Riverside, Calif. (July 14, 2016) - California Baptist University is offering a new major that promises to be a game changer. This fall CBU will offer a Bachelor of Science in sports analytics, the first-of-its-kind offered west of the Mississippi.

Dr. Lisa Hernandez, chair of the department of natural and mathematical sciences, said the new major will be geared toward those who want to make a career in professional sports.

"Sports, like any other major industry, is looking to gain an advantage through analytics," Hernandez said. "We live in a data-driven era where every click on any site can be potentially used to your advantage. It's no different on the playing field."

Hernandez said that throughout mathematic departments in academia, students have been told that majoring in statistics could help land a sports analytics job. However, at CBU there is now an effort to focus on courses and experiences that will better equip a person for this specific field. 

Part of the upper division coursework will include a partnership with Lancers Athletics, where students will work closely with coaches and staff to determine statistics that need to be analyzed for various teams. Additionally, an internship will be required pushing students out into the community to gain hands-on experiences.

Hernandez said CBU faculty was a prominent factor in the ability to launch this program.

Dr. Linn Carothers, professor of mathematics and one of the faculty for the new major, has a reputation for using supercomputing to analyze statistics at a high level. 

Carothers led the effort to secure two grants at CBU that provide access for faculty and staff to supercomputers located all over the country. CBU faculty can now model, simulate and predict using big sample data that is bootstrapped, or resampled thousands of times from these supercomputers.

"For CBU students, it means that we can train them at the bleeding edge of technology. They can use the most advanced software [available]," Carothers said.