Bertilla Miao chose to pursue an MSBA at the Haslam College of Business because she wanted a full-time program with equal emphasis on technical and soft skills. “I was looking for a blend of analytics and business,” she says. “Here, I feel very balanced in my development.”

After earning a bachelor of science in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of California, Berkeley, Miao worked as a product and reliability engineer for Analog Devices in San Jose, California. Upon entering the MSBA program at Haslam, Miao served as a graduate research assistant during the 2015–2016 academic year. “I performed market share analysis on healthcare data which were only available in mismatching formats from various web sources,” she says. “I also conducted covariance analysis on marketing data to assess bias in survey design.”

From May to July 2016, Miao served as a data science intern at Boeing. “I built a machine learning model from time series parametric data to predict maintenance issues with 99.99% accuracy,” she says. “The goal is to provide proactive money-saving customer support for all Boeing 787 Dreamliner operators.” While interning at Boeing, Miao received the Pride @ Boeing Achievement Award.

Miao appreciates the many skills she has acquired during her time as a student at Haslam. “I enjoy learning statistics and adding more programming languages to my arsenal. I also have fun learning about business operations in my electives,” she says. “I have worked hard on my networking skills.”

Most of all, Miao likes the camaraderie within the program. “Not only do I feel support from faculty and staff in helping me succeed, I also feel the mutual support amongst my peers. I know the program helps to facilitate this encouraging team environment.”