With the Big Data market expected to grow to $28.5 million by the end of 2014 and to far exceed $50 billion by 2017, it's time to get students up to speed. That's where IBM comes into play. Rapidly taking over the academic scene, IBM has been forging partnerships with more than 1,000 universities across the globe to advance its mission to narrow the data scientists skills gap. Local schools IBM is working with include the University of Maryland and University of Virginia.