With the Dathathon start approaching rapidly, many of you are looking forward to speak to the mentors and tap into their knowledge and expertise. But some of you might be asking exactly what the role of the mentor is, so here is a non-exhaustive list. Mentors are there to help you when you get stuck with the case. They will guide you when you do not know exactly how to apply a specific technique and will challenge you to do more, when you are going too fast.
Below you will find the next group of mentors that are looking forward to develop the next generation of data science experts:
Alexander Efremov
Alexander Efremov is Chief Scientist & Co-founder of A4E, Assoc. Prof. at TU – Sofia, Bulgaria
Alex has 18 years experience in the area of data science: oil industry (chemical plants adaptive control), satellite communication (tracking systems for mobile flat antennas), retail industry (automated applications for demand modelling & forecast), credit risk (automated applications for scorecards development), marketing strategies optimization and recommender systems (again automated applications).
He teaches courses in Technical University of Sofia and leads a postgraduate and in-house education program on Data Mining and Artificial Intelligence with R / Python. Also, he offers Ph.D. positions in the area of DS oriented to particular companies’ needs.
His Ph.D. is on development of fully automated applications for building of multivariable dynamic demand models of hypermarkets and his monograph is on data driven modelling of highly dimensional multivariable technical and economic systems.
Alex is an active member of Data Science Society and is mentoring Datathon teams for the third time. In Data Science Society he is engaged with the education stream of the society, connecting business & education.
Alex says about the upcoming Datathon:
“I am supporting people who are passionate about math & data science (from students, professionals to Ph.D.-s) and this is why I am a part of Data Science Society. Our Datathon is a unique event where such people are gathered in one (virtual) space 🙂 and together with fun & beer we are playing on challenging problems. Every time this is a great experience for me! I expect all participants in the Datathon, within these days to feel happy and learn more about DS. :)”
Simon Stiebellehner
Simon Stiebellehner is a Machine Learning Engineer at Craftworks and a lecturer in Statistics.
After having completed his Bachelor in Information Systems, Simon gained diverse industry experience, ranging from Microsoft to global players of the consulting industry. Subsequently, Simon obtained his Masters degree from University College London (UCL), specializing in Machine Learning and Data Science. Afterwards, he was a doctoral candidate and research associate, conducting research at the intersection of Neural Probabilistic Language Models and Recommendation Systems in a Real-Time Bidding context.
“Events such as the Datathon are important for the community to exchange ideas, educate its members and provide a ground for networking. Therefore, I am happy to be part of it and support the teams in tackling their challenges. I expect to see great, creative solutions and lots of happy but tired faces. 😉”
Georgi Mitov
Georgi Mitov is Vice President, Director of Research for Alpha Analytics and Optimization at FactSet.
Before that he led the Quantitative Analytics Development at BISAM, which acquired Finanalytica in 2016. He was with Finanalytica since its origination and over his 14 years’ experience, he has worked on variety of projects including Derivative Pricing, Performance Attribution, Modeling of Market and Credit risk with Fat-Tailed distributions. Before joining FinAnalytica, Georgi worked at Metalife, a bioinformatics company, doing research in the area of genetic algorithms and protein-protein interactions. Georgi has a Ph.D. in Probability and Statistics from the Bulgarian Academy of Science. He also holds M.S. and B.S degrees in Applied Mathematics from Sofia University.
Liad Magen
Liad Magen is an AI Lead at WeAreDevelopers, an organizer of the We Are Developers:: Keep-Current Meetup & Facebook community groups for developers and data scientists. With an extensive background in software engineering, Liad leads the development of products that assist data scientists, machine learning researchers, and software developers to get the most relevant information and to advance their career.
Liad was a mentor in the February edition of the Global Datathon. His words after it were:
“It was a very enjoyable weekend, and and an honor to participate with you. I learnt a great deal. Thank you!”
Leo Mršić
Leo Mršić is an experienced top level Corporate Executive, Entrepreneur, College Professor, Assistant Professor, Certified Court Expert Witness with deep expertise in an appliance of technology in different areas of business and government. Strong background in different areas (law, finance, technology, math) and fields (retail, business development) with focus on analytic methods and data management/data usage with an ability to extend its approach from operational through a strategic level. Active in EDU community. With a wide range of different experiences (Editor, Lecturer, Reviewer, Editorial Board Member, Advisor, Book Author) able to provide a deep and usable approach in many areas especially related to technology, math, structured decision making and educational methodologies. Independent EU Project Funds consultant with a focus on business evaluation and development potential. Registered consultant in GOPA Consulting Group database (business development, math/stat methodologies, labor market analysis, VET). Member of EC’s ESCO Maintenance Committee (2018-2022).
