Open Data Science

I would like to announce that I’m now working with a new up-and-comer in the industry – Open Data Science, most commonly known for their Open Data Science Conferences (ODSC) West, India, Europe, and East. More recently, the company is providing a wealth of technical resources such as articles dealing with data science tools, modeling (machine learning), AI, deep learning, data viz, data transformation, academic research, and so much more. I will be making regular contributions as a data scientist. My first contribution is “Tips for Linear Regression Diagnostics.”

[UPDATE 11/23/2020] : since my original announcement, I’ve made 80+ contributions for the ODSC blog. I just received excellent feedback from the company that my pieces were the most popular! You can read all my article HERE.

My New Book! Machine Learning and Data Science

I’m very proud (and relieved) to announce that my year-long+ book project is finally done! “Machine Learning and Data Science: An Introduction to Statistical Learning Methods with R” is available from Technics Publications. The book provides an introduction to the entire data science process, highlighting the ways that machine learning can be used to solve business problems. Both supervised and unsupervised statistical learning techniques are included. The R statistical programming language is used throughout. Here is the table of contents:

Introduction

Chapter 1: Machine Learning Overview

Chapter 2: Data Access

Chapter 3: Data Munging

Chapter 4: Exploratory Data Analysis

Chapter 5: Regression

Chapter 6: Classification

Chapter 7: Evaluating Model Performance

Chapter 8: Unsupervised Learning

The book is perfect for newbies just entering the data science field who wish to quickly get up to speed with the technology. I plan to use the book for the introductory courses I teach for corporations and universities. You can pre-order the book on Amazon HERE. You can find all the R code used in the book at this GitHub repo.

 

UCLA Statistics Career Night

I was pleased to receive an invitation to be on a panel discussion for the upcoming UCLA Statistics Career Night. Hosted by the UCLA Undergraduate Statistics Club, the panel of experts in the field will convey their insights into statistics as a profession. As a practicing data scientist who routinely uses mathematical statistics in my work with machine learning, I’m looking forward to a lively discourse about this quickly growing field. As a UCLA alumnus, it will be great to interact with the next generation of data scientist.

Data Science Mentor for Launchpad LA

I recently was recruited to be a mentor in Data Science for top accelerator Launch Pad LA. In the heart of Silicon Beach, Launch Pad LA is a highly ranked start-up accelerator for exceptional entrepreneurs. They invest $25k – $100k, offer free office space one block from the Santa Monica beach, and provide access to a massive network of mentors, investors and advisers. I will be mentoring 4 portfolio companies on how to gain benefit from data science in yielding more value from their corporate data assets. I am very much looking forward to this new assignment.

UPDATE! 3/27/2014 – I had a blast meeting with four young companies at Launch Pad LA: Focus: TRAINR, Cojoin Inc., Monospace, and Parachute. I found all of the founders I met with to be very bright and each business promising. I was able to convey how data science and machine learning could be applied to all. These are companies to watch out for.

Los Angeles Big Data Meetup

I was asked to be co-organizer of the new Los Angeles Big Data meetup group. The focus of the group will be to highlight how enterprises are adopting the big data technology stack, especially Hadoop. If you’re in the LA area, please considering joining up and attending our upcoming meetups. If you’re outside of LA, we will make an effort to make slides available for download, and when possible audio or video recordings of the presentations.

UPDATE! 2/18/2014 – the first meeting of the LA Big Data group was announced today. It will take place on March 26 over at Cross Campus. I will be presenting a talk “Introduction to Big Data.” I’m really looking forward to the success of this brand new group.

UPDATE! 3/26/2014 – the LABDUG meetup was a resounding success with its 300+ members. The venue at the new Cross Campus location was superb. The slides for my talk are available HERE.

What is Data Science? General Assembly

I was asked to present a talk at the General Assembly Santa Monica location this coming Wednesday, February 5 – What is Data Science? I plan to cover all the basics of big data, data science and machine learning, including a discussion of many of the misnomers floating around these days such as the “unicorn” myth. The audience will be startup co-founders, CEOs, CTOs, analytics executives, product managers etc. to identify how data science can add business value & where to start with realistic & relevant data science projects. I’m looking forward to this!

My slides can be downloaded HERE.

Data Science Specialization on Coursera

I have been busy beta-testing course materials for several of the new offerings in the Coursera Data Science Specialization series sponsored through Johns Hopkins University. I have been involved with the Coursera MOOC platform since its beginnings in 2012. I was asked to participate in the beta test of The Data Scientist’s Toolbox, R Programming, and Getting and Cleaning Data classes.

UPDATE! 2/16/2014 – I was asked by Coursera to beta test three new classes in the Data Science Specialization: Statistical Inference, Exploratory Data Analysis, and Reproducible Research.

UPDATE! 4/15/2014 – I’m excited to be asked by Coursera to beta test the last three new classes in the Data Science Specialization: Regression Models, Practical Machine Learning, and  Developing Data Products.

UPDATE! 5/27/2014 – I was asked by Coursera to serve as a Community TA for the up-coming Practical Machine Learning class starting June 2. This a great class for newbie data scientists.

The specialization series has since been publicly announced by Coursera and is now open for enrollment. Enroll now by clicking HERE.

Chief Data Scientist – Standard Clouds, Inc.

Daniel D. Gutierrez is now serving as Chief Data Scientist for Santa Monica, CA cloud security start-up Standard Clouds, Inc. Standard Clouds is currently in stealth-mode development of a new disruptive security technology that addresses the rising concerns over big data and consumer privacy. For information on Standard Clouds click HERE.

UPDATE! 4/1/2014 – Check out the Standard Clouds new landing page: private.me which includes a compelling animation video that conveys the evils of big data!