About Me

I am from Sacramento, California, and I attended Brigham Young University as an undergraduate majoring in Statistics (with an emphasis in data science) and Russian. I chose Russian as one of my majors because I lived in Ukraine for two years as a church missionary immediately following high school. I learned Russian during that time by speaking with strangers on a daily basis, which led to my deep love for the language and for Slavic culture.

My interest in data science started during my undergrad when I attended a university forum featuring Dr. DJ Patil—the former United States Chief Data Scientist under the Obama Administration. His remarks on the power of data to solve social problems in the world inspired me to pursue a career in data science. I am especially interested in this application of data science—addressing social problems through data.

Aside from my academic interests, I love watching movies (especially Star Wars), collecting posters and LEGOs, going on runs, and reading. I am a deep thinker and an inquisitive learner. I am inspired by the illuminating works of Russian authors who comment on human suffering, teaching me to care deeply about social disparities.