WiMLDS NC Careers in Data Science Professional Panel

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WiMLDS NC Blog

4 min readJan 17, 2020

I recently had the pleasure of attending a WiMLDS NC event which consisted of a panel of extremely successful, bright women whose careers in data science have skyrocketed. Moderator Elizabeth Mannshardt, Co-Organizer of WiMLDS NC, guided the panelists through a series of questions that showcased their career paths and advice they would offer to the next generation of data scientists.

Panel participants consisted of WiMLDS NC members and partners with professional statistics and data science organizations across NC, including:

Sudipta Dasmohapatra — Director, MS Statistics & Adjunct Professor Fuqua School of Business at Duke University and Associate Director, SAMSI

Gül Ege — Senior Director, SAS IoT R&D

Shahar Keinan — Chief Scientific Officer and Cofounder at Cloud Pharmaceuticals

Melissa Nysewander — Head of Data Science, People Analytics at Fidelity Investments

Ana Rappold — Statistician, US Environmental Protection Agency

What was especially interesting is that not all of their paths began with data science in mind. Their backgrounds consisted of chemistry, marketing, physics, PhDs, and general problem solving. But their love for the numbers — the data — brought them into their eventual careers. Rappold stated, “I’ve never met a data scientist who isn’t happy. We answer questions using the data, and if you have data, there’s nothing to argue about.”

When asked about the definition of “data scientist,” Ege responded, “Data science is our job and the science around it? We’re getting it to sing a song.” She went on to explain that data science is ever-changing and dynamic; there is joy in the learning. Nysewander added, “data analytics is a term for deriving analytics from data. There’s basic analytics, which is manual. Then, there’s advanced analytics, where the computer is pulling data and insights, and data scientists are the interpreters of that data.” Broadly, Nysewander stated, “Analytics is a spectrum.”

Advice for young professionals

So? What are hiring managers looking for in a job candidate and what advice would you offer to them in this job market? Unanimously, the panelists agreed that a foundation in statistics and domain methodology is key. In addition, candidates must have enthusiasm, flexibility, passion, and exceptional communications skills — or power skills [1] as Mannshardt put it.

The gender gap

Funda Gunes, Principal Machine Learning Developer at SAS, asked the panelists why they thought women aren’t seemingly as interested in science from an early age and how they proposed we change that. Ege responded that she thought that part of the problem is that children are only exposed to basic sciences from a young age through high school, so they may not truly understand all of the career paths that come with the sciences. Dasmohapatra added that there seems to be a gender-heavy perception of industries and professions in our culture, and it’s important to expose people to the data science field and all they could do with this career. That said, she added, the world is evening out with every generation and there are a multitude of new benefits and programs that allow for a more even playing field. Keinan agreed and encouraged the audience and fellow panelists to get involved at schools to share more about this field and generate interest from a younger age.

Encouragement for the masses

As a final thought for the audience, which consisted primarily of young professionals, students, and postdocs, the panelists disclosed some final words of wisdom: don’t sell yourself short; learn from one another; put yourself out there; be flexible; have confidence in and take advantage of your skills. The world is your oyster!

Hearing the stories of these pioneer women in the data science field was inspiring. It makes me proud to work for a company that provides data science and machine learning training and education to ensure that the next generation of data scientists is just as successful.