Guest speaker: Ventura!¶
By now, you’ve gained a lot of experience working with datasets in all forms: text, tables (CSV), JSON, and databases queried through an API. In your self-directed research projects, you may have come across other data formats as well that you had to learn how to use and how to clean the data. All of the different file formats make MI work kinda painful when it comes to data processing and storage, and that’s just for public data, which, on the whole, are relatively well organized. What about data ~ in the real world? ~ How do you handle proprietary customer data that span different materials classes and industries? How do you communicate with R&D scientists who may not understand all of the best practices in MI that you all know? And how do you accomplish all this without upsetting your clients? Because, well, you know. 💰🙃
For the past three years, Ventura has tackled these problems on a daily basis in his role as a Data Engineer at Citrine Informatics, an MI startup based in Redwood City, CA. He has helped develop several Python tools to facilitate data handling and improve the user experience for customers and Citrine team members. Ventura is exceptionally kind and positive (Enze can personally attest to this), and he will have several insights to share with us from his personal and professional experiences, including all of life’s possibilities without taking the graduate school route. And finally, he is a proud UCB transfer alum with a BS in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering! 🐻