Ben Merrill
About Ben Merrill
Ben Merrill is a Decision Scientist currently working at Ibotta, Inc. in Denver, Colorado, with a background in data science and experience in various analytical roles across educational and corporate settings.
Current Role at Ibotta
Ben Merrill serves as a Decision Scientist at Ibotta, Inc. since 2022. His role involves applying data science techniques to enhance decision-making processes within the organization. He has contributed to the Data Science Standards committee, where he helped establish modeling standards that improved the quality of internal models. Ben's work includes refreshing causal inference models in TensorFlow, which positively impacted key performance indicators by optimizing customer targeting strategies.
Education and Expertise
Ben Merrill holds a Master's degree in Applied Data Science from the University of Michigan - School of Information, completed in 2022. He also earned a MicroMaster's degree in Data Science from UC San Diego in 2020. His educational background equips him with a strong foundation in data analysis and modeling techniques. Ben has developed expertise in Python, utilizing libraries such as sklearn, pandas, and PyTorch, along with proficiency in SQL and AWS services.
Professional Background
Prior to his current position, Ben Merrill gained diverse experience in various roles. He worked as a Graduate Student Instructor at the University of Michigan, where he taught data science concepts. His experience also includes roles as a Data Engineer Intern at Fundify, a School Bus Driver at Denver Public Schools, and an Actuarial Analyst Intern at Great-West Financial. Additionally, he served as a Probability and Statistics Teacher's Assistant at Colorado State University.
Technical Projects and Contributions
Throughout his career, Ben Merrill has engaged in several technical projects that showcase his data science skills. He developed a universal retail business performance metric using NLP linkage algorithms to integrate various data sources. This project is currently being migrated to Airflow for improved data management. He has also automated analytics tasks for stakeholders, enhancing the efficiency of data visualization and decision-making processes.
Interests and Skills
Ben Merrill has a strong interest in computer vision, natural language processing (NLP), and search engines. He actively seeks to expand his knowledge in various data topics. His technical skill set includes four years of experience in Python and familiarity with data processing frameworks such as Spark. Ben is also skilled in using terminal commands, Git, and various AWS services, which support his work in data engineering and analytics.