIS Elective Course: Introduction to Streams

Introduction to Streams Course

This fall SoBA is introducing a new interdisciplinary class that will introduce IBM’s InfoSphere Streams computing platform and SPL language, taught by SoBA's IT Director, Eric Tangedahl.  The software is designed to analyze very large quantities of data, in real time, without storing it first.  Our vision is that students from computer science, mathematical sciences, management information systems and other departments will use their unique strengths collaboratively to apply the software to new applications in business and government.  Students taking the class should have some background in programming.

As we continue to see rapidly increasing amounts of data produced by financial centers, sensors, cameras, satellites, web traffic and other sources we will need a way to analyze this data very quickly and accurately.  This class will introduce you to the concepts of “big data” and “streams” while teaching the tools necessary to work in this space.  According to IBM,  “InfoSphere Streams radically extends the state-of-the-art in big data processing; it’s a high-performance computing platform that allows user-developed applications to rapidly ingest, analyze and correlate information as it arrives from thousands of real-time sources.”

Knowledge gained from this course will give you an advantage in the rapidly growing sector of big data.  Government, health care, energy and financial markets are a few of the industries that will be looking for employees with these skills.  In Missoula, IBM’s premier partner, TerraEchos (an off-shoot of GCS Research), is already utilizing these technologies and hiring graduates with these skills.

The three-credit course is titled ST: Introduction to Streams. It is cross listed as BMIS 491-01 (75489) and M 491-01 (75490). It will meet from 3:40 to 6:30 p.m. Thursdays in GBB 206.  It will count as an Management Information Systems (MIS) elective for MIS majors.

Missoulian article:http://missoulian.com/news/local/um-ibm-tech-firm-create-course-to-analyze-big-data/article_2e385564-cfbe-11e1-ae7f-0019bb2963f4.html

Consider adding this class as it will be an outstanding learning opportunity in a very new technology. Questions regarding this course can be directed to Eric Tangedahl, eric.tangedahl@business.umt.edu.