In 2020, the top three concentrations for a master’s degree in Arizona were Other Psychology, General Business Administration & Management, and General Special Education & Teaching, according to Data USA. Data analytics was barely featured. That means there is a lack of data analyst specialists in the state where they are heavily needed. Arizona will have to attract advanced data analyst specialists from outside of the state. You can step into this gap in the market by pursuing an advanced degree in data analytics.

The first step is to pursue a degree in Data Analytics at an on-campus college or University or enroll in an online master’s degree in Data Analytics. Once you receive your degree, then you need to decide which industry to work in. These are four Arizona industries that desperately need more data analytics specialists in the field. Let’s take a look at each one and learn more about how data analytics specialists oversee and analyze big data to help the industry and residents of Arizona.

1. Government

Governments manage enormous amounts of data, from population statistics, transportation, public health and safety, economics, and much more. Local, national, and global levels of government need to analyze this data accurately and securely. To do this, the industry needs a large amount of data analytics specialists.

For example, one common area of the government that employs data analytics specialists to oversee big data is the Data Analytics Group. This group is responsible for reporting, maintaining, and collecting data about the roadways in Arizona. If you want to learn more about how data analytics specialists and big data can affect change, read this Case Study: State of Arizona Implements Model for State-Wide Data Governance.

2. Healthcare and Medical Research

The healthcare and medical research industry is another industry that involves analyzing big data, which is why it’s a great industry to go into if you are a data analytics specialist. Big data can help healthcare providers gather and examine complex data about their patients and their health.

For example, in this case study, Arizona State used big data in the hunt for a cancer cure. The researchers at Arizona State realized that looking for cancer-causing variants requires examining human DNA from thousands of people. They quickly realized that their research

capabilities would be limited because of the computer system’s inability to process such large quantities of data. This brought around the idea to implement big data and an open source programming framework to accomplish this.

3. Travel and Tourism

According to Revfine, the Travel and Tourism industry uses big data to predict future demand, optimize pricing, target marketing, and to enhance the customer experience. There is a never-ending supply of people wanting to travel, increasing the need for more data analytics specialists to evaluate the big data that comes along with the travel industry.

The Arizona Office of Tourism is a great example of how the travel and tourism industry uses big data to help gather insights and educate people on the industry. As you can see on their website, they use big data to give Arizona residents information on the latest Arizona tourism indicators including airport passenger traffic, state park visitation, and estimated tourism taxes.

4. Environmental Sustainability

The state of Arizona still has some work to do when it comes to their high pollution rates and sustainability efforts. Check out this Arizona Sustainability Report to learn more about the state’s sustainability initiatives. Big data plays a big part in environmental sustainability by providing insight into our world’s demand for food, energy, and water. This in turn helps give valuable feedback to humans on how to optimize our resources so we do not run out.

Big data can help environmental public health tracking as well. The Arizona Department of Health Services uses big data to help residents of Arizona to learn about environmental hazards. The website provides quick reports to inform Arizona residents of environmental health issues for your area and maps and databases on a variety of topics included in the Environmental Public Health Tracking Network.

In Arizona, these four sectors of industries oversee an enormous amount of big data. To accurately report and analyze this data, the industries have a large need for experienced data analytics specialists. To be a part of this growing industry, most data analytic specialist positions require a master’s degree in data analytics. Here are some of the best master’s in business analytics programs for you to check out.