Our Alumni Spotlights showcase the diverse paths and achievements of graduates from the Center for Data Science. These profiles offer insights into our alumni’s experiences during their time at CDS, their current roles, and the impact of their education on their careers. Each spotlight features personal reflections on what they enjoyed most about CDS, how their time here contributed to their success, and advice for aspiring data scientists. These stories not only highlight the success of our graduates but also provide valuable perspectives for current and prospective students considering a career in data science.
Meet Our Alumni
Burlyn Andall-Blake
Name:
Burlyn Andall-Blake
What program did you graduate from and when?
BS Computer Science with minors in Data Science and ASL – Class of 2022
What are you up to?
Currently in my 2nd and last year of my MSDS program at Rutgers University – NB
What did you enjoy most about the Center for Data Science?
I enjoy hanging out with the faculty and other students in the lounge
How did your time at CDS help you in your success?
The program and course work help prepare me for my masters program
What advice do you have for people who want to get started in data science?
Even doing computer programming is a part of DS, you should also take time to practice and get comfortable stats and probability. Try to get related experience such as internships and part time jobs
Apurva Bhargava
Name
Apurva Bhargava
What program did you graduate from and when?
I graduated from the Master of Science in Data Science (MSDS) program in 2021.
What are you up to?
Currently, I am working as a Machine Learning/ AI Engineer at Informed, Inc., where I focus on building and productionizing ML models for document intelligence. I also actively spend time on side research projects in natural language understanding and generative AI to stay current with the new research.
What did you enjoy most about the Center for Data Science?
I thoroughly enjoyed the regular seminars at CDS where speakers would expound on their cutting-edge research and SOTA technologies. I equally enjoyed the assignments where every question would spark a lightbulb moment.
How did your time at CDS help you in your success?
Without even mentioning the mathematical rigor and depth of the courses that made my knowledge comprehensive, I must highlight the invaluable research opportunities I had, particularly working with Prof. Julia Kempe and Prof. Andrew Bell. These experiences honed my research acumen, which is a major component of my current work.
What advice do you have for people who want to get started in data science?
My advice would be to focus on building a strong foundation in mathematics (linear algebra, probability, statistics and fundamental calculus), because it is just as crucial, if not more, than the coding aspect. This significantly helps in grasping the algorithms that drive data science. That said, hands-on experience and experimenting with models on real-life datasets makes learning more engaging and also pays off well.
Alex Herron
Name
Alex Herron
What program did you graduate from and when?
Master’s in Data Science, May 2023
What are you up to?
Working on climate research as a Scientific Programmer at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
What did you enjoy most about the Center for Data Science?
It was great to have wide exposure to various machine learning domains throughout different classes at CDS. I appreciated how the majority of courses were electives, which allowed me to pick and choose what I thought was most interesting. From my perspective, the best value was gaining a wide breadth of machine learning topics, rather than specializing in a certain area.
How did your time at CDS help you in your success?
I think the main skill I honed at CDS was the “figure it out” skill. So much of data science, software engineering, machine learning, etc., is being given a task that you don’t know how to do, and figuring it out. You have to be driven to find the answer, and patient/resilient when things aren’t going your way. Working on projects (some of which resembled real-world problems) was a great way to exercise the “figure it out” muscle, particularly across different aspects of data science.
What advice do you have for people who want to get started in data science?
Finding your people at CDS is extremely important. I learned the most from my friends during late nights working on projects together. One thing about CDS that’s really cool is how varied people’s backgrounds are. Take advantage of this by learning from people in the class who know a lot about things you don’t.
Duy Nguyen
Name
Duy Nguyen
What program did you graduate from and when?
I graduated with a B.A. in Data Science in May 2021.
What are you up to?
I’m a Senior Machine Learning Engineer on the A.I. Initiatives at The New York Times.
What did you enjoy most about the Center for Data Science?
The people, easily. The professors I had as an undergrad, e.g., Julia Stoyanovich, Sam Bowman, etc., were not only researchers at the top of their fields but also patient and caring. Tim Baker was one of the most thoughtful academic advisors I’ve ever had.
How did your time at CDS help you in your success?
The classes I took as a data science major were all about the fundamentals, from probability theory/causal inference to word embeddings. They gave me a solid foundation to build my skills in statistical experimentation and AI/ML engineering and apply those skills to help journalists report on new stories and reach new audiences.
What advice do you have for people who want to get started in data science?
Developments in data science and artificial intelligence are happening at a breakneck speed; it can be exciting to jump to the latest models and apply the latest research techniques in your projects. But take the time to make sure you absolutely understand the underlying math, from linear algebra to probability theory! For me, the beauty of data science is all about being able to apply your technical knowledge into understanding and solving problems in all disciplines, from finance and engineering to journalism and art!
