In 2000, Tarleton State University established the Center for Agribusiness Excellence whose primary focus is to provide analy ... tics and data mining in support of the federal crop insurance program. As a result of many years of successes at CAE, Tarleton expanded its footprint in data analytics by creating the Tarleton Analytics Institute. TAI operates under Tarleton’s Special Projects program. The Tarleton Analytics Institute’s primary aim is providing support to public and private institutions by offering the follow services: Applied Data Science Machine Learning Statistical Analysis Mathematical Modeling Data Visualization Anomaly Detection Process Automation Productivity Optimization TAI’s most recent research involves reducing financial loss in the insurance field. We are using machine learning to build predictive models of preventable payments and recovery, resulting in a 44% improvement in cost avoidance and a 14:1 return on investment. Predictive models are supplemented by visualization software to identify anomalous insurance claims and hot spots of persistent financial loss. At TAI, each project partnership is assigned a faculty mentor as well as a graduate or undergraduate student assistant. Depending on the size or complexity of the project other data scientists may be assigned as well. A perfect partnership would result in two positive outcomes: 1. Create a cost avoidance or productivity gain that far exceeds the Partner’s monetary investment while building a long term relationship for maintenance and improvements to current versions or models. 2. Establish a pipeline whereby Tarleton students gain real world domain knowledge within the Partner’s business making our students ready for employment with the Partner upon graduation if a position is available. read more