Hello! I'm Gretchyn Drown.

Intro

Professional Summary: Former educator turned data scientist with a talent for translating complex concepts into clear, data-driven insights and impactful recommendations. Skilled in leveraging machine learning, statistical modeling, and data visualizations to uncover meaningful patterns and deliver practical solutions that support effective decision-making. Known for strong written and verbal communication, adaptability to new technologies, and a collaborative approach that bridges technical and non-technical teams.

Background: I am a data scientist, a change from my 17+ years as a classroom instructor. Although the career paths sound disparate, teaching has helped me develop many of the skills needed for data science, including the soft skills that data scientists often lack. How? I continuously analyzed student data, applied my insights to actionable solutions, and communicated my analyses to various stakeholders, including students, colleagues, administrators, and the school district. Combined with my natural affinity for numbers and languages (which extends to programming), my background in teaching elevated my experience at University of Michigan's School of Information, where I earned a Master of Applied Data Science. At UMich, I learned how to effectively implement Python, SQL and statistics to improve business models and explore data possibilities. My more recent professional experience has strengthened and honed these skills, as well as introduced new tools and techniques that have refined my abilities. As a lifelong learner, I eagerly look forward to mastering what comes next in the realm of data science.

Work

TweeTERA: A PyPI Package
CLICK HERE FOR GIT
This project began as a follow-up to our Milestone, but was expanded using both unsupervised and supervised machine learning to be a one-stop package for Twitter sentiment analysis. CLICK HERE to see an example interactive TweeTERA report

Milestone 1: Project Mood Ring (chosen as an exemplar project!)
CLICK HERE FOR GIT
This project aimed to analyze Tweet sentiment regarding major news events.

SIADS 523: Lighting the Lamp: FPHL in Hays, KS (chosen as an exemplar project!)
CLICK HERE FOR GIT
This project aimed to choose the best spot for a fictional Federal Prospects Hockey League expansion team (from a list of predetermined locations). There is a full Slidedoc presentation as well as a recorded pitch presentation.

Whiskey Blind Taste Test Flavor Profiles (a personal project)
CLICK HERE FOR GIT
This simple personal project was the result of collecting all participants' notes in a blind whiskey tasting, then compiling and categorizing each whiskey's flavor profile. I also attempted to predict the price and similar whiskeys.

Education and Skills

• University of Michigan School of Information: Master of Applied Data Science
• University of California at Los Angeles: Bachelor of Arts, Anthropology
• Author on Medium.com
• Technical Skills: Python; SQL; DAX; Microsoft PowerBI, Power Automate, Excel, Forms, SharePoint, PowerPoint, etc.; ArcGIS online/desktop geospatial data and Upserve/Lightspeed Point of Sale systems; Placer.ai, SimilarWeb, Sprout Social, and Adobe Web Analytics insight systems; Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio; API and FTP data integration; machine learning algorithms, search & recommender systems, and natural language processing; data analysis and visualizations; technical and business writing.

Contact

Send me a message using any address you like with @gdrown.com — it will get to me!

Elements

i = 0;

while (!deck.isInOrder()) {
    print 'Iteration ' + i;
    deck.shuffle();
    i++;
}

print 'It took ' + i + ' iterations to sort the deck.';