People / Alumni / Class of 2023
My name is Ziyi Zhou. I graduated from the University of Maryland majoring in Applied Mathematics and Economics. Aiming to hone my programming skills, I also took courses in Java, Python, and machine learning. The very first time I got to know the importance of data was when I learned Database Systems at Robert Smith Business School during my junior year. In that class, my tutor not only illustrated the basic concepts and the utilization of SQL and Tableau but also demonstrated that data analysis could play a role in the tactical development and training plans in sports through projects, which greatly aroused my interest in data analysis as well as predictions. To further develop my interest in this direction, I chose to work as a research assistant in the Traffic Data Research and Experimental Lab for three months. Besides learning R language and a series of techniques like data snooping, variable selection, and gradient boost method, I supported the project by using data cleaning and machine learning algorithms to analyze factors, including day or night, traffic light, and braking distances, that contribute to the traffic accidental rates and their individual significance from eighty-five dimensions. Our results helped reduce the traffic accident rate in Shanghai by seven percent, which really excited me. And in the last semester of my undergraduate, my teammates and I participated in the Smith School’s 3rd Annual Datathon mentored by Deloitte professionals. We were informed to use problem-solving, analytics, and data visualization skills to apply them to come up with strategies to increase revenue for Bandcamp, which is an online music platform. Our team was ranked top five among the thirty participating teams, and we were invigorated to present our recommendations to the leaders. All these projects shaped my belief that data science can tackle business issues and also be outstanding in many other fields, the industries related to the basic welfare of humankind, whether the topic is sports tactics, traffic accident prevention, or survivor prediction.
