This website is currently under construction. I am (very slowly) populating it with my past and ongoing projects, so visit me every now and then to stay up to date.
Hello!
I’m paula vasconcelos
PhD Mathematical Biology
Data scientist at Might and Delight
About me
I’m a PhD in Mathematical Biology currently working as a data scientist in the gaming industry
I am skilled in mathematical and statistical modelling, machine learning, and data analysis. Trained as an academic, I am used to learning new skills independently, motivated by a drive to initiate and steer projects to their successful completion through careful planning, execution, and finalization.
work Experience
Data scientist
Might and Delight, Sweden
2023
- Experience with several supervised machine learning (Linear Regression, Logistic Regression, Naïve Bayes) and unsupervised machine learning (Decision Trees, Random Forest, XGBoost, K-means, DBSCAN, HDBSCAN, UMAP, PCA, Latent Dirichlet Allocation) methods.
- Experience with most relevant Python libraries such as pandas, NumPy, scikit-learn, TensorFlow, PyTorch, Matplotlib.
- Experience with statistical modeling such as Decision Trees, Time Series Forecasting, Cluster Analysis, Regression Analysis, Bayesian Analysis, Monte Carlo methods.
- Experience extracting and transforming data, and with feature engineering.
- Made decisions on metrics to track and data sources to use for our company’s main games.
- Designed and implemented natural language processing models to perform topic modelling and sentiment analysis on textual data (reviews, questionnaires, Discord channels).
- Designed and implemented unsupervised machine learning models to predict player churn based on metrics of playing behaviour.
- Designed and implemented unsupervised machine learning models to classify players into distinct groups (player personas) based on player behavior data and textual data.
- Performed network analysis on game titles owned by a subset of players of a game
- Made several dashboards and reports with KPI’s and in-game metrics geared towards different company stakeholders.
- Made a Slack bot to alert of new Steam forum posts and their sentiment score.
- Created custom data gathering scripts to extract relevant data from the Steam platform: reviews, users owned and wishlisted games.
- Collaborated with game developers on deciding what data to track in different games.
- Collaborated in designing company’s own database and data flow for gathering and storing game data.
- Collaborate on an ongoing basis with marketing team to implement results of data analyses.
Doctoral researcher
Uppsala University, Sweden
2015 – 2022
- Proficiency in calculus, linear algebra, game theory, and programming in several languages.
- Developed and analyzed both discrete time and continuous time mathematical models using Wolfram Mathematica.
- Developed and performed agent-based models in MATLAB.
- Developed algorithms for performing computer simulations and analyzing data.
- Performed statistical modelling (time series analysis, regression analysis) on data from computer simulations.
- Wrote four research manuscripts.
- Wrote several research proposals which were awarded with funding.
- Presented research findings in multiple conferences around Europe.
- Taught Philosophy of Science course to incoming doctoral students of the TekNat department.
- TA in the R lab part of the course Evolutionary Patterns for Masters students in the Evolutionary Biology program.
Masters researcher
Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil
2013 – 2015
- Performed bioinformatic analyses.
- Statistically analyzed genomic data using bash, Python and R.
- Performed statistical modelling (Approximate Bayesian Computation, clustering).
- Presented research findings via oral communications in multiple conferences in Brazil.
- Wrote one research paper.
- Taught lectures in the Population Genetics course for Biology undergraduates
web developer
Freelance
2010 – 2012
- Created and maintained websites geared towards affiliate marketing
- Created and maintained databases
- Wrote and optimized blog content
- Designed websites’ interfaces
- Optimized websites’ performance, layout, functionalities, and navigation
- Performed SEO
Education & SKills
Skills
Professional skills
Supervised and unsupervised machine learning, mathematical modeling, agent-based modeling, statistical modeling, data analysis, algorithm development, data visualization, web development, teaching, oral communication
Soft skills
Critical thinking, analytic mindset, problem solving, creativity, curiosity, attention to detail, flexibility, teamwork, autonomy
Programming languages
Python, R, bash, SQL, Ruby, MATLAB, Wolfram
Operating systems
Linux, macOS, Windows
Softwares and tools
pandas, NumPy, scikit-learn, TensorFlow, PyTorch, Matplotlib, Scikit-Learn, Numpy, Jupyter Notebook, RStudio, VSCode, Git, AWS, MATLAB, Mathematica
Languages
English (proficient), Portuguese (native), Swedish (intermediate)
MSc Artificial Intelligence
Stockholm University
Upcoming (August 2023)
IBM data science professional
Coursera
Ongoing
PHD Mathematical evolutionary biology
Uppsala University, Sweden
2022
MSC population genetics
Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil
2015
BA philosophy
Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil
2012
Recent projects
Natural language processing: sentiment analysis of depression in Tweets
Orchids: classification using machine learning
How Does Joint Evolution of Consumer Traits Affect Resource Specialization?
Consequences of life-cycle complexity to the potential for evolutionary diversification
The role of phenotypic plasticity on evolutionary diversification
Complex life cycles drive community assembly through immigration and adaptive diversification
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