Hi, This Is Me

A physicist/astronomer/climber begins sharing his story as he works to break into the data science world.

“Write a blog”…”Build your personal portfolio”…”Showcase your personal projects”…all really good pieces of advice that most any podcast on breaking into the data science space will give you. I’ve been listening to quite a few of those lately (for instance I’ve enjoyed, Banana Data, Towards Data Science, and Data Framed). The episodes are full of interesting discussions and helpful advice, but figuring out just how to start has been a sticking point for me. If you have recommendations for other podcasts to check out, drop those in the comments.

As I start my journey transiting from academia/basic research into data science, a few questions keep popping up. What project should I come up with? What useful advice or tips can I share? How do I build interest?

I don’t have answers to all those yet, it’s time to simply take that first step and say, “Hi, this is me!”

Photo of the author trying to look professional.

A Little Bit About Me

If you’re going to invest your time to take this journey with me, it only makes sense that you know a bit about who I am, and that’s what this first post is for.

If we were to begin at the beginning, this would be a rather long post. Well, I’m not that old, but I do tend to run on, so let’s start with where I am now.

The photo above is what I came up with for my LinkedIn profile, a picture that attempts to be semi-professional. The photo below is more true to reality…take from that what you will.

Photo of the author hamming it up while climbing on the sea cliffs on the Isle of Skye during his belated honeymoon. He had belayed the guide back to the top of the cliff, after rappelling down, and got goofy waiting for the guide to give him the all clear to climb on up.

I grew up in the Northern panhandle of Idaho, in the United States, stuck close to home for my undergraduate degree in physics, and moved out East to the mid-Atlantic region for graduate school.

I finished my PhD in physics just over 10 years ago and have been working as a researcher ever since (first as a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow and then as a Research Associate Professor).

A Little Bit About My Research

My primary area of research is high-energy gamma-ray astronomy, with an emphasis on pulsars and a smattering of other source classes thrown in for flavor. Within the last few years, I have also become involved with projects to characterize naturally occurring background radiation, in various terrestrial environments.

What do all those fancy research words mean? I’ll save more detailed explanations for future posts, but let me provide a brief summary.

Visible light is a small, but important, part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Gamma rays are the most energetic (or shortest wavelength, if you prefer) form of light (and often credited with creating a particularly cranky, green super hero).

To produce the most energetic gamma rays, you need “extreme” environments. Turning this around, it means that observing the universe in high-energy gamma rays allows us to probe the laws of physics under conditions we cannot replicate on Earth.

My secondary research area focuses on lower energy gamma rays. There are many objects in the universe which can be observed with this form of light, but we can also find a lot of X rays and low-energy gamma rays right here on Earth (and not just in hospitals and dentists’ offices).

Actually, the line between X rays and low-energy gamma rays is a bit blurry, and different areas of research use different definitions, but I will primarily call them gamma rays.

This terrestrial radiation is harmless, but it constitutes a significant background for any applications attempting to find particular radiation signatures. Understanding and characterizing this background is an important step in enabling these applications.

A Little Bit More About Me

The author hamming it up with his climbing/stewardship mentor and friend, Mike Gray, after a spontaneous two-man trail work effort to repair a mini-retaining wall at Reed’s Creek, WV in 2018.

What do I do outside of work? I enjoy being outdoors, rocking climbing, hiking, and camping. I’m also an avid reader (science fiction and fantasy are my favorite) and tabletop gamer.

I volunteer with a monthly adaptive climbing clinic and at stewardship events for climbing areas in Pendleton County, WV (some of which I help organize).

I enjoy all of these things with my wife and our derpy malamute.

Changing My Career Trajectory

Why am I on this journey, transitioning from academia to data science?

Part of the reason I’m looking for a change comes down to my passion for volunteering, I want to do something with a positive impact on the world.

In 2016 I sat in on a meeting at Elder Research, Inc. One of the projects presented showed how increased time off after an injury led to better outcomes for employer and employee. This, and other presentations, showed me how data could be used to bring positive change to the world.

Why didn’t I change fields back in 2016? That’s a great question, and the best answer I can give is that I just wasn’t sure I wanted to. I had some notions of becoming a full time climbing guide, and while I did get my AMGI SPI certification and guide for 5 years, it was clear that doing it for more than a weekend job wasn’t for me.

In the time since 2016, I’ve come to understand myself, and what drives me, better. Fundamental research is important, but I’ve come to realize that the culture in academia does not suit me. I am excited at the prospect of exploring different areas of data science and finding what does suit me best.

When I work on a problem, I have to care about the end result and think that it will matter to someone. It isn’t enough to work with interesting data, cool technology, and/or slick techniques.

So, here I am, working through a programming for data science certificate from statistics.com to supplement my own self study, and taking the first steps to build my own, personal portfolio. I’m looking forward to sharing my story all the way through improving my technical skills, managing the job search, getting a new job, and beyond.

Looking Ahead

“If I come along on this journey, what else is in store?”, you might ask.

My future posts will detail nifty things I learn in the process of coming up with and completing some personal projects. Once those projects are at a (near) final stage, I’ll detail how the earlier posts come together into a cohesive whole.

My next post, however, will give a top level overview of my main area of research, gamma-ray pulsars.

Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn and chat about data science, climbing, or anything from this post which peaked your interest.