Cohort 7 Student Spotlight: Meet Chris
By: Victoria Suarez
Tags: Students, Data Science

Christopher Olley joined the MSDS program after obtaining an MS in Physics from Imperial College London. Continue reading to learn more about what brought him to Data Science and his experience on the USF cross country team!

What were you doing before joining the MSDS program?

Before the MSDS program, I graduated with an undergraduate degree in physics from Imperial College London. I came into the program about 2 months after graduating, so I didn’t have time to do much else in between! During my degree I studied abroad at the University of Freiburg in Germany for a year, where I wrote my thesis studying the resonance patterns that are created when acoustic vibrations interact with regions of intense magnetic field in the sun (sunspots).

Why did you choose the USF MSDS program?

I knew two graduates from the program who had highly recommended it and had gone on to get interesting jobs. For me, that was a good indicator that the program was worthwhile. The chance to work in a data scientist role at a company during the practicum placement is also pretty unique and was a big factor in my decision to come here, particularly considering San Francisco’s reputation as one of the biggest tech cities in the world. So when the cross-country and track team got in touch with me about being on the team I was already pretty much sold, as I’ve always wanted to try competing in the NCAA!

What started your interest in Data Science?

I did an internship in the technology department of an investment bank during my penultimate year at university, where I was working in a business analyst role. I enjoyed my time there but I wanted to apply myself to a more technical role where I could use my programming and maths skills. I found that the industry valued people who had knowledge of statistical modeling techniques, and that seemed like a good fit for my background. I also enjoyed programming during my degree and wanted a career where I could actually use some of the maths I’d learned as an undergrad.

How would you like to apply Data Science after graduating?

At the moment I’d like to work for larger financial organisations and consultancies because I’d get exposed to a broad spectrum of techniques and use cases for data science, which I think is useful at the start of your career. I’m also interested in sensor analytics, as I think there are some really interesting applications of this in industry, particularly as wearable devices become more widely used and everyday items become increasingly data-driven.

Where is your practicum? What are you working on there?

I’m working at Metromile, a startup that’s changing the way the insurance industry operates by charging for car insurance based on a per-mile basis. It’s a interesting insight into the way a well-established startup with a relatively large data science team operates, as it’s obviously very different to working in an academic environment. I’m working on using car sensor data to identify drivers based on their driving patterns, in both a supervised context with driver labels, and also in an unsupervised setting where we identify drivers for unseen vehicles. I’ve learned a lot during my time there so far and my colleagues have been very supportive.

What do you like about the MSDS Program?

I’ve already mentioned the practicum internship, but I also enjoy how close knit the professors and students are in the program. It’s a different experience from my final year in London where everyone was studying different courses so there wasn’t a sense of community. Here, I feel like the faculty are really personally invested in the success of the students and want to see them do as well as they can. It’s also great to have professors who are from different departments as you get to see topics from sometimes very different perspectives.

Chris (green) competing in the 8K at the Wisconsin Pre National Invitational

You’re a student athlete, how do you manage an intense workload from school and training for cross country?

It’s definitely challenging, I think the biggest thing is accepting that sometimes you can’t do everything. If there’s an assignment that’s due the next day I can’t stay up till 3am working on it so I just have to accept that I’ve done what I can. However, I’d say that mindset does help in getting things done early, and the fact that I need to actually sleep is probably beneficial for not overworking yourself! Being on the team was one of things that drew me to USF in the first place so I never really see training as an obligation, but rather as something that I want to do.

What is your favorite thing to do in SF? What do you like to do for fun or to relax?

SF has some great running routes so I’d say one of my favourite things is doing a long run on Saturday around Land’s End and the Presidio. It’s a really nice route when the sun is out and you can see the bridge and across the bay. I’ve also just started salsa classes as something a bit different and those have been pretty fun so far!