Extreme Ownership in Data Science | Anderson Prewitt, PhD

About this Episode

Dr. Prewitt is a thought leader in innovation, education, and entrepreneurship.

In addition to working as an engineer and researcher with several Fortune 500 companies and universities before starting his business, he’s also an active researcher, author, and speaker in the areas of innovation, education, and entrepreneurship.

He’s given talks across the country on topics ranging from student success in STEM to how to leverage technology for business success. He’s also co-author of a book for students interested in pursuing careers in technology titled STEM Navigators.

FIND ANDERSON ONLINE

WEBSITE: https://www.andersondprewitt.com/

LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dradprewitt/

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/prewittsolution

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/DrADPrewitt

QUOTES

[00:12:03] "Data can also be used to harm if it's not done the correct way...I think a very good example is something like we look at things like systemic inequalities, systemic racism, systemic sexism, all of it. We spend a lot of time talking about the sexism, the racism, the inequality. We don't spend as much time talking about the system and really about race. "

[00:15:51] "I try to talk about A.I. in terms of raising a child or maybe whatever else... if you train that child up or that baby up and you teach them a wide range of things, they get experiences and you yourself have enough knowledge and actually take the time to learn the right things, teach them, then that child has a better chance of growing up and doing the right things."

[00:22:17] "I think that even some basic understanding of information can be misused for how one wrong line of code or not having a full dataset can affect people in real terms in real time"

[00:30:27] "If you don't know that there are multiple paths to get to something, you're only going to go down the road that you know"

SHOW NOTES

[00:02:05] Introduction for our guest

[00:03:25] How Dr. Prewitt got into data science

[00:07:56] Challenges on the path to getting a PhD

[00:10:43] Where is data science headed in the next two to five years?

[00:15:38] What can we do as practitioners of Data science machine learning to make sure that the work that we're doing isn't perpetuating negative biases?

[00:18:43] Think holistically about what you are building

[00:20:36] How can we educate ourselves on ethics? Where do we turn to for guidance on that to make sure that the work that we are doing is ethical?

[00:23:35] How to take ownership of your self-education

[00:26:17] Don’t torture the data until it confesses

[00:27:47] STEM Navigators

[00:33:02] How do systems work?

[00:38:15] How to use AI for good

[00:41:09] Advice to students who are interested in studying science, technology, engineering or math

[00:44:13] Going back to your book, STEM Navigator's talk about curiosity and asking why not? Do you feel that was a common thread or formula to success for the navigator's that you highlighted in the book?

[00:45:42] Battling imposter syndrome

[00:48:24] The cookie jar

[00:51:26] What can the STEM community do to foster the inclusion of people of color, especially black Americans in particular in our field?

[00:54:46] What's the one thing you want people to learn from your story?

[00:55:38] The lightning round

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