Big data is flooding the business world. And we need a new generation of business analysts to make sense of it. A report from McKinsey predicts that the US workforce will be short 1.5 million big data managers and analysts by 2018. MIT Sloan is rising to the challenge with a new Master of Business Analytics Program, launched in 2016.

We speak with Dimitris Bertsimas, Professor of Management, and Director of the new MBAn program at MIT Sloan.Plus, we speak with MIT Sloan alum Ali Almossawi. His business school experience set him on a career path in data visualization; he now works for Apple. His new book, “Bad Choices,” explains computer algorithms to a wide audience.