Eric R. Xu, Ph.D.
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๐ง ๐ Brain Waves โ ๐ข๐ฌ๐ป Data Lakes
One of the most impactful lessons I learned in graduate school was from my professor, who told me, "Let the data tell you the story." At the time, I struggled to understand my experimental data, which diverged from my original hypothesis. He emphasized the importance of measurement controls and taking reviewer feedback seriously when drawing conclusions. I admired his dedication to data integrity and his willingness to publish unexpected results as long as they told a coherent story.
Fast forward to today, data-driven decision-making has become the cornerstone of our society. I believe we all have a responsibility to ensure data proliferation is accompanied by proper data hygiene, including deduplication, effective control measures, and unbiased analysis. Realizing I could make a broader impact, I transitioned into data science, completing a program with Kaplan's Metis. Since 2015, a year after earning my Ph.D. in Cognitive Neuroscience from Dartmouth College in Psychological and Brain Sciences, I've been working in the tech industry. I have over eight years of experience developing sound big data measurement solutions with diverse teams in software engineering, sales, law, and safety teams. I enjoy diverse ideas and collaboration to achieve better results ๐ค๐ค๐จโ๐ฉโ๐งโ๐ฆ.
I'm passionate about technology, automation, data semantics/lineage/ontology, gaming, and using data to reduce bias and enhance learning and fun to make better decisions. In November 2024, I completed a a 12-week Data Science and ML course from the MIT Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS) where I gained hands on case study experience using the latest effective machine learning techniques to solve common industry challenges. In August 2025, I completed a 6-month MIT xPRO Game Design program because I wanted to understand the gaming industry from academics in the industry. My project is building a Mahjong training app to help users get better using guided calculations.
