MADE AT MASON
BIG DATA
BIG DATA
Discovering new ways to fnd meaning from vast amounts of information.
Turning Passion into Profession If you followed your favorite NFL team on ESPN this past season, there’s a good chance Brian Burke, MS Operations Research ’15, provided the reporters you saw on camera with in-game analysis information. Since joining ESPN in June 2015 as a senior analytics specialist, Burke has worked to ensure reporters receive best-in-class football analytics from his home ofce in Reston, Virginia.
Burke had an unorthodox start for a career in sports analytics, fying combat missions in the Navy after graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy.
After leaving the Navy in 2005, he was a single dad with two young children at home. In the evenings, once the kids were in bed, he devoted time to his hobby—football analysis. In 2007, his hobby turned into a website, AdvancedFootballAnalytics.com. Tat’s when Burke started to receive national attention that led to him becoming a regular sports contributor to the New York Times while working as a defense contractor. His passion for sports led him to Mason’s Department of Systems Engineering and Operations Research in the Volgenau School of Engineering and to associate department chair Andrew Loerch.
