What initially made you interested in Data Science?

I wanted to investigate questions in my domain expertise, but saw that I needed to build my skill set more. In my undergraduate education, I concentrated within geological sciences, GIS, and remote sensing and learned a lot about the skills needed for those disciplines. Still, I didn't learn as much about modeling, statistical inference, or methods that make meaning out of data more generally. I became interested in data science because it would allow me to leverage more complex and different types of tools to solve problems I was interested in. My hope was to become a better scientist by becoming a better data scientist.

What are your plans following graduation?

After graduation, my plan is to use my earth science and data science education in tandem. My ultimate goal is to work in agricultural-technology to help those in the agricultural industry optimize their products, transport, growing, and sustainability.

What are the most important skills you learned or experiences you had during the program?

While knowing how to implement different techniques is important, the most important skill I've learned was the value of using foundational knowledge to guide your decision making process. I learned how to break down problems into small tasks and then make data-based decisions that uses context, domain expertise, and ethical considerations. Learning how to make models is great (and many places can teach you that), but learning how to make meaning is far more invaluable.