Michael Gilbert

Back to All Education, Mathematics Spotlights

I am a data science instructor at Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York where I teach machine learning and natural language processing in the Applied Data Science Master’s program. I also completed a Master’s degree in that same program in 2021.

Our Master’s in Applied Data Science prepares students with skills in database management and design, big data engineering, machine learning, statistics and information visualization. As I have been teaching over the last few semesters, I have come to realize the value of my mathematics degree from Saint Michael’s. It helps me be a better teacher and, in my interaction with students, I can understand how a mathematics degree (especially one from Saint Michael’s) makes for better data science students.

As a teacher, the mathematics curriculum, as well as the larger liberal arts curriculum, at Saint Michael’s gave me a strong understanding of mathematics and prepared me to communicate the results of my work in a thoughtful and organized way. The deep understanding of the material and an ability to communicate that information is invaluable to someone who now has to teach that material to students.

Not only has the degree made me a better teacher, but I’ve seen first-hand how a quality data science degree is one that requires a student to understand high level concepts and apply those concepts to real world problems in our program, further underlining the value of my degree from Saint Michael’s. Understanding and practical application of advanced mathematical skills is at the heart of data science and I certainly developed them as part of the courses I took, especially linear regression analysis, applied mathematics and computer science. I’ve taken this ethos with me and tried to strike a balance between practical and theoretical knowledge in the classes I teach.

I’ve seen students who understand high level concepts, but have never had any practical experience with coding and I’ve seen students who have lots of practical experience, but do not understand any of the theory behind the algorithms they are using. Anyone with a mathematics background from Saint Michael’s will be much farther ahead in courses such as machine learning and natural language processing.

Mathematics is a language as much as it is a process for solving problems. Being fluent in that language provides a framework for excelling in a variety of disciplines, especially data science. There is too much ground to cover, if one thinks one can learn theoretical concepts and practical skills upon jumping headfirst into a data science degree. When one has solved differential equations, integrated tough functions or learned how to show the square-root of 2 is irrational using a proof by contradiction at Saint Michael’s, nothing is daunting!

Data science is a diverse discipline that includes subject matter from both mathematics and computer science. A student with a degree in mathematics from Saint Michael’s will be well-prepared to continue to study in both of those areas and enter the workforce.