With double masters in computer engineering and psychology, IBDP teacher Shweta Gupte had multiple short trysts with datasets. And, since then, she has been intrigued by the ever-growing world of data and artificial intelligence. Wanting to know more and hone her data science and artificial intelligence skills, she enrolled for the Global Certificate in Data Science & AI (GCDAI) program at Accredian.
In this interview, let’s see her take on the impact of data science on education and how her experience has been at Accredian.
Question 1: Which program & batch are you part of at Accredian & tell us more about your current work profile?
Shweta: I am part of the Global Certificate in Data Science & AI (GCDAI) program, August 2020. My current work profile is teaching computer science and psychology to the IBDP curriculum.
I have done my Master’s in computer engineering and Master’s in psychology from Purdue University. Before entering the education field, I was doing UX & UI for climate science data sets in the US at Oak Ridge National Labs.
Question 2: Walk us through your career journey & what got you interested in Data Science & Machine Learning?
Shweta: My career journey started with engineering and computer science. I got involved in statistics and data science in my graduate school at Purdue, designing human perception experiments and collecting cognitive data.
Then I moved to Oak Ridge National Labs in the USA, where I got a first-hand look at the climate change data. The project was funded by NASA and the data was for the Arctic and Antarctic Circle.
Another set of data that I got to work on during my grad school days was crime data collected by the Law Enforcement Unit. We were trying to visualize this data set. This is how my interest in data science deepened.
And today I am looking at student data in schools. Hopefully, machine learning and artificial intelligence will help make accurate predictions for student performances in the near future.
Question 3: What all tools and packages in Data Science & Machine Learning have you mastered in your Data Science & AI program at Accredian so far?
Shweta: As part of Accredian’s Data Science and Artificial Intelligence program, I have mastered Python, NumPy and Pandas packages, and Matplotlib.
Question 4: What were some of the initial challenges when you got started on your Data Science journey and how did you overcome it?
Shweta: The initial challenges were to figure out the working of Jupyter Notebook versions of PIP installation, Mac versus Windows, issues with file premium, etc. To overcome these, I had to keep doing research, read a lot of forums to see who else faced the same issues. Altogether, I have learned things over time.
Question 5: Who is your favorite faculty at Accredian and what did you learn from him the Most?
Shweta: Manvender Singh is my favorite faculty at Accredian. After interacting with him via emails, I’ve learned how to think clearly and how to negotiate. He’s also polite and honest in giving guidance.
Question 6: What is the goal of Data Science?
Shweta: The goal of data science is to analyze and make predictions for informed decision making. It is a combination of programming, math, and statistics. It also helps reason how and what events occur.
Question 7: In your view, how has Data Science evolved in the last few years?
Shweta: Data Science got started with simple statistics but today we see it everywhere. And in any business, it has become the heartbeat of successful companies like Google, Facebook, etc. We use data science for Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things, and analyzing consumer trends. The volume of data has become exponential due to the high tech devices and extreme use.
This was a conversation with one of our GCDAI students – Shweta Gupte.
For more such interesting student interviews, check out Accredian Spotlight.
