EDWARDSVILLE - The Center for Predictive Analytics (C-PAN) is a new, on-campus organization whose aim is to help various school programs, as well as local businesses, turn the data they have collected into action.
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C-PAN utilizes state of the art mathematical, statistical, computational, and machine learning tools and techniques to analyze data, produce predictions, and assess the probabilities of future events.
“I can hone in on one area of the country and say, ‘Okay I know at about 5 p.m. there are a number of people getting off work and browse on their computers, so I can target my ads to that group because they are more likely to by our products,” said Carolyn Butts-Wilmsmeyer, Ph.D., director of the center.
Besides helping local businesses, C-PAN also hopes to leave its footprint on campus by helping people include analytics in their research as well as by offering various coding classes.
“When you’re first learning how to do something new, it’s a little intimidating. Having somebody sit there and say, ‘I promise you are not going to break the computer,’ can be reassuring, so you don’t have to go through the headache of wanting to beat your head against the keyboard,” said Butts-Wilmsmeyer.
One challenge the center will have to face is ethical concerns consumers have involving who has access to their data. However, Butts-Wilmsmeyer reassures that data collection is utilized by almost every entity.
“Everyone is collecting data now,” said Butts-Wilmsmeyer.
The hope is that all kinds of data can be turned into useful information and knowledge for businesses and policy making in the region and nationally.
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