Anasuya Das and Amelia Taylor’s journeys from academic scientists to data scientists.

Insight Data Science alumni Anasuya Das and Amelia Taylor were recently featured in a Nature story about the transition of academic scientists into data science career tracks.

Anasuya came to Insight in the winter of 2015, following a PhD and postdoc in Neuroscience from the University of Rochester Medical Center and New York University, respectively. She is currently a senior data scientist at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

During Amelia’s time as an Insight Fellow in the summer of 2016, Amelia Taylor consulted for the water utility company Valor Water Analytics to detect cases of water meter tampering. Prior to Insight, Amelia was a tenured professor of Mathematics at Colorado College in Colorado Springs. She currently works as a data scientist at Zymergen in Seattle.

Insight alumni Anasuya Das (left) and Amelia Taylor (right). Photo credits: LinkedIn

In the feature, Amelia and Anasuya speak about the challenges of understanding the data science field, and the range of competencies that are required on the job.

“Data science can look very different at different places. There are so many companies out there, it’s hard to know which ones to look at.” — Amelia “My days vary widely, and range from doing pure software engineering to meeting with physicians about the products we’re building.” — Anasuya

The story also discusses Anasuya’s introduction to data science through her research career…

As part of her neuroscience training at New York University and the nearby University of Rochester, Anasuya Das, a former Insight fellow, had to learn the coding language C++ to build software to help individuals recovering from strokes to practise visual learning using their home computers. Das also took a couple of computational-neuroscience courses that helped to spark her interest in data science as a full-time career.

… as well as the benefit to Amelia of Insight’s industry-based approach to learning.

The Insight fellowship was invaluable in teaching [Amelia] the skills needed to land her current job. Among other proficiencies, that training taught her to think beyond data analysis to the practical applications of the finished product. “The business-oriented thinking at Insight was very helpful,” she says. She has observed that PhD-level scientists who land data-science jobs in industry tend to struggle with the transition unless they’ve already had first-hand industry experience. “I had a very fast start with my company because of my ability to think about products”

You can find the full article here to learn more about the surge of data science as a career choice among scientists and researchers.