Almost two years ago, I was invited to act in a wonderful short film in Texas. Named ‘About Face’, the film is extremely relevant, especially in today’s political climate. Directed by the exceptional Dr. Thomas Riccio who had auditioned me for a couple of his plays (none of which I got selected for 😆), the short film brings to light the topic of racism over the ages.
Cast and crew of About Face
It premiered on Kera TV (the local wing of PBS in Texas) this October. Dr. Riccio plans to send it to festivals so for now, all I can share is the teaser. Let me know what you think –
I had understood very early on while learning the basics of data science that the three pillars of a sturdy analytics structure are statistics, a programming language, and database management. So, after covering the first two in my previous posts, it’s natural that I move to database foundations.
During Fall 2018, I started learning the basics of databases in Dr. James Scott’s class. The man is a gifted speaker and entertainer. His class was full of marvelous impressions, anecdotes from his variety of experiences, and exciting PowerPoint presentations. It was here that I understood the concept of data modeling with topics like primary and foreign keys, Entity Relationship Diagrams (ERD) , schemas and sub-schemas, weak and strong relationships, and Normalization . However, the most important part of this class was that it got me started in one THE MOST IN-DEMAND TOOL asked for in every job role I desire – SQL!
Photo by Tobias Fischer on Unsplash
As my friend Ankita loves saying – SELECT is written in our star(*)s. It was a delight to work on class assignments that tested our knowledge of dependencies, NULL values, SQL functions, relational operators, joins, sub-queries, and views. We also got into the basics of transaction management using SQL. And since we had worked extensively with Relational Databases for most part of the class, Dr. Scott spent the last leg of our semester teaching us the basics of NoSQL and MongoDB. It formed a great runway for my future big data endeavors.
My SQL and database learning during this semester culminated with a project where I got my hands dirty with some data munging, database modeling and even regression using SQL and R. Just cleaning this data before we can perform any kind of retrieval was a task in itself. Thanks to this class, I find myself proficient in creating ERDs, working with various SQL joins and clauses to retrieve simple as well as aggregated data from complex data sets.
This is the third post of my #10DaysToGraduate series where I share 10 key lessons from my Master’s degree in the form of a countdown to May 8, my graduation date.
There’s a reason I chose Statistics to be no. 10 and the first one in this countdown. When you want to enter the world of data science, you realize very quickly that you can do nothing without the concepts of statistics being clear in your head. The University of Texas at Dallas obviously understood this and made Statistics and Analytics a core course. So, when I started my Master’s program in Fall 2018, I enrolled for this course with Dr. Avanti Sethi in my very first semester. Dr. Sethi proved to be an excellent teacher, and I am honored to have had the pleasure of knowing and working with him during the past two years.
Photo by Luke Chesser on Unsplash
Thanks to his well-designed lectures and assignments, I was able to build a strong statistical foundation with good practice of basic concepts like measures of central tendency (mean, median, mode) and measures of statistical dispersion (variance, standard deviation, IQR). The course then went on to cover concepts like population, sampling, estimation, z-score, t-score, Normal distribution, hypothesis testing, p-value, chi-square tests, ANOVA tests and regression. Dr. Sethi, who is an Excel ninja, also conducted a separate hands-on session for students interested in learning Advanced Excel and taught us how to build macros. The problem statements in his assignments covered real-life scenarios ranging from sports team performances and automobile dealerships to Halloween sales and manufacturing plant obstacles.
Dr. Sethi’s class in Sep 2018
And just like that, right in the very first semester, Statistics and Analytics had set the ball rolling on my data science journey. I have been going back to Dr. Sethi’s assignments every few months, to make sure I don’t forget the very foundations of everything that I have learned in analytics so far. It was a memorable semester thanks to this wonderful class, and left me with a lot of confidence to move forward.
This is the first post of my #10DaysToGraduate series where I share 10 key lessons from my Master’s degree in the form of a countdown to May 8, my graduation date.
For the past two months, I have been part of an incredible experience. I was fortunate enough to get cast in my first musical – The Rocky Horror Show. Everything from the audition process to the rehearsal to the final performances was surreal. For all of us involved, this journey has made its mark as one of the most memorable experiences of our lives. Would you believe if I told you that we had 7 SOLD-OUT SHOWS?! There were long queues every night and many people had to return disappointed (sorry about that!). I wish to write about my whole experience in more detail soon but for now, I’ll leave you with a “Behind the Scenes” video that UTD Mercury created for us. It also features me in a small interview where I express how I am in awe of my fellow Transylvanians!
