Scatter Podcast

Scatter Podcast interview with Ben Denzinger, Product Designer at MaCher. This isn't a traditional data science episode but one focused on a topic that analytics and data science teams should become familiar with: Design Thinking. Design thinking is not a new concept, product designers like Ben have used it for decades, yet it is a framework that can be used in almost all aspects of business to justify your existing solution or to develop alternative solutions. Ben's design journey is great to hear and he walks us through his education and career experiences as an Industrial Designer and Product Manager. As Product Designer at MaCher, it is fascinating to hear how the business empowers their employees to self-manage, to use the design thinking process, and to continuously re-think what it means to make sustainable products. Enjoy the episode!

Ben's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-denzinger/

MaCher: https://macher.com

Scatter Podcast interview with John Peach, Sr. Data Scientist at Amazon. John has an extensive data science background ranging from academia, to early-stage startups, to large data drive organizations such as Amazon. His team helps to improve and expand the capabilities of Alexa Skills (third party applications). John actively participates in his local data science community, he is one of the leaders of the Orange County R Users Group (“OCRUG”), and he frequently speaks at data science conferences around the world. He shares advice for how to break into data science and grow your career. In this episode, we discuss many topics but one of which is “Data Science Design Thinking.” John has borrowed this concept from the design world and extended it to the data science world. It is a process or framework that will help people without a solid research background learn to think like a scientist. John thinks that many scientists accidentally learn to think this way and that we can train others to apply the techniques to strengthen the science in data science. Enjoy the show!

John's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jpeach/

Meet the Alexa Software Team: https://youtu.be/KpXEsrjcj6Y

Scatter Podcast interview with Leondra James, Manager, Analytics & Operations at Saatchi & Saatchi. From violinist and music major to data scientist, Leondra has had a unique mix of academic and professional experiences that have shaped her career in data. Saatchi & Saatchi is a global advertising agency operating in 76 countries and Leondra works in their Los Angeles office. While she only joined the agency in January 2019, she's no stranger to media & entertainment having previously held data analytics roles at Alternative Revolt Magazine, Amazon Studios, and Twentieth Century Fox. For people with non-technical backgrounds wanting to have careers in data science, Leondra offers words of encouragement and provides feedback not often talked in the data science community - Your creativity is a strength that would benefit data teams. Leondra drops lots of great tips and resources, so get ready to take some notes!

Leondra's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leondrajames/

Saatchi & Saatchi (Los Angeles): https://www.wearesaatchi.com/

Scatter Podcast interview with Justin Fortier, Principal Data Scientist at ViralGains. Justin and I met at the Data Science GO conference in 2018 and I enjoyed getting to learn about his journey as a data scientist. ViralGains is a video advertising technology startup that helps publishers push video ad content to the most appropriate consumers. Given that ViralGains operates within the real-time bidding ("RTB") domain, their ad bidding and classification algorithms need to transact and process within 100 milliseconds. Justin explains the classification models that he relies on, he provides an overview of RTB, and he discusses AdTech concerns around fraud. It was a pleasure to have him on the show. Keep up with his conference presentations and podcast appearances by following him on LinkedIn and enjoy the episode!

Justin's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-fortier-4563554/

ViralGains: https://www.viralgains.com/

Scatter Podcast interview with Ben Lewis, Business Intelligence Analyst at MeridianLink. Ben and I met at a hackathon hosted by the Orange County R Users Group ("OCRUG") and I was immediately impressed by his R programming capabilities. Ben has an industrial engineering and operations research background from UC Berkeley, and as a BI Analyst at MeridianLink, he builds dashboards and web-apps via R Shiny. MeridianLink provides enterprise business solutions for financial services organizations and Ben's team focuses on developing web-based credit reports, lending, and financial analytics dashboards. Ben is an active member of the Southern California data science community, he regularly attends and volunteers at OCRUG, and he shares great resources and tips on this episode.

Ben's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-lewis-ba379144/

MeridianLink: https://www.meridianlink.com

Scatter Podcast interview with Meltem Ballan, Ph.D., Data Scientist and Architect at General Motors. Meltem's deep analytical and data science expertise developed over her 20 years of experience in academia, consulting, and the corporate world. Before "data science" became a popularized catchphrase in business, Meltem was known as an Algorithm Developer. At GM, Meltem's team aims to enhance the driver experience where she applies neuroscience theory to analyze massive data sets via machine learning and artificial intelligence. Meltem is active within the data science community, she speaks at conferences and workshops, and is active on LinkedIn.

Meltem's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meltemballan/

General Motors: https://www.gm.com/

Scatter Podcast interview with David Wasserman, Transportation Planner & Data Scientist at Fehr & Peers. Specializing in transportation planning and engineering services, Fehr & Peers is a consulting firm that has serviced public and private sectors since 1985. David has worked with them for four years at the intersection of data science, transportation and urban planning, and he gives us a deep dive into some of the work he's done. David has spent significant time working with GIS systems and advanced visualizations and explains how these tools are helping to study and solve complex transportation planning challenges.

David's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-j-wasserman/

Other links:

David's GitHub: https://github.com/d-wasserman

Fehr & Peers: https://www.fehrandpeers.com/data-science/

Esri's Complete Street Rule: https://github.com/d-wasserman/Complete_Street_Rule

Brisk Synergies: https://brisksynergies.com/

Numina: http://www.numina.co/

Ecopia: https://www.ecopiatech.com/

Mapillary: https://www.mapillary.com/

Scatter Podcast interview with Beau Walker, Founder and CEO of Method Data Science. Beau is a data scientist and passionate R and Python programming educator for analytics and data science. He's actively involved in the data science community and it was a pleasure to have Beau on the podcast to discuss his education and data science journey. Method is on a mission to inspire and train the next generation of data scientists, and they're accomplishing this by managing small teams of resident data scientists working on real-world data engagements.

Beau's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/beauthescientist/

Method Data Science: https://methoddatascience.com/

Scatter Podcast interview with Matt Segal, Data Director at TBWA\Chiat\Day, a global creative advertising agency based in Los Angeles, California. Chiat/Day's "1984" ad campaign for Apple, introducing the Macintosh computer, gave the agency global notoriety with their forward-thinking and disruptive ads. Matt discusses the benefits of agency life as a data strategist, shares several project examples, and covers several tools that his team uses for social web listening and analytics.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/segalmatt/

Other links:

TBWA\Chiat\Day: http://tbwachiatdayla.com

Gatorade commercial: https://youtu.be/ZCEdBfBolWk

Adidas Japan commercial: https://youtu.be/M1FOg-KHP28

Scatter Podcast interview with Vince Giovannini, Data Scientist at CBRE, a commercial real estate investment company that also offers a wide range of real estate consulting services. Vince works in the Labor Analytics team at CBRE and shares great insights about the labor products he has worked on and how labor is connected to the real estate market. Vince shares several project examples that he's been a part of at CBRE and it was great getting to hear how his firm uses data science to derive deeper insights.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vincegiovannini/

Other links:

CBRE: https://www.cbre.us/

CBRE's Global LaborView: https://www.cbre.com/about/tech-vantage/global-laborview