Past News

Elder Research is a nationwide leader in data mining, predictive analytics, and text mining consulting. Drawing from experience in multiple industries, Elder Research brings cutting-edge technology into front-line practice to achieve high return on investment. As a result, Elder Research data scientists and experts are frequently interviewed by various media sources, and Elder Research has been featured in numerous publications and broadcasts over the years.


2017

  • Senior Data Scientist Aric LaBarr spoke on Model Validation to Masters of Statistical Science students at Duke University. [October 31, 2017]
  • Bryan Guenther, Qi Program Manager at RightShip, presented “Overcoming Challenges Implementing a Risk Model in the Maritime Industry” at Predictive Analytics World for Business in New York City. The session highlighted the challenges of implementing Predictive Analytics in a unique, ground-breaking case study of predictive model deployment in the maritime industry. Prior to launch RightShip contracted Elder Research to validate the Qi models predictive performance. [October 31, 2017]
  • Data Scientist Wayne Folta’s article “Nested Cross Validation: When (Simple) Cross Validation Isn’t Enough” was published in Predictive Analytics Times. The article addresses the proper use and partitioning of cross validation to help avoid under-performance in predictive models once deployed. [September 27, 2017]
  • Data Scientist Zach Lamberty designed and taught a new graduate course Advanced Mathematical and Statistical Computing for the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Georgetown University. The goals for this hands-on course were to learn about advanced computational tools and methods utilized in the data science field, including how to use and administer cloud computing resources, useful utilities in the Linux environment, and the AWS suite of cloud services. Among the AWS services the course focused on general use services (e.g. EC2, S3), the Hadoop distributed computing ecosystem, the map reduce framework, and the application of these concepts to working with and understanding large datasets. [September 12, 2017]
  • Data Scientist Dr. Stuart Price taught the graduate course Mathematical and Statistical Computing for the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Georgetown University. The goal of this course was to provide students with programming background sufficient for graduate level study in mathematics and statistics. The course provided an introduction to R, SAS, Python and cloud computing. Statistical topics covered included data management, simulation, descriptive statistics, graphical displays, hypothesis testing, correlation, regression models, and simple multivariate analysis methods. [September 12, 2017]
  • Gerhard Pilcher was selected as an inaugural member of the new NC State Department of Computer Science (CSC) Alumni Hall of Fame! This extraordinary honor celebrates and recognizes the exemplary contributions the outstanding graduates have made to their profession, their community, and to the world at large.  The University hopes that award winners will inspire current and future students, while promoting the department’s global impact for producing incredible talent that embodies the University’s mantra to “Think and Do the Extraordinary!”. The inaugural class of 25 was selected from more than 9,000 CSC alumni and was honored at a special luncheon and induction ceremony. [August 29, 2017]
  • Miriam Friedel, PhD participated in APQC’s Data Driven by Design series. Organizations cite establishing a data-driven culture as their top challenge when it comes to data and analytics. To help address that challenge APQC posed the question: What is the role of the human mind (i.e., intuition, experience, acumen) in a business environment that’s becoming increasingly automated and data driven? [August 15, 2017]