Use of Data Science in Solar Desalination – that’s what I had in mind when I landed in the United States of America on July 27, 2018 to study Business Analytics. About 4 months into it, I have had the opportunity to meet some amazing people, take a weekend trip to Austin, perform in a brilliant theatre production of Julius Caesar with a supremely talented cast and crew, and found a new organization, Travelytics, at the University of Texas at Dallas. These have been heartwarming experiences and I will write more about them in separate, dedicated blog posts.
My data science journey so far has involved learning Statistics, the R programming language, and SQL as part of Database foundations. I have also been doing online courses on Python and Machine Learning to get well-versed with the basics of data science. It has all been a bit overwhelming but I think I am slowly finding my bearings here.
For entertainment, I have been binge-watching Aaraon Sorkin’s political drama, The West Wing. One of its episodes titled 365 days has made me think that it would be helpful if I keep count of the number of days I have left in my Masters program. It may be a good way of keeping myself focused and reminding myself of the goals I wish to achieve in my time as a Grad student. So, here we are, at 616 days to go. For some inspiration and perspective, I started with this article on How Big Data is Changing the Future of Renewable Energy Sector:
There is still so much to do. A good strategy would be to first become an expert in data mining, visualization, Big Data Analytics, predictive analytics and Machine Learning techniques while keeping an eye on the business side of things in the solar sector. I should also follow major journals and websites related to both renewable energy and data science (something I should have started already but haven’t). In my second semester, I am taking courses in IT Audit and Risk Management and IT security in order to broaden my horizons. Over the next few weeks, I will be aiming at finishing the Fall semester with as much knowledge retention from my courses as possible, efficient application of techniques in my R and Database projects, and completion of my online courses on Python and Machine learning.
I also have ambitious plans for our new club Travelytics for which I have had the privilege of getting together an excellent team of bright and young students.
When I decided to pursue my Masters in Business Analytics in the US, I bid goodbye to all of my Bollywood dreams. I feared it was the end of my creative side. However, I kept hoping that if I could find a theatre group wherever I went, I might just be able to keep the actor in me alive. So, one of the first things I did after coming to Dallas was that I wrote to the Arts and Humanities department at the University of Texas at Dallas. My joy knew no bounds when Prof. Shelby Hibbs wrote back to me and invited me to audition for their upcoming production of Julius Caesar.
I started preparing for the audition with a lot of anxiety and nervousness. I spoke with my friend Deshik Vansadia, who is the most passionate Shakespeare artist I knew. He suggested that I work with Hortensio’s speech from the Taming of the Shrew. My personal favourite though was Romeo’s balcony monologue from Romeo and Juliet. I prepared for both and started waiting for the day of the audition with bated breath.
The day of the audition came sooner than I thought. While in the same university, the rehearsal hall which was in the basement was a bit tricky to find. Fortunately, I made it on time and saw some actors waiting outside a closed door. A couple of them were sitting on the carpeted floor reading through their lines, while others were chatting with the assistant stage manager who greeted me with a smile. Auditions were held in groups of four actors. I didn’t talk much except mentioning something about our voices to a beautiful girl who was awaiting her turn to audition too.
I was part of the last four actors to audition. From the moment I stepped inside the rehearsal hall to the moment I stepped out, I was taken back to the countless number of times I had been to auditions in India. This is when I met Shelby Hibbs, a person I shall forever be grateful to. Her pleasant persona and sweet smile made me feel at ease right away and I took a seat, awaiting my turn.
Two actors performed their pieces before me. I was feeling elated just to be part of the process again. When it was my turn, I walked up with little nervousness and a lot of excitement. I decided to go with Hortensio’s piece. Despite rehearsing the lines several times, I made some goof-ups. Shelby gave me some feedback and asked me to try again, which I did. I was able to achieve around 50% of what I had in mind. My impression of the audition was that it didn’t go well but honestly, I didn’t care about the result much at that point. I was just glad that even this far away from Mumbai, I was able to give an audition. In a way, it made me feel more alive.
The beautiful girl was the next to audition and just killed it with a monologue from Romeo and Juliet. We then said our goodbyes and goodlucks. I had a wonderful conversation with one of the actors who auditioned in my group, as we shared a bus ride. I got home satisfied with the evening, hoping to make it to the cast. A few days later, I got an email from Shelby with the list of cast members. My name was on it as the actor playing Trebonius.
We have now started rehearsals and the play opens on November 8, 2018. Thus, begins a new phase of Dilip, the actor.
