People / Students / Class of 2024
Lishan Gao earned dual degrees in finance and data science from the University of Rochester in 2023. She dove into the realms of programming and data science during the first programming course of her undergraduate studies. She has many project experiences using Python, Java, and SQL to build up data models, such as KNN, logistic regression, neural network models, and so on, as well as manage databases. She gained hands-on experience by working on various projects using Python, Java, and SQL to develop data models such as KNN, logistic regression, and neural networks, as well as managing databases. Throughout her academic journey, Lishan participated in several data-related internships and data science programs during her graduate years. These opportunities allowed her to apply the theoretical concepts she learned in class to real-world scenarios. In the winter of 2021, Lishan had an internship at Credit Suisse, where she utilized the unsupervised method of k-means clustering to analyze the correlation between green hydrogen companies’ performance metrics and ESG benchmarks. By categorizing these companies, she gained valuable insights into their attributes. During her undergraduate studies, Lishan also engaged in a Natural Language Processing (NLP) project focused on text data processing and classification. She explored multiple data models, including SVM, random forest, XGBoost, and Naïve Bayes algorithms, to determine the most accurate prediction. Ultimately, logistic regression emerged as the model with the highest prediction accuracy, achieving nearly 78.22%. This exceptional performance led her to rank fourth among her peers. In addition, Lishan has a chance to process medical data in her capstone project during her senior year. Within three months, she examined some main predictors that have somewhat significant power in determining magnetic heterosexual couples’ choices when choosing prevention strategies by employing the k-means clustering method. All these experiences solidified her decision to pursue the MSiA program at Northwestern University, where she aims to further develop her professional skills, expand her network, and collaborate with industry professionals. Lishan's ultimate aspiration is to become a data scientist, leveraging her expertise to address business challenges and contribute to informed decision-making processes.
