Muskan is a Master’s student in the Department of Computer Science at Iowa State University. Originally from Raipur, India, she has her Bachelor’s from National Institute of Technology, India and has 5+ years of professional experience as data scientist in healthcare as well as retail sector. Her interests and experience span across industries and applications of machine learning and artificial intelligence. She finds real-world projects that benefit communities using data science to be deeply rewarding, holistic, and aligned with her values. She also tries to be a strong advocate for ethical and responsible AI and using data and AI for social good. Her ultimate desire is to contribute towards improving healthcare or human-care by creating algorithms that assist in decision-making.
Being a DSPG fellow allowed me to partner with people from diverse backgrounds, experiences, and stories. The current data science field needs leaders that are not only in tune with the right skills but are also innovators and thinkers. In my opinion, DSPG provides an ideal opportunity to engage with data science thought leaders and expand my skillsets to broader strategy, execution, and engagement at the rural community level. This program gave me a chance to improve my data science skills, programming skills, and most importantly the teamwork or managerial skills. I learnt more about the challenges or problems faced by local farmers/communities and how these can be solved using the right technology and the right team. I gained more experience in creating structured datasets that can be explored for research or analysis from unstructured data.