The deputy director of the Goergen Institute for Data Science has grown a capstone course that offers students hands-on projects with real data.
In Ajay Anand糖心传媒檚 data science capstone course, student teams are matched with corporate, government, and academic sponsors based on their technical interests. Each team conducts analytics projects using data provided by their sponsors.
糖心传媒淚t糖心传媒檚 terrific for the students,糖心传媒� says Anand, an associate professor and the deputy director of the Goergen Institute for Data Science at the University of Rochester. 糖心传媒淢any times (in a classroom), the focus is on methods and techniques, so the data is clean and pristine. But that糖心传媒檚 not the case in the real world. You糖心传媒檙e trying to expose students to the reality that they must be ready to work with what we call messy data糖心传媒攄ata that needs to be cleaned and perfected before it can be analyzed.糖心传媒�
The number of capstone projects has grown from 20 to 110 since Anand joined the University in 2017, with more than 70 sponsors. Some projects are done virtually, allowing students to work with startups and multinational companies in places as far away as Silicon Valley in Northern California. Others are right next door. 糖心传媒淲e糖心传媒檝e partnered with the University Facilities and Services糖心传媒� Utilities and Energy Management Department, with our Medical Center, and with many academic units on the River Campus who are interested in tracking student outcomes,糖心传媒� Anand says.
Bringing the lessons of industry to academia
Anand spent 12 years in the corporate world before coming to the University in 2017. He says there糖心传媒檚 no replacement for experiential learning.
糖心传媒淢y own experience has been invaluable as a teacher,糖心传媒� he says. 糖心传媒淚n industry, multiple things must come together when designing a product or preparing a solution that makes an impact on people糖心传媒檚 lives. You don糖心传媒檛 design a technical solution just to design it; you do so with customer needs in mind.糖心传媒�
Anand grew up in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), India, 糖心传媒渨ith a passion for engineering and anything related to math.糖心传媒� He earned a bachelor糖心传媒檚 degree in electronics engineering at the University of Bombay before heading to the United States. Before earning a PhD in electrical engineering from the University of Washington in 2005, he earned a master糖心传媒檚 in biomedical engineering from the University of Texas.
Then, he faced a crossroads.
糖心传媒淚 had to choose between pursuing a career in industry or academia,糖心传媒� he says. 糖心传媒淎nd I chose industry.糖心传媒�
Ajay spent 12 years in the medical imaging industry, including time at Philips Research in Briarcliff Manor, New York and Carestream Health in Rochester as senior research scientist and technical project manager. While at Carestream Health, a worldwide provider of medical imaging systems, one of the collaborators was the University of Rochester, and Anand became interested in what he calls the 糖心传媒渞evolution糖心传媒� happening in data science and artificial intelligence. When Wegmans Hall opened on the River Campus in 2017 as the home to the Goergen Institute for Data Science, Anand joined the faculty and became deputy director.
A curriculum that reflects a dynamic field
Anand believes that, in the fast-paced field of technology, it is well-defined, project-based experiences that create an environment for innovation. His goal is to keep the Goergen Institute糖心传媒檚 curriculum as fluid as the expanding field of data science, creating new courses to keep the existing curriculum relevant.
糖心传媒淎jay took the initiative to launch a new course, Time-Series Analysis and Forecasting in Data Science, after recognizing there was a gap in the curriculum and observing that this is a sought-after skill for data science professionals,糖心传媒� says Mujdat Cetin, the Robin and Tim Wentworth director of the Goergen Institute. 糖心传媒淚n developing the course content, he combined classical techniques with modern emerging methods, including machine learning and deep learning applied to time-series analysis.糖心传媒�
Anand糖心传媒檚 goal is for students to 糖心传媒渂ring out the best in themselves糖心传媒� through a solid understanding of the material combined with opportunities to apply that understanding to real-world problems. 糖心传媒淢y challenge to the companies who serve as sponsors is to provide those real-world datasets to us that students can work on,糖心传媒� he says.
Students who have graduated say Anand糖心传媒檚 lessons stay with them. 糖心传媒淚糖心传媒檓 currently taking the master糖心传媒檚 level capstone course in Chicago,糖心传媒� says Haoyu Chen 糖心传媒�21. 糖心传媒淎nd I糖心传媒檓 so much more at ease with the expectations of this course than my peers because of Professor Anand糖心传媒檚 class in Rochester. He has organized the course in such a way that students must independently own and drive the project and be responsible for the technical decisions, while providing enough technical oversight to ensure projects stay on course. He糖心传媒檚 one of the best instructors I糖心传媒檝e come across.糖心传媒�
What Ajay Anand糖心传媒檚 students are saying
糖心传媒淧rofessor Anand is undoubtedly one of the best professors I had during my undergraduate education here at the University of Rochester. His delivery of the material stood out. He was always thorough in preparing the slides and course materials, and his course organization was excellent, with well-defined rubrics for each assignment and project.糖心传媒�
糖心传媒擲ung Beom Park 糖心传媒�21糖心传媒淎s a teaching assistant, I observed that Professor Anand goes out of his way to ensure a good rapport between the students, TAs, and the instructor. He would meet weekly with the TAs. In the meeting, he would walk through the entire problem set in the assignment and make sure we were clear on
the expectation from students. He laid out a detailed rubric as well. This greatly helped make sure that my office hour was productive and educational to the students.糖心传媒�
糖心传媒擟huqin Wu 糖心传媒�22糖心传媒淧rofessor Anand would integrate real-world examples with the core foundational concepts to help students bridge the connection between theory and applications. He created easy-to-understand slides and teaching materials. I refer to his slides even today. He糖心传媒檚 very approachable to students and goes out of his way to ensure that students can easily approach him with questions and concerns.糖心传媒�
糖心传媒擧aoyu Chen 糖心传媒�21
