Jamie Boyd
Before Tennessee Tech University student Jamie Boyd of Lebanon, Tenn., became a computer science major with a concentration in data science and artificial intelligence (AI), she had long been fascinated with studies on data and what could be done with the information.
“I just really like looking at data, changing it, trying to figure out what's wrong with it, like how it all connects – the big picture," she said. “One project I did was that we took some attributes from a patient, and we tried to see in the data if there was a way to tell if they were going to die after having a heart failure.”
Her interest only intensified with the release of ChatGPT, the popular chatbot that can carry on text conversations with human users. When the time came to decide on a university, Boyd decided to follow her passion for data science and AI at Tech.
"Tennessee Tech drew me in because it is a technological college, and I'm a computer science major. I also saw some of the things they were researching here, and I was interested because I am going to go for my master’s," she said. “And it's such a pretty campus. When I'm having a rough day with schoolwork or I can't figure something out, I'll just walk around and breathe for a second. That's my little treat.”
In addition to her academic studies, Boyd also participates in clubs such as the Data Science League where members tackle challenges with data sets and listen to guest speakers share their insights from their careers. The club work is not only fun but also works to strengthen her skills in the classroom.
After also taking a few business courses, Boyd had started mulling over the idea of blending that knowledge with her knowledge of AI.
"I would love to open my own business where we are a team of data scientists, and companies can come to us and say, 'Hey, we need help with this problem. Can you help us?' and I send people out to help them. Or maybe if a business wants to build their own team of data scientists, we can go out and help them build up from the ground up."
For those considering data science as a career field, Boyd says to be prepared to dig into data – it’s not just a surface-level subject.
“You have to understand what you're doing,” she said. “You have to understand the data. You have to understand things, and so you have to have a passion for it. I love doing it. I love looking at data. I like visualizing it. That's my whole thing."
