dsTRAIn Engineers
Undergraduate Members of dsTRAIn
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Amy Nguyen
Amy is originally from Hampton, Virginia but has claimed Orlando, Florida as her home. She a junior at Macalester College majoring in Computer Science and eventually wants to pursue a career in project management. She is interested in digital media, mobile marketing, and how machine learning can be applied to customer engagement and marketing campaigns. She is also interested in ways data science can be applied to resolve diversity issues in the tech industry.
Current ML/Data Science Interests: Predictive analytics, Social media
Fun Fact: She enjoys powerlifting and trains 6 days a week.
Trains: A,2
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Eloá França Verona
Eloá is a sophomore from Divinópolis, Brazil. She is double majoring in Psychology and Educational Studies. She is interested in learning what machine learning can contribute in identifying best teaching methodologies to enhance students learning and engagement in class.
Current ML/Data Science Interests: Teaching methodologies
Fun Fact: Eloá has been enjoying learning ballroom dancing.
Trains: 1,A,2
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Frank Xu
Frank is a sophomore from Shanghai, China. He is planning to double major in Environmental Studies and Computer Science at Macalester College. He is one of the members of the Data Science TRAIn Lab under Katherine M. Kinnaird. His current research interest is in relating Machine Learning to Environmental issues. He is also interested in learning new languages.
Current ML/Data Science Interests: Environmental and meteorological data, Language Translation using Machine Learning
Fun Fact: He can speak four languages including a dialect of Chinese. He has been swimming since elementary school.
Trains: 1,A,2
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Noah Lupu-Gladstein
Noah, son of Richard, son of Jerry, hails from the swamps of The District of Columbia. He is a math and physics double major with a dash of classics minor and a wit so sharp he should be punished. Currently a senior at Macalester college, Noah is on the hunt for physics graduate programs that speak to his interests in experimental work that aim to uncover fundamental laws of the universe. At the same time, he is exploring machine learning and new mathematical techniques like topological data analysis. Noah wants to use recurrent neural networks to develop a leaner capable of mastering any strategy game simply by watching matches.
Current ML/Data Science Interests: Strategy game AI and recurrent neural networks, particle physics, topological data analysis
Fun Fact: On the weekends, Noah enjoys picking up foam in the shape of medieval weapons and whacking other similarly-armed people.
Trains: A,2
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Keri Yatogo
Originally from Kauai, Hawaii, Keri is the youngest of three siblings and a cumulative 20 cousins. Keri is a senior at Macalester College and is very close to finishing her political science major, educational studies minor and legal studies concentration. She is currently interested in looking for ways to use machine learning in her domain interests and how to make computer science as a whole more accessible to people who don’t identify as “science-y.”
Current ML/Data Science Interests: Data Management
Current Domain Interests: Education/Student Rights, Juvenile Justice
Fun Fact: I love Crocs, Mindy Kaling and Buddhist Feminists.
Train: A
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Lena Schaller
Lena is a junior from Chicago, Illinois. She is a Biology major and a Chemistry minor, with an additional emphasis in Biochemistry. She is new to the world of data science, but is excited to learn more about the possible applications of Machine Learning to the fields of chem- and bioinformatics.
Current ML/Data Science Interests: Using Machine Learning techniques to predict protein folding and function.
Fun Fact: Lena plays the bagpipes, and her energy makes up for any lack of skill.
Trains: A,2
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Mo Usavage
Mo is a senior studying Biology, and is from Green Lane, PA, near Philadelphia. Currently, they are participating in the study of the historical habitat in Australia of Austropurcellia (Mite harvestmen) and the way that informs the species’ current placement under Sarah Boyer. Mo is an inaugural member of the dsTRAIn Lab under Katherine Kinnaird, and is interested in studying the ways that networking can be used to help further the studies of biology and epidemiology.
Current ML/Data Science Interests: network modeling, disease modeling, data visualization
Fun Fact: Mo plays both womens rugby and ice hockey at Macalester, and plays roller derby with the MN RollerGirls.
Trains: 1,A,2
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Phuc Nguyen
Phuc Nguyen is a sophomore from Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam. She is planning on studying Biology and Computer Science at Macalester College. Her current research interest is in machine learning techniques that address questions in computational biology, especially in genomics research. She is also learning and experimenting with different mediums of visual art, and hopes to make art a more prominent form of advocacy for social change at Macalester.
Current ML/Data Science Interests: Pattern recognition, Spectral Clustering, Computational Biology, Genetics, Studio Art, Animation
Fun Fact: Phuc's favorite animated films are Toy Story 3 and Graves of the Fireflies.
Trains: 1,A,2
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Steven Roach
Steven, hailing from historic Hastings, Minnesota, is a sophomore at Macalester College. Steven is studying computer science and economics. He sees working in data science and machine learning as an excellent way to integrate both of those interests into his life. He first became interested in data and statistics while studying the sporting cards of his favorite athletes. Steven firmly believes in the potential of data science applications and their importance in the future of society.
Current ML/Data Science Interests: Network Science, Predictive Analytics, Sports
Fun Fact: Steven is enjoying his time learning how to play Clair de lune by Claude Debussy on the piano.
