Master of Science in Machine Learning and Data Science at Northwestern Universit

MLDS, MSIT, and MEM students showed their school spirit during NU Day at Wrigley. Always a great time celebrating Northwestern and cheering on the Chicago Cubs!

MLDS students took a break from studying to gather for food and games by our beautiful lakefront! Despite a little wind, it was a welcome break from the hard work they are putting in as spring quarter begins to wrap up.

Shashwat Kakkad (MLDS ’25) shares how a single moment of visibility on LinkedIn altered his career trajectory and ultimately led to his current job.

The Power of a Post

Kingsley Di (PhD ‘17), senior director for applied AI and ML at SiriusXM, recently spoke about the company's approach to AI with students in Northwestern Engineering's Master of Science in Machine Learning and Data Science (MLDS) program.

His goal was to connect the technical foundations students learn in the classroom with how AI is actually deployed in the audio entertainment industry.

Playing the Right Tune Kingsley Di (PhD '17) shared his AI expertise from building SiriusXM’s personalization platform with students in the MLDS program.

MLDS is proud to be part of the Department of Industrial Engineering & Management Sciences, a finalist for the 2026 UPS George D. Smith Prize and one of the most prestigious honors in analytics education!

IEMS Named Finalist for Prestigious INFORMS Prize The Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences joins the Georgia Institute of Technology and the US Military Academy as contenders for the UPS George D. Smith Prize that recognizes excellence in preparing students to become practitioners of operations research and analytics.

Many thanks to Mark Wang from Unum Insurance for coming to campus to talk internship opportunities with our students. Don't let your next great hire slip away! Contact us at [email protected] to arrange a time to visit our students and recruit your next intern or full-time staffer.

MLDS was pleased to welcome Kingsley Di, Head of Applied AI/ML at SiriusXM & Pandora, to campus as our winter seminar speaker! Kingsley provided insight into use cases for AI transformation in audio streaming, illuminating the technical and ethical challenges of this work.

A trio of MLDS students built on experience from last year on their way to securing top honors at the program's annual hackathon, sponsored this year by the Chicago Fire FC's soccer analytics team.

Going for Goal

We were happy to celebrate graduation this weekend with 54 newly-minted MLDS alums! Many congratulations to them on their accomplishments during their time with the program.

Master the skills that drive business success in today’s hyper-competitive, data-driven world. The Master of Science in Machine Learning and Data Science at Northwestern University program aims to produce well-rounded data scientists who possess the rigorous technical training and the business acumen to lead data science teams.

Learn more at our upcoming online information session on Thursday, December 11 at 10:00 a.m. CST.

Register at bit.ly/4o9VlJR

Ashwin Sundaramurthy (MLDS '25) spent extra time working as an intern at Teragonia — a Chicago-based AI company focused on driving growth for private equity-backed mid-market companies — before turning the role into a full-time position.

Transitioning from Intern to Associate Ashwin Sundaramurthy (MLDS '25) spent extra time working as an intern at AI company Teragonia before turning the role into a full-time position.