Places I like to go

Learning to Scooba in Tayrona National Park — Santa Marta, Colombia


Teaching:

  1. MIST 203: Quantitative Tools for Management (Summary) Introduces concepts and methods for data-driven analysis and decision-making in complex interacting human-environment systems. Lectures on fundamental ingredients of complexity drawing on real-world examples. Lectures on decision making in scenarios involving qualitative, quantitative, and statistical information. Lectures and computational exercises introducing best-practices for data-oriented analysis. Computational exercises will draw on a combination of individual and team project presentations, providing valuable opportunity to practice and improve quantitative communication skills.
    UCMerced: Graduate - Masters of Management program - Fall 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024
    Masters of Management program curriculum

  2. MIST 207: Data Science (Summary) Introduces the data analytics pipeline relevant to graduate research work: obtaining raw unstructured data; cleaning, organizing, merging and identifying potential pitfalls in the data; exploring and visualizing the underlying statistics; introduction to preliminary stochastic, generative and econometric modeling methods. Lectures introduce best-practices for handling and analyzing large multi-scale datasets using examples drawn from open-data repositories. Students expected to have a relevant research dataset in mind prior to enrollment.
    UCMerced: Graduate - Fall 2021

  3. MIST 060: Introductory Data Analytics / DSA 001: Foundations of Data Science & Analytics (Summary) Introduces the data-for-decision-making paradigm through the lens of the Wolfram computing suite – comprised of WolframAlpha, the Mathematica language, and computable notebooks. Lectures introduce methods and best practices of data collection, integration and visualization, together reinforced via team exercises drawing on real-world domains. To facilitate explorative autodidactic learning, students will learn how to self-instruct new coding skills by using Mathematica Document Center ‘help pages’ in conjunction with myriad open coding demonstrations.
    UCMerced: Undergraduate - Fall 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024

  4. DSA 002: Thinking Like a Programmer (Summary) Provides a basic introduction to classic logic principles as well as an introduction to basic structures that underly computer programming. Provides the subset of critical thinking skills that apply to computer programming, providing an excellent foundation for further work in programming, data analysis, or technical management.
    UCMerced: Undergraduate - Fall 2024

  5. MIST 135: Technical Communication and Visualization Skills (Summary) Theory of effective communication in quantitative contexts drawing on various presentation modes – written, oral, graphical, powerpoint, poster. Seminars on theory and best-practices combined with individual and team project presentations. Opportunity to improve inquiry-oriented communication skills, to give and receive constructive feedback, and to learn graphical methods for developing striking visualizations.
    UCMerced: Undergraduate - Fall 2019

  6. MIST 134: Methods of Data & Network Science (Summary) Explores methods to efficiently manage and analyze large complex datasets. The computer lab will introduce the Python programming language with a focus on extracting data from websites, exploring, and inquiry-oriented analyses and visualizations. Introduction to network science theory useful in understanding and managing complex socio-technological systems.
    UCMerced: Undergraduate - Spring 2019

  7. SPARK: Science of Science (Summary) Introduces students to life at a research university. Students focus on the nature of inquiry by exploring a particular topic over the course of the semester, approaching it from multiple perspectives and possibly multiple disciplines. Students learn how to generate research questions, engage with campus and/or local resources, and think critically. Students synthesize and present their ideas in writing and other forms of communication (visual, oral, and/or numerical).
    UCMerced: Undergraduate - Spring 2019, 2022

  8. COGS 180 (Topics in Cognitive Science): Visualization & Presentation
    UCMerced: Undergraduate - Fall 2016, Spring 2017, 2018

  9. Data analytics and visualization for Economics and Management Science
    IMT Lucca: Graduate Short Course - Spring 2016

  10. Mathematics precourse - methods of statistics and stochastic systems
    IMT Lucca: Graduate Short Course - Spring 2012, 2013, Fall 2013, 2014