From NASA to The New York Times: CDS Data Scientists Reshape Traditional Fields
Data science is transforming previously non-computational fields. Today’s NASA climate researchers and New York Times employees are as likely to be writing machine learning algorithms as analyzing spreadsheets or writing copy. The CDS Master’s program, whose deadline to apply is January 22, has positioned its graduates at this intersection of traditional disciplines and computational innovation. We spoke with six alumni of our MS and undergraduate data science programs to find out what they’re up to now, and their advice for future cohorts.
CDS Master’s graduate (’23) Alex Herron now works as a Scientific Programmer at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, where he applies machine learning to climate research. During his time at the Center, he focused on broad exposure to various machine learning domains rather than specializing in a single area. “I think the main skill I honed at CDS was the ‘figure it out’ skill,” Herron said. “So much of data science, software engineering, and machine learning is being given a task that you don’t know how to do, and figuring it out.”
At The New York Times, CDS data science major Duy Nguyen (’21) is bringing computational approaches to journalism as a Senior Machine Learning Engineer on the A.I. Initiatives team. His education benefited from mentorship by CDS Associate Professor of Linguistics and Data Science Sam Bowman and CDS Associate Professor of Data Science, Computer Science, and Engineering Julia Stoyanovich.
The program’s emphasis on mathematical foundations has proved crucial for graduates like CDS Master’s graduate (’21) Apurva Bhargava, who builds ML models for document intelligence at Informed, Inc. “Build a strong foundation in mathematics, because it is just as crucial, if not more so, than the coding aspect,” she said.
Studying data science also prepares graduates for international impact. BA Economics graduate Devyani Rastogi (’24), who completed a minor in data science, now works as a Junior Data Analyst at the United Nations International Computing Center. Her combination of economics, business studies, and data science brings an interdisciplinary perspective to global challenges.
Some alumni have found their way back to research. CDS Master’s graduate (’23) Ying Wang, now a CDS PhD student working with CDS Professor Andrew Wilson and CDS Assistant Professor Mengye Ren, completed three research projects during her master’s program that led to workshop and conference publications. After a year at Amazon, she returned to CDS to explore multimodal learning.
Recent BS Computer Science graduate Burlyn Andall-Blake (’22), who minored in data science, emphasized the importance of balanced skills while pursuing her MS in Data Science at Rutgers University. “Even though computer programming is a core part of DS, you should also take time to practice and get comfortable with stats and probability,” she said.
The CDS Master’s program, comprising 36 credits over two years of full-time study, offers specialization tracks in industry, biomedical informatics, and core data science, with focus areas in big data, mathematics, and natural language processing. The undergraduate program provides a different but complementary approach, integrating data science into a broader liberal arts framework. Both programs emphasize theoretical understanding and novel knowledge generation, drawing on faculty expertise from data science, computer science, and mathematics to prepare students for roles as informed global citizens and innovative leaders in an increasingly data-driven world.
To read the full alumni spotlight interviews, please visit the Alumni Spotlight page on our website.
By Stephen Thomas
