Posted on Wednesday, November 25, 2020
The 2020 NextGen Data Science Day (DSD) was held virtually through the
University of Connecticut’s WebEx video conferencing platform on Saturday,
November 7, 2020.
The NextGen sub-committee of the New England Statistical Society aims to
support the next generation of statisticians and data scientists. In keeping
with our mission, the DSD conference provides a platform of resources to help
guide students and early career professionals. Attendees gained an improved
understanding of the field and its opportunities, which included meeting,
discussing, and interviewing with professionals in the field and industry of
data science.
Two hundred and fourteen registered for the conference, with over one hundred
and fifty students registering from nearly sixty different schools from around
the country and beyond. Ninety of the registrants signed up to become new
members of the New England Statistical Society. The event was sponsored by
eight organizations including the Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and
Insurance Company, MassMutual, eBay, Liberty Mutual Insurance Company,
Boehringer Ingelheim, the American Statistical Association, Pfizer, and the
Lotus Group. Five sponsors had virtual booths setup during the event to provide
opportunities for attendees to learn more about their organization and discuss
possible career opportunities.
The conference featured two distinguished keynote speakers: (1) Dr. Andrew
Gelman, the Higgins Professor of Statistics and Professor of Political Science
from Columbia University, he gave a talk entitled: “Election Forecasting: How
We Succeeded Brilliantly, Failed Miserably, or Landed Somewhere in Between”,
and (2) Dr. Rebecca Nugent, the Stephen E. and Joyce Fienberg Professor of
Statistics & Data Science from Carnegie Mellon University, she presented on
“Demystifying Data Science: Starts with People, Ends with People”.
Our conference had five panel discussions throughout the day on different
topics. The theme of the morning panels was “Explore Your Options”, it
featured professionals from various fields share their job search experience.
The session provided guidance on resume writing and leveraging LinkedIn to
improve one’s professional network. In the afternoon, the panel sessions were
geared to help “Understand the Jobs and their Impact.” Panelists from
academia, government agencies, finance, start-ups, big-tech, insurance, and
pharmaceuticals introduced their world and answered burning questions! We had
a total of twenty-two speakers from various fields in data science.
The poster and social networking sessions presented opportunities for students
and potential employers to meet and interact. Sixteen students joined the
poster competition and presented their work through the Virtual Poster Session
platform.
The conference was organized by the NextGen committee, along with support from
many volunteers and sponsors.
NextGen Website: https://nestat.org/nextgen/
2020 NextGen Data Science Day Website: https://nestat.org/nextgen/dsd2020/
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