MADS program a “great fit” for father focused on enhancing career skills

MADS student and math whiz Matt Wiese manages over 5 petabytes (equal to over 5,000 terabytes, or 5e+6 gigabytes!) of data as an intermediate Unix/SAN admin for Mid-Michigan’s largest health system, all while investing in his education and taking care of a toddler at home. 

With degrees in mathematics from University of Florida and Middle Tennessee State University, Lansing, Michigan-based Matt decided to flesh out his education in stats and machine learning not only because it’s an interesting field, but also to improve his job prospects.

“Another major consideration was we had just had our kiddo and I was working full-time, so I needed a program that would be flexible with my demanding schedule,” Matt says. 

With flexibility folded into the remote MADS program at its foundation, Matt says he’s found a great fit to satisfy all his requirements ⁠— including available, approachable faculty. 

I’m continually surprised with how engaged the faculty are. They truly love the program and the interactions they have with students, and it shows.

“That was the major concern I had when enrolling,” Matt adds, “considering the program is entirely online. How would we communicate with faculty? Would there be enough communication? There absolutely is, and everyone is so friendly and willing to help.” 

A year out from his anticipated graduation in 2022, Matt is meeting his goal of building up his data scientist’s tool kit. Read about how he’s already applying what he’s learned in the MADS program to thrive at work day-to-day and during special projects in his full Faces of UMSI profile.