  • Kelly Tshibaka, chief data officer within the Postal Service’s OIG, revealed the impact of using a fraud detection solution called RADR developed by Elder Research to investigate a spike in health care costs revolving around workers’ compensation claims and spending on prescription drugs at the Department of Labor. The increased spending was a coordinated effort between several parties attempting to fleece the government for millions of dollars. The scam focused on compound drugs, which allows multiple medications to be blended into a single pill but is billed full price for each medication. In total, the Office of the Chief Data Officer she heads has used analytics to peruse millions of pages of paperwork to produce more than 500 leads for investigators across the $13 billion the Postal Service spends on contracts annually, with “only one of them a false positive. Last year, our tools and models helped us contribute to $920 million in findings,” Tshibaka said. “Anyone in the position of having to do more with less? Your answer is data analytics.” Read more. [July 10, 2017]
  • The path to a data science career often takes unexpected twists and turns. Data scientists have professional backgrounds as varied as journalist, systems developer, or—in the case of University of Wisconsin Master of Data Science student Halee Mason—lab scientist. Halee shared how she went from lab scientist to data scientist, what drew her to this particular program, and what advice she would give to someone considering a data science degree. Read the interview.  [June 26, 2017]
  • Elder Research won $100M BPA to support The Securities And Exchange Commission OCIE. Under this eight year blanket purchase agreement for the National Examination Program Support Services (NESS) contract, Elder Research is eligible to compete for task orders and is responsible for Asset Verification, and Analytics and General Support. The National Exam Program strives to promote compliance, prevent fraud, monitor risk, and inform policy for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE). [June 26, 2017]
  • Elder Research was cited in the article “Neo4j and NASA: When graph database technology really is rocket science” at ZDNet. Graph technology is finding uses in all branches of science and technology and, courtesy of NASA, we can add rocket science to the list. [June 22, 2017]
  • Jeff Deal and Gerhard Pilcher were quoted in the article “Data and Analytics 101: Tips for Success in Corporate Training” at Training Industry. The article referenced their book Mining Your Own Business. [June 12, 2017]
  • Jeff Deal and Gerhard Pilcher joined Jim Blasingame on The Small Business Advocate show to discuss their book Mining Your Own Business and to reveal some of the steps organizations should take when using predictive analytics to gain business insight. Listen to the interview. [June 5, 2017]
  • John Elder was an expert panel member discussing “Human vs. Machine – Could Data Science & Artificial Intelligence Disrupt the Entire Hedge Fund Industry” at the 5th Annual Alternative Investment Conference hosted by Piedmont Fund Services. [May 30, 2017]
  • Data scientists from Elder Research discussed their experiences with using AWS and R for a client project at the Research Triangle Analyst Meet-Up. The client’s problem had a number of challenges, including wide data sets with a limited amount of data. The presentation included discussion about the use of Random Forests, Beruta, and Target Shuffling and was attended by approximately 80 analysts from the Raleigh area. [May 16, 2017]
  • John Elder and Bryan Jones discussed how to overcome data analytics challenges in government on GovLoop’s DorobekINSIDER LIVE titled “Data Analytics: Turning Numbers Into Good Government“. Data analytics can be a powerful decision making tool but agencies need to find ways to integrate them into everyday processes. [April 14, 2017]
  • Dr. Andrew Fast, Chief Scientist, Elder Research spoke at the Tom Tom Founders Festival Machine Learning Conference on “Using Data Science to Ask Why: A Brief introduction to Causal Modeling”. [April 13, 2017]

