Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Double Major: Applied Math and Data Science
Domain Emphasis: Business and Industrial Analytics
Data Science in Six Words: collaboration, discovery, creativity, models, growth, curiosity
Over the course of his experience with the Division of Data Sciences, Timlan has found inspiration both in the classroom and in his extracurricular involvements. He enrolled at Berkeley with the intention of pursuing a pre-med track, but switched to data science and applied math after his first foray into coding with Statistics 133. “I was amazed by all the discoveries we can find by just analyzing a data set,” he recalled. “This inspired me to take more classes to learn more algorithms and techniques for data analysis.”
I was amazed by all the discoveries we can find by just analyzing a data set.
Inspired by the empowering culture within the data science Division, Timlan joined the Data Scholars program, which provides opportunities for underrepresented and nontraditional students. He has since worked as a peer consultant and a founding peer advisor for the major, offering guidance and support for fellow students. Timlan considers his advisory role to be most transformative in his data science education. In his words, “It has allowed me to meet many like-minded people whose goal is to work in the data science field and interact with them on a more personal level by sharing my experiences.”
After graduation, Timlan hopes to combine his dual passions for public health and data science by working in the health care industry. While medical school is no longer on the horizon for Timlan, he still aspires to make contributions to the field by working with data.