Data Science is a young and growing discipline. It is only obvious that pioneers in this field are highly coveted and are just as sparse. Today, we will talk about the top brass of data science whom you should follow to make sure you are in step with the changing times:
Kirk Borne
Famous as Captain Kirk in the analytics sector, Kirk Borne is an analytics veteran, a space scientist, an educator, and more. He is working as a principal data scientist at Booz Allen right now, and he has worked at NASA for over a decade. For over 12 years, he has taught subjects like Data Science, data ethics, statistics, computational modeling, and more at Mason University.
Why should you follow Kirk Borne?
Kirk is among the first pioneers in his field; he talks about everything from blockchain basics to the top 10 trends for 2018, complete with interesting infographics.
From the best resources to learn artificial intelligence using Python, the blockchain mechanism, Hebbian Learning, operational analytics and droning about big data, to the Internet of Things in manufacturing, and why artificial intelligence proficiency is a skill that tomorrow’s businesses need to progress and grow, Kirk discusses it all.
Geoffrey Hinton
Geoffrey Hinton is co-inventor of the famous algorithm back propagation which is used to train neural nets and deep learning simulations. Hinton also coined the term ‘Dark Knowledge’ (based on the idea that most of the knowledge is in the ratio of small probabilities which have virtually no effect on the cost function used for training). He has a Ph.D. in AI from Edinburg College, UK. Geoffrey Hinton and his team at Google have played a significant part in the resurgence of neural networks and deep learning.
Why should you follow Geoffrey Hinton?
At his Twitter profile, he is quick to comment and retweet events of importance, and shares essential insights, infographics, guides, and articles on topics of importance.
Yann LeCun
Currently the director of AI Research wing at Facebook, Yann LeCun is a Professor, researcher, and R&D manager with academic and industry experience in AI, machine learning, deep learning, computer vision, intelligent data analysis, data mining, data compression, digital library systems, and robotics. He specializes in research, technical consulting, and scientific advising.
Why should you follow Yann LeCun?
Yann has over 14 US patents registered under his name and has been a professor at New York University for over twelve years now.
Yann shares his views on new and emerging technologies, trends and trendsetters in today’s tech scene, and articles written by others and himself about the groundbreaking work being done in the field of data science and AI today. Also, he shares other quality online sources which help you in debunking myths around data science and artificial intelligence.
Yoshua Bengio
The founder and R&D guru of ApSTAT Technologies, and a PhD. from McGill University, Yoshua Bengio has also been associated with Université de Montréal as a Professor for more than 22 years now. He has worked with AT&T, MIT, etc. as a machine learning engineer. His fame took a giant leap owing to his contribution to AI and neural networks. An author of several IEEE papers, Yoshua has collaborated with many other scientists in the top rungs. At his LinkedIn profile, he shares his insights, blogs, new works, comments on trending and upcoming technologies, etc.
Why should you follow Yoshua Bengio?
Yoshua is an exceptional scientist with a deep understanding of how technology can contribute to the progress and betterment of human society, both today and in the long run.
Jurgen Schmidhuber
Co-founder and chief scientist of NNAISENSE, Scientific Director at IDSIA, professor of AI at USI and SUPSI, Jurgen Schmidhuber is a man of many talents. He has won the Swiss ICT special award, NVIDIA Pioneers of AI Research award, Helmholtz award of the International Neural Network Society, and has a staggering three hundred and thirty-three peer-reviewed papers to his credit.
His ultimate goal, since he was fifteen years old or so, has been to build a supercomputer smarter than himself and then retire. So far, Jurgen has proved himself entirely committed to the cause, contributing significantly to the AI field.
Why should you follow Jurgen Schmidhuber?
He is not the typical definition of a data scientist, but considering the advances in the machine learning process that Jurgen has initiated and catalyzed, it is a good idea to stay in the know of what he is up to these days. Also, he is hiring interns. Maybe you could try your luck.
Peter Norvig
Peter Norvig began his career as a research scientist. He is the Research Director at Google currently. He has worked as the Head of Computational Science Division for NASA for six years. He has the NASA Exceptional Achievement Award, ACM Fellow, AAAI Fellow, etc. to his credit.
A Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of California, Peter Norvig has contributed immensely to AI, natural language processing, and machine learning.
Why should you follow Peter Norvig?
Peter keeps a keen eye on the events happening in AI, natural language processing, letter frequency count algorithms, and commendable literature in the field. He recommends books for specific subjects, discussing how the student can learn what he needs to. His own research papers, IEEE papers, white papers, etc. are of remarkable quality. He is particularly important to those just beginning their data science journey.
Hilary Mason
Founder of Fast Forward Labs, co-founder of hackNY.org and DataGotham, Hilary Mason has been noted for her distinguished hold of data science and artificial intelligence. She has worked at Bitly as Scientist Emeritus and has taught at Johnson & Wales University. She has been awarded the TechFellow Engineering Leadership Award 2012 and was also included in the Forbes’ 40 under 40 ones to watch 2011 and in Craig’s 40 in 2012.
Currently, she is serving as the VP of Research at Cloudera and is a board member at Anita Borg Institute for Women in Technology. In her blog, she discusses various ideas, projects, concepts, and everything interesting in data science, with a dash of humor.
Why should you follow Hilary Mason?
Hilary is both a great data scientist and an entrepreneur. She shares insightful updates, articles, ideas, and thoughts which will prove beneficial for your knowledge of data sciences and how it is being utilized in the business industry. Also, she has a good sense of humor. It’s not everyday you find a scientist with a good sense of humor.
Carla Gentry
The founder of Analytics Solutions, Carla Gentry is a data scientist. Having worked at Discover Financial Services, J&J, Hershey, Kraft, Kellogg’s, SCJ, McNeil, and many more Fortune 100 and 500 companies, Carla Gentry has carved her own niche. In 2013, Carla was featured in the top 10 IT Leaders to follow by Information Week.
She shares thoughtful articles (for example why the future of social media will depend on artificial intelligence, how to leverage big data in the changing supply chain management systems etc.), updates, and news on her Twitter profile, where she is fairly active.
Why should you follow Carla Gentry?
Carla has over nineteen years of experience to her credit. From why you shouldn’t learn machine learning in twenty-four hours to how to prepare your business data for artificial intelligence, Carla has valuable input to add.
DJ Patil
The co-writer of the HBR piece, ‘Data Scientist: The Sexiest Job of 21st Century’, DJ Patil is currently serving as an adviser to Venrock. He served as the Chief Data Scientist at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy for approximately two years. He led product teams at RelateIQ, served as the Head of Data Products and Chief Scientist of LinkedIn, and was one of the founding members of Crisis Text Line.
In case you were wondering, he is the one who coined the term Data Scientist. He was elected as the 2014 Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.
As a faculty at the University of Maryland, he is working on chaos theory and nonlinear dynamics. Also, he has helped in beginning a major research initiative on numerical weather prediction at the University of Maryland.
Why should you follow DJ Patil?
His Twitter is populated with profound information on data science, for example, the ethics for data sciences, about how a small bug or in an artificially intelligent system prove to be catastrophic, what makes a radical and revolutionary technology, and so on. Apart from keeping you up to date, DJ Patil’s insights will also help you develop an intricate understanding of various issues of data science.
The list of these eminent data scientists is not in a specific order. Each of them is a luminary of this dynamic and growing field. While data science as a field is still in its infancy, the efforts of these people and many others have brought about leaps of improvements.
Following the right people is sure to help you rise to greater heights. Do you feel we missed out some significant mentions? Do let us know in the comments below.