Devyani Rastogi
Name
Devyani Rastogi
What program did you graduate from and when?
BA Economics; Minor in Data Science & Business Studies. Graduated in May 2024.
What are you up to?
I am currently working as a Junior Data Analyst at United Nations International Computing Center (UNICC), UN’s tech consultancy firm. When I am off the clock, you’ll probably find me either painting or exploring new cafes to find the perfect cup of coffee!
What did you enjoy most about the Center for Data Science?
The opportunity. It was a place where I could deepen my understanding of data science, tackle real-world problems, and constantly challenge myself to think critically and creatively.
How did your time at CDS help you in your success?
My time at CDS gave me the courses and hands-on experience that shaped my career path. It laid a strong foundation for my current role as a Data Analyst; not only did it help me develop technical expertise but also taught me how to approach complex challenges with a critical, data-driven mindset.
What advice do you have for people who want to get started in data science?
Curiosity is key, and every mistake is just another step towards getting it right!
Ying Wang
Name
Ying Wang
What program did you graduate from and when?
MSDS, 2023
What are you up to?
I worked at Amazon for a year after graduation and then returned to CDS for the PhD program. I’m interested in multimodal learning, advised by Prof. Andrew Wilson and Prof. Mengye Ren.
What did you enjoy most about the Center for Data Science?
The exposure to the latest machine learning research through seminars, advanced courses, and open discussions with peers and professors.
How did your time at CDS help you in your success?
CDS provided invaluable research opportunities that were crucial for my PhD and internship applications. During my master’s, I worked on three projects—an independent study, a special topics course, and a capstone project—which led to workshop and conference publications. These experiences helped me discover my passion for multimodal learning and solidified my determination for pursuing a PhD.
What advice do you have for people who want to get started in data science?
Follow your curiosity! If a question sparks your interest—whether it’s something from daily life or something you come across in class—don’t hesitate to dive into it. With countless high-quality tutorials and open-source projects available online, getting started is often easier than you think. Take the first step now and let your curiosity lead the way as you learn and grow.
Haau-Sing Li
WHAT PROGRAM DID YOU GRADUATE FROM AND WHEN?
I graduated from the MSDS program in 2021.
WHAT ARE YOU UP TO?
I am doing my PhD in the ELLIS PhD program and TU Darmstadt, co-supervised by Prof. Iryna Gurevych and Prof. André Martins. My main research focus is natural language generation and code generation.
WHAT DID YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT THE CENTER FOR DATA SCIENCE?
I enjoyed my time with CDS people. Discussions, seminars, meetings, and even random chats are inspiring and helpful. I also made quite a lot of friends in CDS through courses, projects, and my time teaching lab sessions. We still talk a lot after graduation. I even met a friend in Lisbon when traveling there. I also enjoyed everything about research projects, applied or fundamental. I enjoyed the seminars (e.g., the text as data series), lectures, especially ones related to my current research interests, and potential research opportunities (as a collaboration of a research project funded by a scholarship).
HOW DID YOUR TIME AT CDS HELP YOU IN YOUR SUCCESS?
Lectures are a good first step into research, as CDS lectures touch both theory and applications. Collaborations and funded projects are also helpful as they helped me get familiar with academia and build a stronger tie with the research community. I collaborated with Alex Warstadt (PhD in Linguistics, now post-doc in ETH Zurich) on projects from Prof. Sam Bowman’s lab and worked on medical NLP with Prof. Narges Razavian. These experiences helped me with PhD applications, which led to my acceptance to the ELLIS PhD program working with two amazing scientists.
WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR PEOPLE WHO WANT TO GET STARTED IN DATA SCIENCE?
I would say start getting your hands dirty on data and code. If you are interested in research, starting playing with code and data would be super helpful, as they get you familiar with applied methodologies, and you will also know whether you are interested in this exact research topic. I believe that in industry insight of data is also important, so there are no bad things anyway doing so.
Communication is another thing I would say, same for people interested in academia/industry. Just talk more to students, alumni, and scientists, so you will have more chances to know: 1) what you want to do after finishing your program and 2) how you want to prepare yourself for that path. This can take the form of a seminar, a meeting, a shared task/datathon, or even just a random chat. CDS people are great and helpful, so don’t miss the chance. Feel free to write me an email if you want to know more.
Noah Kasmanoff
WHAT PROGRAM DID YOU GRADUATE FROM AND WHEN?
MS in Data Science, Spring 2021
WHAT ARE YOU UP TO?
I’m a Full Stack & Machine Learning Engineer at Dwight Funding LLC.
