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Purdue Mitch Daniels School of Business logo
Purdue Mitch Daniels School of Business logo

Lanham to serve on SAS’ Faculty Advisory Board

Matthew LanhamMatthew Lanham, a clinical associate professor in quantitative methods at Purdue University’s Mitch Daniels School of Business, has been invited to serve on SAS’ Faculty Advisory Board.

SAS stands for Statistical Analysis System, a software suite developed by SAS Institute that is used for advanced analytics, business intelligence, data management and predictive analytics across various industries.

Lanham served as the academic director of the Master of Business Analytics and Information Management (MSBAIM) program at the Daniels School from 2018 to 2024. Under his leadership, the program earned nearly 100% placement every year and was awarded the UPS George D. Smith prize in 2023. In 2019, he was awarded SAS’ Distinguished Professor Award for his emphasis on experiential learning, building relationships with companies to provide his students experiences with real-world data, and solving real business problems.

“Prof. Lanham’s commitment to his students is inspiring,” says Sean O’Brien, senior vice president of global customer success at SAS. “He goes above and beyond to cultivate skills and relationships that have employers standing in line to hire his graduates.”

In addition to serving on SAS’ Faculty Advisory Board, Lanham is an elected member of the INFORMS Analytics Certification Board (ACB) and the Midwest Decision Sciences Institute (MWDSI).

According to O’Brien, “the Faculty Advisory Board is an invitation-only group of academic leaders dedicated to strengthening education-industry partnerships and preparing students for careers.” Board members have the opportunity to:

  • Engage directly with SAS leadership and provide input on our academic software and resources 
  • Network with peers who are advancing data and AI education 
  • Share and discuss challenges, strategies, and best practices in teaching data science and analytics 
  • Provide feedback on SAS’s vision, roadmap and future product development
  • Influence enhancements to SAS software and resources for higher education 

A worldwide leader in AI and analytics, SAS saw 30% growth in its cloud revenue, according to its 2023 annual report. The SAS Viya platform was named the 2023 InfoWorld Technology of the Year for its ability to help organizations use their data to support better decision-making by meeting their customers where they are. Viya integrates with numerous popular programming languages and cloud services, such as Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud, among others.