ATOM, which stands for Analytics, Technology, and Operations Management, is FIU’s first faculty technology consulting practice. Led by Karlene Cousins, faculty member of the Information Systems and Business Analytics (ISBA) Department, ATOM provides businesses with innovative services from leading faculty experts in the technology area, while giving students experiential learning opportunities. Faculty and graduate students use cutting-edge technology to solve real-world problems for the business community, providing their services at an affordable cost. For large companies, ATOM aims to be a key asset for corporate IT teams who don’t have the internal resources or time to dedicate to new or overflow projects.
In its first year, ATOM offered opportunities for students to showcase their talents using publicly-available business data. In its first ATOM-sponsored business analytics competition, the winning team presented its findings on the rise of Uber at eMerge, Miami’s preeminent technology and entrepreneurship conference. Many presenting students received job offers as a result of contacts made at the conference. As a consultancy, ATOM brought state-of-the-art analytical tools to Global Health Intelligence, a firm that provides healthcare market insights in Latin America and Asia.