Congratulations to our Master’s candidates who graduated last semester: Pan Ding, Jacqueline Gutman, Alexandre Sablayrolles, Rama Krishna Raju Samantapudi, and Olivia Yang! We caught up with them over the holidays to find out how their time at NYU has been, and where they’ll be going next.
When reflecting on their experience with CDS, our graduates found that what they loved most about the program was its flexibility. As Gutman explained, the flexibility allowed her to “engage in a wide breadth of problem domains and research questions within the field of data science, and to develop expertise in those areas of specialization that are most in line with my professional goals.”
“I also enjoyed the lectures held by experienced professionals across different industries,” added Yang, referring to the weekly Company Information sessions where numerous firms like PwC, McKinsey & Company, and IBM introduce our students to available job opportunities after graduation.
For example, Ding recently received an offer from IBM Watson as an entry-level data scientist, while Gutman has already started work as a full-time data scientist at the NYU School of Medicine.
A crucial factor for clinching these positions, Ding explained, was deepening their technical knowledge through the program’s rigorous courses. “I liked the Machine Learning course the most. I felt that it was the one that really led me to the world of data science. The course was very well structured, and the teaching staff were knowledgeable and responsive.”
Similarly, Gutman cited both the Machine Learning and Inference course as key to her development, since “these are the two courses I come back to most often in my work.”
The Inference course was also a favorite of Sablayrolles, who will be pursuing a Ph.D. in Computer Vision. “The class goes really in depth into advanced algorithms, but the lecturers walk us through the technical details and to help us understand the bigger picture. And the homework assignments have actual real-world applications.”
Alternatively, Samantapudi, who will be working for Factset Research Systems, found that the Natural Language Understanding course was her favorite. “As part of the course, I worked on Dynamic Memory Networks (DMN) for Natural Language Inference (NLI) task, and I enjoyed that project the most.”
“CDS is also a space which allows strong collaboration,” Samantapudi added, referring to our brand new facilities on Fifth Avenue, which has rapidly become a popular hot spot for meeting other students, engaging in collaboration, and exchanging ideas.
As Ding, Gutman, Sablayrolles, Samantapudi, and Yang go on to pursue their new opportunities, we are gearing up to welcome our students back for the Spring. With more weekly seminar series being held at CDS this semester, such as the popular Text-As-Data series, we are set to become an even livelier hub for data scientists and researchers in New York City.
by Cherrie Kwok