When it comes to building solutions for real companies, few teams take a breezy path from conceptualizing an idea to presenting the deliverable. Inevitably, there are adjustments to make and problems to fix.
In Info Sci’s Master of Professional Studies program, students working with client companies in the MPS Project Practicum are challenged to be adaptive, refining project scope and adjusting as needed to meet client expectations.
This past Fall, 11 student teams in the MPS Project Practicum (INFO 5900) did just that.
Among those teams:
• Team PepsiCo Champions League redesigned the company’s existing user interface to produce meaningful insights, encourage competition and bolster productivity. The team also constructed a predictive model to help PepsiCo cut down on waste levels in different product classes. Team members: Alice Miao, Yuhan Hu, and Xin Chen (Interface team); Amer Islam, Lingjia Li, and Zihao Fan (data modeling team), and Yutong Fu (consulting).
• Team Tista developed a financial transaction platform using blockchain technology. Team members: Xiying (frontend engineer); Hao Zhuo (backend engineer); Jieyu Chen (full stack engineer and technical product manager); Eva Kang (UI/UX researcher and designer); Kexin Li (UI/UX researcher and designer), and Peiyu (frontend engineer).
Sharlane Cleare, lecturer in Information Science and INFO 5900 course instructor, said MPS teams were challenged to execute projects with sound project management principles.
“By following a systematic process, teams were able to produce a meaningful solution that aligned both the clients' expectations and the MPS course goals,” she said. “All of the projects challenged students to be adaptable, sharpen their leadership and project management skills.”