2021 Alumni Notes 2017-2018
2018
Ruslan Adamovics-Davtian
I am attending Cal Poly now for this 2020-2021 academic year doing the master’s in quantitative economics program, which has an overlap with statistics and data science. Unfortunately, I have been remote this entire school year, and in normal times, I would have visited the Statistics Department by now. I thought going back to school was the right decision during the coronavirus pandemic, but I will be looking for a data science type role after I graduate in June. Hope everyone else is doing well!
Jenna Harrelson
Since my last update I accepted a job as a data analyst at a tech startup in New York City and made my move across the country. It was always my dream to make it to the city one day. I made my move almost a year and a half ago, just before the pandemic hit. Since moving to New York I started my master’s in data science at Fordham University and most recently accepted a new job as a senior data analyst for Fox Corporation.
Outside of data, I’ve been trying to get into running (key word: trying), perfecting my quarantine banana bread and scheduling many zoom happy hours.
Here is a picture of me in front of my first NYC office building from the day I moved to the city. :)
Jacob Kaspar
I am a software engineer for growth at Lyft right now. During the pandemic I have also moved out to Panguitch, Utah, to help run a movie theater that our family bought.
Lindsey McPhillips
I finished my master’s in statistics at San Diego State in Jan. 2020 and got a job as a research analyst at National University, a non-profit university in San Diego. I get to research the efficacy of new programs/teaching models and the effect they have on student outcomes, such as graduation, retention, attrition, etc. I use RStudio almost every day and am very surprised at how much my work feels like the homework/projects I used to do at Cal Poly. I am really enjoying my job and the work I am doing!
Stephanie Mendoza
I’ve spent the last couple of years at University of Maryland in the Joint Program in Survey Methodology. I graduated (virtually) last May with my master’s degree. While in grad school, I worked as an intern at Westat, a survey research company. I now work full-time as a statistician at Westat, and I have really enjoyed my time with the company so far. Even though Westat is based in Maryland, I work remotely and am currently living in Chicago. I haven’t done much traveling recently because of the pandemic, but in 2019 I spent a few weeks visiting a friend who lived in Xiamen, China. I think back to my time at Cal Poly fondly and miss all of the friends that I made while I was there.
Brannden Moss
In the past year I transitioned jobs from working at Booz Allen Hamilton to Deloitte Consulting in San Diego in order to transition the projects I work on. I work in Tableau, VBA, Python and Excel on a daily basis. I have returned to school for a master’s in computer science. I’d like to especially thank Dr. Sun who gave a recommendation last minute when I had to submit an application very quickly.
Currently I am creating an AI agent that can predict Raven’s Progressive Matrices for class and working on my first web application for the fun of it. I originally intended to branch into data science this year, but when offered work as a data scientist with Booz Allen, the offer to work with Deloitte was far too enticing to pass up; so I will branch into data science when the time is right.
Personally, I intended to do an Ironman and travel to Vietnam, Spain and Portugal in 2020. Unfortunately, the only part of that which came to be was a quick sojourn in Spain and Portugal early March 2020. However, the quarantine has given me a great opportunity to focus on old hobbies I had long abandoned such as guitar, hiking and reading (much thanks to the department for my copy of The Undoing Project), with a new hobby of homebrewing hard cider.
Noelle Pablo
I am still working as an R programmer at the Accessible Teaching, Learning, and Assessment Systems (ATLAS) center that I joined after graduation. In 2020, before the world turned upside down, I attended the RStudio conference in San Francisco with my good friend and senior project advisor, Dr. Shannon Pileggi. My supervisor and I submitted a talk to the conference about branding and packaging reports with R Markdown, which was accepted. Over the summer my boyfriend, Matthew, and I moved in together and have been enjoying working from home together with our dog in Pasadena, California.
Hans Schumann
I still live in San Luis Obispo working remotely for an Artificial Intelligence startup, Unanimous AI, as a senior data scientist. I have been working there since graduation, approaching two and a half years with the company. During quarantine, I have enjoyed going camping at some local Central Coast locations, picking up cooking, and reading some sci-fi novels to escape from reality for a little bit.
Some guilty pleasures, though, have been getting far too invested in reality TV, like The Bachelor, and building statistical models for sports betting.
Nicole Segovia
I’ve been working at Stanford for over two years now as a statistical consultant in their Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. As a result, I have several publications under my belt and have even conducted Biostats 101 information sessions for the research staff I work with. I’m also currently working on my master’s degree in public health online through Imperial College London. Sending my warmest regards to the Stats Department.
2017
Upneet Cheema
absolutely cannot believe it has been three and a half years since graduating from Cal Poly. I traded in the beautiful coast life for the great desert life in Las Vegas as an analyst at Venetian/ Palazzo Hotel and Casino. It has been an unforgettable experience, and it’s due to people I have connected with that have made it possible. With the circumstances this past year, I have been back and forth between LV and the Central Valley to spend more time with family. And as for the future, possibilities are endless. Hope my SLO family is doing amazing. Can’t wait to see you all soon!
Caiti Feeley
At the end of 2019, I started a new role at Google as a data scientist partnering with the SMB Ads Marketing team. It’s been a fantastic opportunity to learn alongside the data science community and grow my analytics skills. Throughout the pandemic, I’ve spent my time in the San Francisco Bay Area with my family and my many house plants I have too much fun tending to. Hope everyone has been able to stay safe and sane throughout this strange time. Sending lots of love!
Christina Garcia
Hello fellow alumni and faculty! I have several updates to share this year that I am very excited about. First, I moved on from my previous job as a digital marketing analyst in Los Angeles and I am now working as a market research analyst in Atlanta, Georgia. It was difficult to leave L.A., but I am very happy in my new position and new location. My happiness, though, is admittedly less to do with the position or location and much more to do with the life partner who traveled here with me. The love of my life, Maxwell Klingmann (also a Cal Poly stats alum), proposed last year under a sky filled with fireworks. We are engaged, and the wedding date truly can’t come soon enough (May 2021)!
Bradley Lubich
I have been chugging along in the Ph.D. program here at UC Riverside. I’ve passed the written and oral qualifying milestones since the last update and am doing research in a semi-parametric mixture model setting, which is really fun. I’ve been involved with some online course development and had the opportunity to teach intro to stats over the summer (online of course). I’ve learned that there is a lot to teaching statistics and the classroom setting (in person vs. online) and size each provide their own opportunities and limitations, so every setting needs its own game plan. Marissa and I are doing well in Riverside, and we got a cat during the pandemic. :)