Assistant Research Scientist at Faculty of Information Studies Novo mesto Slovenia (FIS), Member of the board at Croatian Oracle Users Group (HrOUG), member and mentor at Young Executives Society in Croatia/Slovenia (YES), member of Croatian Association of Court Expert Witness (HDSVIP), Editorial Board member at Global Journal of Technology and Optimization (GJTO), International Advisory Board member at International Journal of Energy Optimization and Engineering (IJEOE), Reviewer at Mathematical Problems in Engineering (Hindawi), Member at International Engineering and Technology Institute (IETI), Reviewer at International Management Research Academy (London, UK), Reviewer at International Journal of Intelligent Decision Technologies (IOS Press), Reviewer at Journal of Universal Computer Science (JUCS), Editorial Board Member at Finance and Law Scientific Journal of Effectus College for Law and Finance, Editorial Board Member at International Journal of Digital Technology & Economy (IJDTE) of University College Algebra.
Laura Tolosi – Halacheva
Laura Tolosi – Halacheva is a Lead scientist for text analysis at Ontotext. Laura is part of the Innovations and Consulting Team of Ontotext. With main background in Machine Learning, Laura’s job is to help transition Ontotext’s text analytics technologies towards cognitive computing. She is currently working on NL understanding, relation extraction, data reconciliation.
Angel Marchev
Angel Marchev is an Assoc. Prof. at University of National and World Economy and a driving force at Data Science Society.
Prof. PhD Angel Marchev, Jr. has graduated in finance from the University of National and World Economy as a merit student. He later graduated master degree in Corporate finance at the Burgas Free University. He pursued a career as a Bank analyst but found it is too formalistic and there was not enough challenge. Angel is a PhD in applications of computer simulations in business.
Angel is at least tenth generation university professor and therefore it was only natural for him to choose such a career path. He is currently teaching at the UNWE and BFU on the subjects: „Stock markets and operations”, „Modelling and forecasting”, „Fundamentals of management”
His scientific interests include (the list is far from exhaustive): cybernetics, computer simulation, forecasting, quantitative methods in management, portfolio management, financial markets, simulation and gaming, self-organization, evolutionary algorithms, multi-stage selection procedures, genetic algorithms, neural networks, fuzzy logic, chaos theory.
Angel is loved by his students for his dedication, mentoring and straight-forward approach. He has a tendency to always push the boundaries of what’s possible and helps his students achieve amazing heights.
Here is what Angel said about the upcoming Datathon:
“Participation in the Global Datathon 2018 as a mentor gives me the hands-on possibility to be involved in the challenge of solving a real-life data case. Also witnessing the progress of the teams in solving the cases is a feeling second to none.”
Petar Nikolov
Petar Nikolov is a PhD student in application of quantum computers, where he is writing quantum algorithms with applications in different fields of cybernetics. Along dealing with quantum physics phenomenons like superposition and entanglement, he is designing technical solutions for a few teams working on different data science problems.
Pepe has several years of experience as a software developer, working on various projects, from embedded systems to neural networks for forecasting models.
He has interests in cryptocurrencies, cybernetics, forecasting, market modeling, bioinformatics, neural networks.
Pepe is a crucial part of the Data Science Society team and is always looking to help bright minds that are willing to learn, have a hungry attitude and are willing to give what it takes to learn fast. His thoughts about mentoring and the Datathon are:
“The most important reason why I have decided to be mentor at the Datathons is the satisfaction of being useful to the participants. Apart from trying to transfer some of my knowledge to the others, I also learn a lot during these events and even after that, reviewing the teams’ solutions. Being a mentor is a great opportunity for gathering experience in management, organizational, analytics and reporting skills.
The upcoming Datathon is a great event where many different people could be met, and along with the work on the cases, there will be a lot of fun. The diversity of the people will be really great – from experienced professionals in certain areas to high school and bachelor students who make their first steps in data science, all of them working together and learning from each other.”
Stay tuned for more of our amazing mentors and don’t forget to book your ticket before September 24 at http://bit.ly/2C4Di6b!
You can read the rest of the articles introducing the mentors here: Part 1, Part 3
The companies, providing the cases are: Telenor, Ontotext, Kaufland, National Statistical Institute in Bulgaria and Telelink.
We would like to thank our sponsors Telelink, WorldQuant, ReceiptBank and ADataPro for their support!