In this special edition of our Real Humans: Students series, we meet some members of the part- and full-time Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA) classes at the Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business. The mix of students are united by a shared goal: leveraging data to drive better business decisions. From early-career analysts to working professionals across industries, this group reflects the program’s blend of rigorous analytics training with real-world application.
To start, students like Annie Winkler bring a STEM foundation and growing experience in financial services, using the program to deepen technical skills while advancing in people analytics. Then we meet Jessica Chew, with a quantitative background in mathematics of computation, who is building on her early career in technical operations to transition into product and business analytics roles. Meanwhile, Katherine Cornell turned her passion for data storytelling into a full-time pursuit, strengthening her analytics toolkit and preparing for a leadership development role in pharmaceuticals.
The students also include globally minded professionals and career pivoters. Morris Chang, drawing on experience in customer success and enterprise data, emphasizes the human side of analytics, bringing a perspective that data should inform, not replace, real-world decision-making. Finally, Vivek Sriram builds on a technical MIS background to expand his strategic thinking and has already secured a role as a business strategy analyst.
Together, these students embody Tepper’s “data-informed, human-driven” philosophy, combining analytical rigor with curiosity, collaboration, and a strong sense of community. Read on for their stories and insights into the MSBA program.