Trains: A,2
dsTRAIn Affiliates
Alums of dsTRAIn
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Hanyue Xu
Hanyue Xu is a senior at Macalester College majoring in Economics and Applied Math, originally from Nanjing, China. She is one of the inaugural members of the Data Science TRAIn Lab under Katherine M. Kinnaird. Last summer, she worked in Professor Paul Fischer’s organometallic synthesis lab and their summer research was published in Dalton Transactions, a chemistry journal under the Royal Society of Chemistry. Hanyue’s research goal is to develop a financial model in order to predict the stock price and to test market efficiency.
Current ML/Data Science Interests: Data visualization, economics and finance, health care
Fun Fact: Hanyue won the Macalester Pool (9 ball) Tournament freshman year.
Trains: 1,A
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Kim Ky
Kim is a senior, double majoring in Economics and Applied Math at Macalester College. She is originally from Cambodia. Kim spent two years doing IB at UWC Red Cross Nordic in Norway before coming to Macalester. Her current research interest involves using machine learning to solve network data problems.
ML/Data Science Interests: Network data, Public Transportation Route System, Economics.
Fun Fact: Kim does not play any sports, and the only game she has ever seen is an NBA game.
Trains: 1,A
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Kyra Kaczmarczik
Kyra Kaczmarczik is a senior biology major and asian studies minor. Her primary machine learning interest involves using machine learning to make healthcare more efficient and safe. She also has an interest in using machine learning to try to quantify the effect of money and partisan rhetoric on the outcome of elections.
ML/Data Science Interests: Elections, Healthcare and Education.
Fun Fact: Although a biology major, Kyra really loves art and art history. She often visits the MIA and Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.
Train: 1
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Sarah Shoemaker
Sarah is a senior from Saratoga, CA majoring in Political Science. For her senior capstone, she researched discourse on net neutrality in the Congressional Record. She is interested in the ways information and digital technologies are changing society. She is also captain of the women’s water polo team and a member of Macalester’s improv troupe.
ML/Data Science Interests: Language in politics, topic modeling, web crawlers
Fun Fact: She studied abroad in Amsterdam in the fall of her junior year.
Train: 1
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Kaspar Mueller
Kap is a senior at Macalester, originally hailing from Iowa City, Iowa. After graduation, he is moving to Seattle to work for Amazon as a business analyst, where he hopes to apply some of his data science knowledge. Kap likes to work with consumer-facing applications of data and translating consumer needs into technical products. If he were not studying economics and statistics, he would study astronomy and chemistry.
ML/Data Science Interests: Predictive applications of data science, Consumer behavior, air travel, ecommerce, healthcare, alternative energy
Fun Fact: Kap has been playing alto saxophone for 11 years, and is a great fan of both classical and jazz music.
Train: 1
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Henry Zuo
Henry studies Economics and Math in Mac. He recently developed a keen interest in programming and started to explore in the world of computer science. He believes in the potential of Machine learning as a discipline and hopes to contribute to the popularization and application of Machine Learning in the future.
ML/Data Science Interests: Transportation system optimization, Ecommerce, sports
Fun Fact: Henry is a 10-year Lakers fan.
Train: 1
dsTRAIn Architect & Conductor
Founder and Current Principal Investigator of dsTRAIn
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Katherine M. Kinnaird
Katherine researches the dimension reduction problem, representing high-dimensional and noisy sequential data as a low-dimensional object that encodes relevant information. She applies her work to tasks from the interdisciplinary field of Music Information Retrieval (MIR), such as locating the chorus of a given musical song or finding all copies of a particular recording of a song. Katherine is a member of the Women In Machine Learning (WiML) board that supports the efforts and mission of the annual WiML Workshop. She is originally from Maryland but most recently from Vermont. As a result, she is torn as to whether Old Bay or Maple syrup makes all things better.
Current ML/Data Science Interests: Dimension Reduction, Classification, Complex Systems, Computational Linear Algebra, Topic Modelling, Accessibility of ML
Current Domains of Interest: Music Information Retrieval, Fashion/Apparel
Fun Fact: Katherine’s favorite theorem is the Pythagorean Theorem. A proof of it can be found covering her office door.
Frequently Asked Questions
Feel free to email the P.I. if you have additional questions
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I thought there was one engineer per train and several conductors. Why does dsTRAIn have many engineers and one conductor?
You are correct. There is typically one engineer and many conductors on an actual train. Despite the name, dsTRAIn is not a train, but a lab focused on data science and machine learning. Many researchers who work in data science and machine learning have engineering backgrounds. Combining the worlds of trains, data science, and machine learning, with the fact that members of dsTRAIn plan and execute their own research, we refer to undergraduate dsTRAIn-ers as "Engineers."
To date, there has only ever been one principal investigator, who like train conductors, handles much of the administrative work for dsTRAIn. Thus, the P.I. is currently referred to as the "Conductor."
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Do all the members of dsTRAIn really like trains? Or can you join the lab without being a huge fan of trains?
You can absolutely join the lab if you do not like trains. Although the TRAIn acronym has led to some fun train metaphors and the borrowing of some train language, this is a lab obsessed with data science and machine learning. Some members may also be obsessed with trains.
