Levannia

  Hello world! My name is Levannia Leila Lildhar. That’s right, there are five l’s in it. I’m sure you can imagine the trouble that my teachers had pronouncing it, not to mention the taunts on the playground.

Born and raised in Ontario, Canada, I grew up watching The Magic School Bus, and couldn’t wait until I could have my own science adventures. Now, with degrees in biochemistry and chemical engineering, I have had many adventures from researching hip implant failure at the University of Ottawa to the job I currently have as a Product Engineer at Siemens Healthineers.

In the pursuit of more adventures I have returned to school to study data science at the University of British Columbia. While “data science” might be a pithy catch phrase that has been circulating on the news, I believe it is simply the practise of extracting useful information from data.

My hope is that using this blog, we’ll explore not only the tools that I am learning in class everyday but also their application (I am an engineer after all). With a little luck we’ll learn together and laugh a little along the way.

So as Ms. Frizzle would say, “Let’s take chances, make mistakes, and get messy!”

Liza

Hi! I’m Liza Wood. I’m asked all the time – it’s pronounced the same as Lisa, but spelled with a ‘z’.

After a dozen years leading video game development projects in a variety of roles, I decided to pursue a Master of Data Science at the University of British Columbia. Ever since my first job as a Quality Engineer in electronics manufacturing, I have always used data to help drive product and process improvements. Clear analyses and visualizations at the right time can open up new possibilities, reduce risk or simply help teams better understand what’s happening. Studying data science doesn’t mean I’m moving away from leading people. Growing data science teams need good Agile leadership to help connect data to all areas of the business.

With this blog, I hope to share what we’re learning and also to explore beyond the classroom to challenge myself with new skills and to understand how data science is being used in industry. If you’re curious about my writings on Agile leadership, you can check out my other professional blog, Sockets And Lightbulbs. 

I hope you join us on our journey and are inspired to discover more about data science!