2016

  • John Elder was quoted in KDnuggets article “Data Science, Predictive Analytics Main Developments in 2016 and Key Trends for 2017“. Key themes included the polling failures in 2016 US Elections, Deep Learning, IoT, greater focus on value and ROI, and increasing adoption of predictive analytics by the “masses” of industry. [December 13, 2016]
  • Carl Hoover, Director and Senior Scientist, Defense and Intelligence, will moderate the “Using Big Data and Predictive Analytics to Forecast Future World Events” panel discussion at the 4th annual Big Data for Intelligence Symposium. [November 29, 2016]
  • Jeff Deal was quoted in RCMAnswers’ article by Sarianne Gruber who covered the covered the healthcare expert panel session “Predictive Analytics in Healthcare: What’s Behind the Slow Adoption?“. In the article she shares some of the thoughts expressed by the guest experts: Martin Kohn, MD, Chief Medical Scientist at Sentrian, Wasim Malik, Ph.D. from the Harvard/MIT Laboratory for Neuromotor Signal Processing, and Nephi Walton, MD, from the Washington University School of Medicine and co-founder of Brain Spin, about their personal views, experiences and challenges.  [November 22, 2016]
  • LeAnna Kent’s article “Data Story Telling: Bringing Life to Your Data” was published in Predictive Analytics Times. [November 22, 2016]
  • John Elder was quoted in the TechTarget article “Presidential Election Predictions Cast Doubt on Data Analysis” about how Donald Trump’s surprise presidential election win has media and pollsters soul-searching on the predictive power of data. [November 11, 2016]
  • Data Scientist Andy Janaitis’ article “Managing Shifting Priorities in Exploratory Data Science Projects” was published in Predictive Analytics Times. [October 28, 2016]
  • Miriam Friedel, PhD participated on a panel of Data Science experts at BigDataNYC 2016 conference in New York to look behind the data science curtain and reveal how to clear the murky waters of the data science world. Watch the full video here. [September 27, 2016]
  • Project Manager and Data Scientist Alan Briggs discusses the new Associate Certified Analytics Professional (aCAPTM) program at KDnuggets. The program is managed by the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) and enables employers to easily identify top young analytics talent. [September 27, 2016]
  • John Elder was awarded an honorary appointment as a Visiting Executive Lecturer at the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia for the 2016-2017 academic year. [September 19, 2016]
  • Data Scientist Ryan McGibony’s article “The Danger of Playing It Safe” has been published on the PA Times. [September 12, 2016]
  • RightShip recently introduced Qi, a next generation vetting tool that uses predictive analytics to improve maritime safety and sustainability. RightShip selected Elder Research to validate the model’s performance. Watch the video. [August 1, 2016]
  • William Proffitt’s article “Taking Action on Technical Success: A Fable of Data Science and Consequences” has been published In the Predictive Analytics Times. [June 12, 2016]
  • John Elder presented the “Top Five Technical Tricks to Try when Trapped” for a Data Science Central webinar on June 7, 2016. View the webinar here. [July 11, 2016]
  • Brittany Pugh’s article “Women in Data Science” has been published on the PA Times website for June. [June 6, 2016]
  • John Elder provides insight along with 37 other big data influencers on exciting current trends in “Big Data” analytics in a blog post from Valuence Analytics. [June 4, 2016]
  • Miriam Friedel, PhD gave a guest lecture in the Astronomy Department at the University of Virginia. She spoke to the students in ASTR 4140 about career options for undergraduates and graduate students in technical fields. [April 28, 2016]
  • Robert Pitney’s article, “Mid-Life Journey to Data Science” was published in Predictive Analytics Times. [March 2, 2016]
  • John Elder was interviewed by the Cavalier Daily on choosing to stay in Charlottesville after graduating from the University of Virginia. [March 2nd, 2016]
  • Ozan Ersoy participated in the halftime show at the Washington Wizards’ Turkish Heritage Night. [February 24, 2016]
  • John Elder was quoted in the New York Times article “U.S. to Further Scour Social Media Use of Visa and Asylum Seekers” as an expert on data-mining. [February 23, 2016]
  • William Burton was featured in a video by wralsportsfan.com for his research project predicting NFL plays. William attended Super Bowl 50 Media Day to discuss his project as well as the future of football. [February 5, 2016]
  • Bryan Jones’ article, “Why Do We Stop Asking Why?” was published in Predictive Analytics Times. [February 1, 2016]
  • The recent work of William Burton, which can allow NFL teams to predict the next offensive play, has been the topic of much discussion lately in places such as WiredDiscovery NewsNewsweek, and Science Daily to name a few. Mr Burton will be discussing this work at the upcoming Super Bowl 50 Opening Night. [January 5, 2016]

