Tag: Imperial College London Alumni

The PhD can be about more than scientific research

By Adam Persing.

I am Chief Data Scientist at MRB Partners, a Manhattan-based advertising/tech start-up, where I discover and develop machine learning algorithms that drive the firm’s products. I graduated from Imperial in 2014 with a PhD in computational statistics.

The main purpose of a PhD program is to teach a student how to conduct scientific research, but it also cultivates a skillset that can prepare a student for a career outside of academia. I have found that some of the most valuable elements of that skillset are:

  1. Communication,
  2. Market research, and
  3. Self-management.

In the following blog post, I will discuss each point in some detail, highlighting how the skill was developed during my PhD and how I apply the skill today in industry.