Empowerly

Student profile

Explain your interest in the major you selected and describe how you have recently explored or developed this interest inside and/or outside the classroom. Limit your response to 300 to 400 words.

The major I selected to study at UIUC is statistics. From a young age, I have always been interested in numbers from watching sport recaps on ESPN with my dad to studying for a math quiz. At first, I was involved in fantasy football with my friends, where I had to select different players based on stats to create a team. This sparked my interest in the field of statistics. To expand my content knowledge I took some courses online. As I entered high school, in order to get a solid background in statistics, I decided to take the highest level courses in mathematics that my school offered, while continuing my courses and playing fantasy football. Wanting to use my knowledge elsewhere, I engaged in research projects using statistics. 

In high school, I participated in a science and engineering fair presenting my research on the analysis of epidemiological factors influencing diabetes and obesity in adults. Even though I did not win any prize, I was equipped with knowledge and skills to participate in an international data challenge for high schoolers. For this competition, I  undertook an independent research project to tackle a real-world problem of climate change in California, related to the agricultural industry. While also learning about digital citizenship, through this project, I improved my knowledge in the applications of statistics in data science by learning data preparation and transformation. I also used this opportunity to sharpen my computational analytical skills using R programming and Excel. 

During my summers I participated in internships where I learned other computing skills for data analysis. In one internship, I learned and used Python to analyze large amounts of GSR (Galvanic Skin Response) sensor data of 100 participants collected while they watched various videos. Over the past summer, I interned in a robotics lab working on tensegrity legs. I learned C++  and used it for controlling DC motors on the robotic leg and used Matlab for motion capture and to create graphs and gifs to convey the motion of the leg squatting. 

Learning Statistics at UIUC would give me the best academic support to pursue a career in statistics and data analysis. I also hope to explore ways of learning computational statistics and using machine learning for big data. Enrolling at the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences will give me the best chance to continue my passion.