Carly Sunseri – Director of Data Science
Carly Sunseri is the director of data science within the Office of Planning, Assessment, and Institutional Research (OPAIR). In this role she leads the data science team in the exploration of research questions, using predictive and prescriptive analytics, to provide data that is fundamental to informing policy decisions at the University. She joined Penn State as a member of the Business Intelligence team in 2015 before joining OPAIR in the winter of 2019.
Carly holds a Master of Professional Studies in Data Analytics from Penn State and a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology with Business Management from Juniata College.
Tell me about your new position. How will your work evolve with this new role?
With this new position, I’ve taken on some additional leadership responsibilities as the new director. My team will continue to do a lot of the same work, but I’ve added in some of the new projects and requests from the board and Penn State executives. I’m also co-chairing IRIG (the Institutional Research Interest Group) which I’m very excited about. We’ll be organizing IRIG meetings and setting and facilitating topics for the group to discuss.
How does your work impact the University community? How does it affect/help the students and faculty?
Our work really focuses on developing advanced analytical models which allow the University to dig deeper into the data and find the “why” behind the questions they’re asking. With these models, we can not only evaluate what’s happened in the past, but predict what will happen in the future. This helps students and faculty alike so we can better plan for situations that will arise in the future from the data we’ve collected and analyzed.
How did your previous role prepare you for this one? What skills and experience do you believe are necessary to be successful in this new position?
When I took over as associate director about a year ago, that was my first time formally leading a team. I had led projects and had helped with training, but this was my first time as the leader. I had to learn how to take a step back from always being extremely involved in my projects and trust my team to do what they’re really good at. This was an important part of preparing for my responsibilities: being able to step back from the work itself and let my team do their thing. Being an analyst for about six or seven years previously for the University has given me a lot of insight into how to advocate for my team and know how to maximize their success.
To be successful in this new position, I think it’s very important to be able to build connections around the University, advocate for my team, and be able to explain data-heavy work to people without a background in data. In line with teamwork, I also think it’s very important to recognize and carry out the things that I can do personally to make sure others are successful in their roles.
What are you most excited to get started on in this new role? (projects/presentations/research etc.)
I’m really excited to work with different users and the requests from the Board of Trustees. By exploring data with new techniques, we can combine new facets of data in new ways. It’s exciting for me to see all these new, different processes come together. Having new data and new ways of doing things is always very intriguing, and I always enjoy a new challenge.
How do you expect to grow in this new role? What are some goals you have?
I really enjoy learning from and alongside my team. There’s always challenges and new projects and it’s fun getting to work with them and learning how to implement these new processes. My main goal is to support my team and make sure they’re set up for success. I just want to ensure that they have everything they need to successfully do their jobs, and make sure they know I’m here to support them every step of the way.
What motivates your work? What drives you to success?
I guess I would say my biggest motivation has always been my love for challenges. I like solving problems, I’ve always enjoyed that aspect of my work. My passion for problem-solving is really what motivated me to move into the data science field in the first place. I like when someone throws something new at me, it’s always interesting and enjoyable for me to find the best solution to a problem and find out how to make things work. I also love to see my team succeed. In this new role, my biggest motivators for success are to see my team succeed, learning alongside them, and figuring out how to solve problems together.
Is there anything else you’d like to share about yourself?
I’m just so excited for this opportunity to lead the data science team. I get to work with such an awesome group of people; they make it easy and possible for me to take on all the additional responsibilities that come with my new role. They really are great, and they make my job so much easier.