Suja Thomas
Photo by Michael Langston
Since the conception of humanity, ingenious problem solvers in the world of technology have transformed the way we as a species function and continue to shape our world. Technological evolution from discovery of how to harness flame, to a hyper-connected global society revolutionizing human communication, has always been led by those who challenge the norm and analyze our world, seeking solutions for modern issues.
In honor of and in addition to the legacy of all those who redefine our world and what women in technology means in the 21st century, we talked to innovative mind Suja Thomas, an area data scientist about her role in the field.
What is “data science”?
Data science is a field that combines mathematics and statistics, machine learning, and public communication. It’s applying scientific methods to data to analyze it, and then telling the story you learned. Data science applications are in technology you probably use everyday, like Spotify, Shazam, Google Maps: the list goes on.
What does this mean to be a data scientist, exactly?
It means that I analyze data (which probably involves a witch hunt for it!) and then apply algorithms to dig out significant trends that you could likely not unearth individually, or because the data sets are massive, or perhaps because you have a bias that prevents you from seeing it.
Which aspects of data science are your study?
My areas of expertise are predictive modeling, stochastic modeling, and of late, Natural Language Processing. Have you seen a word cloud or word mining graphic that you admired lately? NLP likely produced that! Currently, I get to work on a lot of government and country data, and I'm thinking daily about what models I can use to innovate new ways of generating insight to benefit our customers and the community. For example: Can we quickly identify what the public is most upset by due to a new policy change through processing weeks-worth of comment data?
Where can we see stochastic modeling applied?
Stochastic modeling has historically been used in stock markets, but I used it for my PhD dissertation in evolutionary genomic modeling. It's when and where I fell in love with plants and the stories of plants that most of us are clueless about. In this regard, I love being part of the process by which we understand our world.
Is a PhD still worth it in the tech world?
That’s a great question, and it depends on what you want to do in the tech space. If you want to be more in a research and development role where you are at the heart of innovating the latest algorithms and theories to be applied, then yes. If you want to hit the ground running, for example, building software products that people use everyday or spending time collaborating with teams and writing code, then I would say it may not be necessary. “Worth" is a strange word here- it's always worth it to me, maybe not "required.”
What’s a job feature of working tech?
The beauty of the tech world is that dissemination of ideas and performing work is simple wherever you are as long as you have a good internet connection. Especially when it comes to online courses and online communities, there is a lot of democracy.
Diversity of thought can lead to better problem-solving, yet women remain an underrepresented portion in technology fields. How is the experience for a woman in tech?
Top leadership roles at organizations are still, unfortunately, a large Boy's Club. While some are looking to even the playing ground, I am not sure all are doing it for the right reasons. “Diversity" is a hot word right now, and I worry that it's being embraced to just optimize revenue and image. There are still large gaps to overcome. It is much better than it was even five years ago, yet we have a very long way to go. This will take time and steady exposure to behavior changes. When I started off in this field, women were and still are very much a minority. The strategy I used was to grit and bear the discrepancies and even the obvious ignorance in the overwhelming majority of men I worked with because it was the road with the least obstacles and the most reward. Today, there is still a big skew in gender ratios in everything from access to opportunity and salaries, but the landscape is slowly changing. I have been fortunate to attain my graduate degree working in departments with an almost equal ratio of men to women, and work on tech teams in companies with strong female leads. There are several tech stars who have a strong online media presence and educate the community about best practices and new developments in the tech space. What I have learned from older and newer female tech companions is to stand up, and speak up, and be brave.
How should we address and assess bias or fairness in AI?
This is a really important and pressing issue for us to think about.
When we implement and use AI in algorithms now used for criminal justice, we have to be very careful about understanding the algorithm and the data we collect and use to train it to anticipate where there could be errors in its results. Things like when data was collected, at what stage in the process, and by whom are all factors of consideration. We also have to be cognizant about the objectives the algorithms are optimizing versus the end objectives of those who use the algorithms.
This is a big topic in the field, and there are really promising results and efforts around it. We have to move quickly to ensure that major corporations also prioritize addressing bias and that the public is educated about it.
Is there anything else you like to analyze?
Is there anything I would not like to analyze? I would like to learn and work much more with environmental data going forward. That is a big next step on my list. My biggest passion is nature. I’m an avid bird watcher, and my dream is to devote time and energy and thought space to solving the problems that nature is currently facing. Unfortunately, most of those problems have been created by us humans. The good news is that, unlike 30 years ago, we have tons and tons of open-source data and sophisticated methods to observe nature. We can do a lot today to creatively solve some of our environment’s most pressing problems.
What is it that you dig about birds?
My mind is always blown by the the process of evolution leading to their flight adaptations and ability of many widely varying species to fly and own the skies. Plus, what would life be without their beautiful bird song? Desolate and empty. At the grave risk of anthropomorphizing them, observing birds provides many valuable lessons in living at harmony with nature.
What brought you to Durham?
Initially, a job in 2011. I moved here again around 2020, because I had grown to love it and have amazing friends here.
Where are you originally from?
This is a tough one. Are you asking where I was born? Where I spent adulthood? Where I have spent the most amount of time? Because all of those questions have different answers! In order: India, Kuwait, the US. I am part of a few communities (shout out to my R-Ladies!) where I learn constantly from other women in several countries of the world, doing amazing work - Chile, Kenya, India, the U.S., Europe, etc.
What’s the best Indian restaurant in the Triangle?
In Durham downtown, it's definitely Lime & Lemon. In Raleigh, Kabab & Curry is hard to beat! Not too sure about Cary, but Udupi was pretty nice.
You have been a valuable component in the technology field shaping our modern society. What is next for you?
Apparently, it's just tomorrow, given how quickly things are changing this day and age! I continue to watch, continue to learn, but more importantly these days, continue to contribute towards a better world. While I enjoyed what I was doing at some jobs, at the end of the day, my soul wasn't being fed- my work benefited companies, not the world at large. Today, I get to solve problems that impact everyday people. This latter theme is a major player in my life going forward.