I am an independent data science consultant, helping clients in the private and non-profit sectors. I also co-founded a start-up that makes publicly available datasets (with intriguing names like ‘Monitoring the Future’ and ‘Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System’) more easily accessible to researchers and general users for rapid analysis and visualization.
As a graduate student in Iowa, I fell in love with statistics and delighted in discovering the stories and patterns hidden in data. After earning my masters degree in economics and statistics, I spent a year at a database marketing firm. I mostly studied choice patterns in consumer goods like toys, food, and flowers. My favorite project was on decision-making in parents purchasing footwear for their children – yes, even this can get complicated!
I was quickly drawn back to academia for a PhD in marketing — which really was a degree at the intersection of economics, psychology, statistics, and computer science. My research initially focused on pricing, before slowly but meaningfully shifting toward public policy and health-related topics. While I primarily use quantitative analysis techniques, a lot of time is spent in understanding the institutional details, individual thought processes, and external factors driving the observed data and outcomes.
Over the years, I have had the privilege of teaching and mentoring some engaged and thoughtful students. I particularly enjoy teaching courses on research and analysis methods. A particularly fulfilling experience was serving as a technical mentor in the Data Science for Social Good summer program at the University of Chicago, where I advised two student teams applying machine learning to critical problems.
I also provide pro bono consulting for small non-profits with market research and data analysis needs. In my free time, you might find me out on a hike or reading a book. The best novel I have read in recent memory is ‘Do Not Say We Have Nothing’ by Madeleine Thien.