January/February 2021 Newsletter

PACM & DSA Newsletter

January/ February

The PACM and DSA Newsletter allows you to learn more about applied math and data science by including interesting journal articles, interactive dashboards, upcoming PACM and DSA events (such as career panels, seminars, and conferences), significant news articles, and featured profiles of faculty, alumni, and industry professionals. By providing you with timely and relevant information we help you to stay up-to-date with the fields of applied math and data science.

In this issue:

2020 Gartner: Top 10 Trends in Data and Analytics
David Jacome
Data Lake vs. Data Warehouse
2020 Industry Advisory Board Meeting
Data Now
Upcoming Events

2020 Gartner
Top 10 Trends in Data and Analytics

The economic and societal upset from the global pandemic has made abundantly clear the importance of data analytics. Companies are now expecting complex analysis of an ever-growing amount of data.

Gartner has put together a list of what they believe are the top 10 trends in data analytics that will be adopted in the next 5 years including a rise in Decision Intelligence and the replacement of dashboards with dynamic data stories.

Read the eight remaining trends along with what problems in the field this change will cause, insights on how this will impact businesses and recommendations.

Read the full article here.

David Jacome

David Z. Jacome is one of the newest Adjunct Faculty member joining the Professional Science Master's family at Buffalo State! He will be teaching PSM 602 Communication Strategies for Math and Science professionals this spring, for more information about this course click here

David has multiple graduate degrees including an EdD in Educational Leadership and Science Education as well as an MBA in International Business and Management, a MS in Accounting and Risk Management, and a MS in Applied Physics. David has been teaching for over 15 years at various institutions in New York and New Jersey in Accounting, Business, Education, Engineering Sciences, Mathematics and Physics.

In addition, David is an Accredited Elite Professional with the United States Professional Tennis Association. David has been a tennis instructor for over 15 years and enjoys helping kids have an appreciation for the sport.

See his full profile here.

Data Lake vs. Data Warehouse

Data lakes and data warehouses are both used to store data. However, a data lake stores raw data while a data warehouse contains structured and organized data for a specific purpose. So how do you select if you need a data lake or a data warehouse? Or do you want to a data lakehouse which combines features of both? Once you know what you want, which technology will be the best fit for your company or project?

In this article, Barr Moses walks through the components of data lakes and warehouses, reasons you may choose one or the other, and what to take into consideration when choosing. Including that you may choose one option to fit your needs now and need to change down the line.

2020 Industry Advisory Board Meeting

Kevin Hartman, the Director of Analytics for Consumer, Government & Entertainment Sector for Google gave a presentation on The Power of Data and Insights to Inform Business Strategy & Decision Making. He talked about how we currently use consumer data for marketing and how changing anti-tracking privacy features are impacting marketing, which will lead to a greater reliance on analytics who can use the limited data to gain insights on the customers.
The DSA associate chair, Wende Mix, walked through some of the 2020 DSA and PACM internships and introduced two student speakers;

Joseph Skowronski – Osmose Utility Services, modeling inspection data and environmental conditions of utility poles to forecast pole conditions
Matthew Bergey – Third Estate, use 311 service request calls to create a model to find abandoned homes

Joaquin Carbonara, Chair of DSA, and Saziye Bayram, Chair of PACM updates us on the programs including the new DSA tracks and the new PACM certificate which are currently being created. The chairs of our sub-committee's shared updates on their progress from the last year including the Diversity and Inclusion Committee, the Podcast Committee, the Program Review Committee, and the Marketing Committee.

The meeting ended with a discussion moderated by Sue McCartney on how increase/create partnerships between academic and industry. Committee members provided valuable connections and ideas which the DSA and PACM program are looking forward to working with the advisory board members to impliment.

Click here to see full meeting minutes.

Thank you to all of our amazing board members and everyone who was involved with planning and executing the board meeting we appreciate all of your hard work and are excited to continue to work with you in 2021.

Data Now
Data science in the everyday

A.I. for Drug Discovery

An artificial intelligence lab in London called has created a computer system that can help to solve the structure of proteins. Knowing a proteins structure can help us understand their function and how to target them to treat diseases. Previously we needed to rely on time consuming (months to years) physical experiments because computer systems were inaccurate. This system has been successful at solving the structure on many proteins and rivals the accuracy of traditional experiments.

Read the full article here.

Build Your Own COVID Dashboard

Check out this article from the New York Times where you can select locations you are interested in and the graphs will self populate with data from those regions.

Build you own dashboard here.

Fall 2020 DSA Seminar Series Survey

Did you attend any of the presentations Fall 2020 DSA Seminar Series? If so, please take a few minutes to complete the Fall 2020 DSA Seminar Series Survey. Your results will help us to improve our future seminars and select topics you are interested in!