WHAT DID YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT THE CENTER FOR DATA SCIENCE?
The wide variety of research done at and around CDS, and how the techniques taught and practiced there allowed me to work on projects in totally different ways.
HOW DID YOUR TIME AT CDS HELP YOU IN YOUR SUCCESS?
Getting comfortable being uncomfortable. Since this field is so new and there are topics you wouldn’t have encountered beforehand, I got better at being able to pick up difficult concepts more easily, and figuring out how to ask the right kinds of questions to get that kind of grasp.
WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR PEOPLE WHO WANT TO GET STARTED IN DATA SCIENCE?
Data science is everywhere. Find something you’re passionate about, and see how the data associated with that can be cast into a data science problem that you can feel proud of sharing. It could be a data science project to try and get better at fantasy football, or by analyzing text data of the script of your favorite TV shows. Finding out how to solve the data science problems you can encounter anywhere when it’s related to something you like makes it a lot easier.
Yash Deshpande
WHAT PROGRAM DID YOU GRADUATE FROM AND WHEN?
MS in Data Science, May 2020
WHAT ARE YOU UP TO?
I’m currently working as a ML Engineer for Fresenius Medical Care, a healthcare company that specializes in kidney care. My responsibilities include operationalizing ML models, exploring opportunities for using NLP on free text, and advancing the company’s data-based decision making focus.
WHAT DID YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT THE CENTER FOR DATA SCIENCE?
TI had a great time collaborating with a very talented set of peers and learning as much from them as I did in class. I also thoroughly enjoyed all the NLP coursework and research opportunities at CDS.
HOW DID YOUR TIME AT CDS HELP YOU IN YOUR SUCCESS?
CDS exposed me to a variety of applications for data science, across a wide range of domains. This made sure I could test the water and eventually pick a field of study that I enjoyed, without being pigeonholed into one thing. Also, of course, superb electives and rigorous coursework.
WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR PEOPLE WHO WANT TO GET STARTED IN DATA SCIENCE?
Many things are data science. ETL pipelines, data cleaning, data governance, analytics, machine learning, ML operations — each is its own creature. If you really want to get into data science, it doesn’t matter where you start, as long as you get to work with real-world data. Go for it!
Mihir Rana
WHAT PROGRAM DID YOU GRADUATE FROM AND WHEN?
MS in Data Science, May 2019
WHAT ARE YOU UP TO?
I’m a Senior Machine Learning Scientist at Tripadvisor where I currently lead all computer vision initiatives, including sorting, recommendations, content moderation, and other applications of general image understanding, across all our verticals (hotels, restaurants, and attractions).
WHAT DID YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT THE CENTER FOR DATA SCIENCE?
The depth of knowledge! CDS was one of the only programs to offer a full-fledged program for an advanced specialization in Data Science — and the many subfields therein. Not only was I exposed to a diverse set of new topics, but I also had the time and many opportunities to hone my skills in the ones I wanted to become an expert in.
HOW DID YOUR TIME AT CDS HELP YOU IN YOUR SUCCESS?
The rigorous academic core of the program, combined with its tailored practical applications and deep-rooted connections with the leaders of the industry, ensured that I could start contributing at my workplace quickly and effectively.
WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR PEOPLE WHO WANT TO GET STARTED IN DATA SCIENCE?
Embrace the challenge that the program provides. In a world where data dcience as well as its practitioners are becoming ubiquitous, it’s important to set yourself apart by giving up your comfort zone and exploring the depths of the topics you’re interested in to fullest extent possible.
Asena Derin Cengiz
WHAT PROGRAM DID YOU GRADUATE FROM AND WHEN?
MS in Data Science, May 2019
WHAT ARE YOU UP TO?
I’m a Manager on the Advanced Analytics Team at Mindshare (at WPP). I’ve been leading Mindshare’s Advanced Analytics work for BP, Church’s Chicken, ampm, and ARCO clients. I’ve also been participating in new business pitches where our team brings the Data Science offering to new Marketing clients for Mindshare.
WHAT DID YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT THE CENTER FOR DATA SCIENCE?
The challenge! It was great to grow so fast, work on so many projects, and get to work as a grader for Prof. Yann LeCun’s Deep Learning class.
HOW DID YOUR TIME AT CDS HELP YOU IN YOUR SUCCESS?
Having a master’s in Data Science allowed me to bring the analytic rigor to the table, which was a great supplement to my previous education in Management, as well.
WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR PEOPLE WHO WANT TO GET STARTED IN DATA SCIENCE?
Look for opportunities to participate in projects to broaden your vision (and portfolio) and be willing to take on the extra challenge.