Spring Theory is working with faculty from the Master of Professional Studies degree program at Cornell to develop a company-focused partnership that allows student teams to solve complex challenges for a sponsoring company. Through the course of the project, students work for approximately 14 weeks, totaling approximately 500 hours of dedicated time, on a data science or user experience-focused project.
In this unique degree program, students refine various UX and data science skills, including: artificial intelligence, cloud computing, machine learning, data visualization, business intelligence systems, data analytics, user experience design, and text mining.
The projects are highly-structured and thoughtfully planned out to provide students with support throughout the length of the project. The MPS Project Coordinator, Dr. Sharlane Cleare, assists with the development and refining of the project brief, and matches student teams based on indicated preferences and relevant skill sets.
Until December 15, 2020
February 9-May 25, 2021
Dr. Sharlane Cleare
Graduate
3-4
University provided
Until December 15, 2020
February 9-May 25, 2021
Dr. Sharlane Cleare
Graduate
3-4
University provided
Leading expert faculty
Extensive research and analysis
Provides an unparalleled learning experience for students
Access to the perspectives of top students
Client-focused experience
Custom project suited to company's individual needs
Assurant worked with a student team to increase efficiency. The team researched and built a design system aimed at combining intuitive user experience (UX) components with Assurant's unique needs to provide engaging experiences for customers.
Dylan's Candy Bar partnered with a student team around a data visualization project rooted in consumer insights. The project's overall goal was to understand product performance to inform future merchandising and marketing decisions.
HUGE collaborated with a student team on a project around mapping the customer journey and identifying key, defining moments in the experience. This data was then leveraged by the student team in training Natural Language Processing (NLP) classifiers.
Under Armour worked with a team of students to analyze the data created by their fitness app to develop a prototype model that predicts the most likely users to purchase Under Armour products.
The Master of Professional Studies (MPS) in the Information Science Program at Cornell University is an interdisciplinary, one-year program that prepares students for successful careers in information science.
Capstone projects involve students working with client companies to find solutions to real-world problems, providing experiences that can apply directly to jobs after graduation.
Cornell's Information Science MPS allows each student to individually tailor a unique skill set for their career goals, such as user experience design, data science, interactive technology, and networks, crowds, and markets. With no core courses, the program's flexible curriculum allows students to develop strong technical skills and an in-depth understanding of the social and behavioral aspects of information technology. No Cornell course is off limits – students can choose from all University course offerings during the program.
The company commitment would consist of approximately 10 hours over the course of the project.
Clients are always welcome, and encouraged, to devote more time beyond these 10 hours if they have the ability to do so. The 10-hour commitment includes: a project planning meeting, a kick-off meeting with your student team(s), a mid-point meeting or report review to provide feedback, and attending (virtually or in-person) the final presentations.
This also includes time spent at various points throughout the semester on emails and calls to answer students' questions and provide project guidance.
This is typically established based on what the client company and the student team are able to accommodate.
We have found that projects with standing weekly (or bi-weekly) conference calls and/or email status reports have the most success as it allows for the most client visibility into the student team's progress, and for the students to obtain timely feedback.
The main forms of communication include email, conference calls and video conferencing.
Examples for this specific opportunity can be found in the "Past Project Examples" section above.
For examples of other collaborations set up by Spring Theory, please feel free to visit the Past Collaborations page on our website by clicking here.
The primary benefit of working with Spring Theory is our expansive network of opportunities through top-quality university programs and courses. We are heavily involved in establishing the connection with the professor, and in the project scoping and planning conversations. We help establish a clear timeline and project milestones on a formal planning call with the client representative(s) and the professor that will be overseeing the project.
Once the project starts, we check in around major project milestones to ensure the project is meeting all expectations and that the client representative(s) have sufficient visibility into the project progress. We also send surveys and have a mid-point call to further gauge these aspects. While this rarely occurs, if the project has gotten off-track or the client is unclear of where a project stands, we are happy to intervene to get the project back to meeting expectations.
Generally, we try to strike a balance between being involved enough to provide sufficient support, while still allowing the project to progress naturally and being mindful of the client's time. We are always available, however, as a resource throughout the entire project.
The benefits our clients have experienced through working with student teams have included a combination of the following:
