Emily Van Ark

Ypsilanti, Michigan, United States

Lead Data Scientist, Alteryx

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I have a winding and varied background of using data as a data scientist in the software, automative, and health care fields; teaching high school physics and math; supporting clients as a business management consultant; and researching the interior of the Earth while completing a Ph.D. in Marine Geophysics. I enjoy interacting with students and helping them build their analytical skills and their careers as they bridge their academic experiences to work experience.

Every year I go and give a Career Day presentation at the high school where I used to be a math and physics teacher. At the beginning of the presentation, I ask the students to guess what "Data Science" means. After gathering their input, I share that my favorite definition is "using data to make decisions", and explain that this can encompass everything from a really great static chart that helps you understand a competitor's winning strategy, to an interactive dashboard that helps you run your operations efficiently, to a predictive model that identifies which ICU patient needs a particular treatment, to a Generative AI model that helps a car drive or helps you draft a tricky email. I've been lucky enough to participate in most of those kinds of Data Science over my career.

I've been with Alteryx since 2021, and have enjoyed helping develop tools for Intelligence Suite such as PDF to Text as well as our new Generative AI AiDIN products. A highlight was presenting an Inspire Sneak on the Workflow Summary Tool in May of 2023! In my day job I use a combination of python, SQL, and Alteryx Designer to develop tools that help our customers do awesome things with their own data.

Before I came to Alteryx, I used Designer Desktop as a customer at both a large automative company and a small biotech start-up. It's one of my favorite ways to quickly, efficiently, and re-usably wrangle data! At the biotech start-up I also developed predictive models using python and tensorflow. At the automotive company I delved into data from manufacturing, customer service, and HR; I also developed many interactive Qlikview dashboards to help my users use their own data to make better decisions.

Before becoming a "Data Scientist", I used data to help my high school students discover the laws and equations of physics for themselves, and to help my business consulting clients make key operational decisions, and to study the interior of the Earth while completing a Ph.D. in marine geology and geophysics.

When I'm not playing with data, I enjoy playing with yarn (knitting), reading, hiking, yoga, biking, and playing board games and card games with my family.