Writings

Below you can find my writings on machine learning, data science, and technology. Enjoy!
Should I Go To Insight Data Science?
Insight promises an easy transition from academia to a career in data science or machine learning, but is it the right program for you? I have a few words of advice offered from experience.
Improving An Old Supernova Plot
I learned to use matplotlib more than ten years ago. Around that time, I made a plot of supernova 2002cx for Wikipedia, but it was not terrible good. So this year, I updated it!
Python Patterns: max Instead of if
I often have to loop over a set of objects to find the one with the greatest score. You can use an if statement and a placeholder, but there are more elegant ways!
My PhD Thesis, In Short
I graduated from the University of Minnesota in June, 2015. I wrote an esoteric thesis about Z boson decay, which I explain here.
Making Animations Quickly with Matplotlib Blitting
Animating plots is great way to show how some quantity changes in time, but they can be slow to generate in matplotlib! Thankfully, blitting makes animating much faster! Learn how to here!
The Typical Successful Career Starts with Rejection
When I applied for graduate school I was rejected, not by a few good grad schools, but by all of them! But thanks to a little kindness, I was able to continue onward.
Rise and Fall of Popular Names
The popularity of baby names rises and falls based on the tastes of each generation of parents. Are their preferences the same for boy's names as for girl's names? I plot the trends to find out!
Should I Get a PhD?
In 2009, having little or no money in my purse, I thought I would go to graduate school in physics. But was it the right idea? And should you follow in my footsteps?
Fate Dice: Statistics Testing Is Hard
A few months ago I tested my Fate dice for biases. Now, I retest the "biased" set and see if it really is unlucky! Unfortunately, things aren't so clear...
How Fast Does a Raspberry Pi Reboot?
My Raspberry Pis have to reboot every evening to avoid a memory leak. As they say, when you have a memory leak, make animated plots to see how fast they reboot!