Data Science Career Highlights | Department of Mathematics | BYU-Idaho

# Data Science Career Highlights

Data science is in every field.

BYU-Idaho's data science program prepares students with industry-ready skills to start a career in data science, data engineering, and analytics. Explore a few profiles of some of our BYU-Idaho graduates who work in the data science field.

Racheal Smith

****NASA**** - Racheal Smith is a full-time civil servant for NASA, where she develops data analytics applications using SQL, Python, Google Cloud Platform, and GitLab to measure performance and value. One project example involved data from 12 wind tunnels across 3 NASA centers. She extracted, loaded, and transformed data from Excel files into a centralized database and created visualizations using Plotly Dash to provide data insights, statistical explanations, and recommendations to the portfolio director and executive team.

Dayton Hoffmann

****Statistics and Data Corporation**** - Dayton Hoffmann is a Senior Data Scientist at Statistics and Data Corporation. His responsibilities include designing, developing, and deploying predictive models, automations, and software applications to augment and improve business operations. His time as a student at BYU-Idaho provided a background in mathematics, programming, and data intuition that has prepared him for data science positions across many industries. Involvement in Data Science Society provided valuable experience and a network of professionals that has accelerated his career.

Saffra Parks

****JourneyTEAM**** - Saffra Parks is an enthusiastic Data Engineer on the Business Intelligence team at JourneyTEAM, a gold-level Microsoft consulting partner. After gaining a degree in Data Science from BYU-Idaho, she spent time developing predictive analytics for the global CPG industry at KraftHeinz. Her long-term career goal is to become a self-proclaimed "full stack data nerd." Her skills include data quality and governance, statistical and predictive modeling, and the Microsoft ecosystem.

Aubrey Shuga

****Truist Bank**** - Aubrey Shuga is a Data Analyst supporting the Client Profitability team at Truist Bank. As a rotating Data Scientist, she works with various teams, including Commercial Banking, Client Journey Analytics, and Legal Operations. She uses Python, SQL, and Tableau tools to complete data wrangling, descriptive and predictive analytics, and data visualization. "Working on semester projects in DSS and the consulting class at BYU-I helped prepare me to quickly join and own a project and add value," says Aubrey. "I feel confident working with stakeholders, asking the right questions, and presenting my work to both technical and non-technical audiences."

Hansel Palencia

****DaVita International**** - Hansel Palencia is a Clinical Data Scientist for DaVita International, a kidney care provider that offers dialysis services to 50,000 patients in 11 countries. Currently, he leads data science initiatives from their London HQ. He focuses his time on developing analytics capabilities, machine learning tools, and pilot studies to improve patient treatment and care. His experience at BYU-Idaho greatly impacted his path as it taught him not only technical skills but also how to communicate data to non-data people. Those invaluable experiences assisted him in landing into a Russell Group school for his MSc in Health Data Science and into the position he is in today.