by Lauryn Luderman

The Sports and Society Initiative is excited to announce the appointment of Ryan Ruddy as its assistant director. 

Ruddy has been part of Ohio State’s Department of Economics since 2015 and became involved with SSI in 2017. 

Upon arriving at Ohio State, Ruddy was asked to teach a sports data analytics class and take over the sports economics course, which steered him toward SSI.  

“I was invited to be part of the SSI stuff and I just kept doing more and more with it,” Ruddy said. 

As time went on, Ruddy started to attend the weekly working meetings and board meetings, and he used the initiative to help build his student club, the Sports Analytics Association, among other projects. 

Ruddy also spearheads SSI’s annual Data Analytics Conference, which will take place this year from March 31 and April 1. 

“I’ve put together the undergraduate research fair the last couple of years,” Ruddy said. “I’ve worked with several students doing projects for both the SSI research fair and the Sports Analytics Conference research fair, as well.”

Ruddy’s next steps, given his new position, are to hire an analytics intern and continue to involve students in the different research opportunities offered at Ohio State and through SSI. 

“I want to do things to make it easier for students to get started on doing research and just continue to expand the number of students and the level of participation that we have in these research fairs,” Ruddy said. 

Ruddy has been an important part of SSI since he joined and the initiative looks forward to his future plans and partnership as the worlds of sport and analytics continue to evolve.