My name is Alina Uzakpayeva. I was born in Kazakhstan, where I lived until I was 12. My family won in the Green Card Lottery, and we decided to move to the Northern Virginia area. I grew up speaking Russian, so learning English is still a continuous process for me. My strongest suit has always been mathematics, so I’m thinking about integrating that into a business education and career.
In my opinion, data science uses raw, sometimes difficult-to-understand data, and analyzes, transforms, and presents it in a way that other institutions and people can use it for a greater benefit. For example, data science can be used to identify poverty-stricken regions around the world and by doing so educate other nations who could potentially provide aid specifically to that region. Another example, that is current to the times, is the use of data science to identify areas around the world with high risk of contracting COVID-19. The US government then uses the data to rank countries Americans can travel to based on risk level.
Data science can also be used to promote a better environment for both people and animals to live in. For example, for my research project, I’m studying the transmission and possible prevention of rabies from animals to people in Kazakhstan. Researchers have used data science to identify areas with high levels of rabies amongst animals throughout the country, which can help the government better allocate the distribution of the rabies vaccine. Another example from the environment world, could be the use of data science in climate change studies. Climate change patterns are identified through the use of weather and precipitation data, which are analyzed by data scientists to provide a more accurate representation of the true changes that are happening to the Earth’s climate.
Similarly, data science can be used in the world of business and economics. For example, researchers could attempt to gauge the state of the US economy by virtue of analyzing the stock markets. Data scientists can analyze the unemployment levels to understand the economic state of various geographic regions. Overall, I believe data science is an incredible resource that can be used for human development. Until very recently, data was not publicly available, however, with the development of internet and other related technologies, more and more people are able to use the data for their educational benefit.