2015

2014

2013

  • Ben Bullard creates new US Squash ranking system which is 10% more effective at predicting winners of matches than previous system. [December 12, 2013]
  • John Elder’s 3rd article in a series of 11 titled “It is a Mistake to Rely on One Technique” was published on PATimes. [October 23, 2013]
  • Sarah Will’s inside look at Elder Research “The Musings of a (Young) Data Scientist” was published by International Institute for Analytics and Predictive Analytics Times. [September 4, 2013]
  • John Elder quoted in Digital Trends Article. The article, entitled “What’s the NSA picking out of your phone calls? Just ‘unvolunteered truths’” also features quotes from ERI partners Eric Siegel and Dean Abbot. [August 31, 2013]
  • John Elder’s second article “It is a Mistake to Focus On Training Results“, part of a series of 11 common data mining mistakes, was published on PATimes. [August 28, 2013]
  • Gerhard Pilcher’s second Big Data article published on Predictive Analytics Times [August 27, 2013]
  • Dr. John Elder Interviewed for ComputerWorld article. Read the article entitled, “No, it doesn’t cause cancer: The fatal error behind junk science” here. [August 27, 2013]
  • Alan Briggs presented “Higher Order Leadership for Data Science Teams: Herding Cats and Leading Elephants” at INFORMS in Minneapolis on [August 26, 2013]
  • For his contributions to the teaching program, John Elder was appointed an honorary Visiting Executive Lecturer at the Darden Business School by Associate Dean Kirby Armentrout. [August 1, 2013]
  • Elder Research representatives were interviewed for a Computerworld feature story. View the article starring Jeff Deal and Elder Research partner Dean Abbott at computerworld.com titled “12 Predictive Analytics Screw-ups — Make These Mistakes and You Won’t Need an Algorithm to Predict the Outcome.” The article is also featured in Spanish at cio.com.  [July 27, 2013]
  • Elder Research was featured in video about the DATA Act Demo Day on Capitol Hill [June 16, 2013]
  • USPS OIG’s data analytics models and RADR Visualization Tool built by Elder Research was featured in Federal Computer Week. View the article featuring Elder Research’s work here. [June 10, 2013]
  • As a guest for SAP Radio’s “Coffee Break with Game Changers”, John Elder discussed predictive analytics’ role in the financial world. Listen to the podcast entitled The New CFO Agenda 3.0: Tying Predictive to Financial Performance”. [June 4, 2013]
  • Elder Research presented about RADR at the DATA Act Demo Day on Capitol Hill on Thursday, May 16 hosted by Congressman Issa, Chairman of House Oversight Committee. [May 16, 2013]
  • Isaiah Goodall, Director of Business Development at Elder Research, was mentioned in this FCW article about the DATA Act Demo Day hosted by Congressman Darrell Issa, Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. [May 16, 2013]
  • A paper by Simeon Fitch was presented at the 2012 American Society of Engineers Turbo Expo in Copenhagen, Denmark, received the Best Paper Award from the Structures & Dynamics Committee. [May 14, 2013]
  • John Elder was featured as one of the “10 Most Influential People in Data Analytics” on the Deep Data Mining Blog. [May 13, 2013]
  • Simeon Fitch and Ben Guseman’s software development work was given an attribution in the paper, Effectively Using Affective Gestures, co-written by Michael Schultz, Assistant Professor of Music at McMaster University and Director of MAPLE (Music, Acoustics, Perception & LEarning) Lab. Clickhere for more information on their research. [March 26, 2013]
  • Bryan Jones, director of the data analytics group at the Postal Service Office of Inspector General, was interviewed recently by Federal News Radio:“New data analytics tool gives Postal Service IG head start on cases”.  Elder Research has had the opportunity to work with Bryan and the Postal Service IG for the past few years providing advanced analytics services and visualization tools. [February 14, 2013]
  • Practical Text Mining and Statistical Analysis for Non-Structured Text Data Applications, co-authored by Elder Research’s John Elder and Andrew Fast, was awarded the 2012 American Publishers PROSE (Professional and Scholarly Excellence) award for Computing and Information Sciences! The PROSE awards annually recognize the very best in professional and scholarly publishing. [February 8, 2013]
  • John Elder was featured on the Data Innovation Day blog in a post titled “5 Q’s on Data Innovation with John Elder” [January 23, 2013]
  • John Elder was quoted in an International Institute for Analytics press release titled “Landmark Data Scientist Study Reveals Benchmarks to Guide Hiring & Retention” [January 23, 2013]

2012

  • Elder Research published an internal press release, authored by one of our very own aspiring Onion News staff writers: “In a stunning turn of events, Dr. Andrew Fast was made Chief Scientist today of leading Analytics consultancy Elder Research. “I’ve really been acting Chief for a long time”, says the new Jeffe. “It’s about time somebody noticed.” Deposed Chief John Elder was initially unavailable for comment, and was last seen lumbering down a basketball court.” (Click here to view the full press release.) [November 21, 2012]
  • John Elder and Bryan Jones were interviewed for Computer World’s article “Predictive analytics go to work” [October 8, 2012]
  • Data Informed drew from John Elder’s plenary talk at PAW-Boston for their article titled “A Role for People in the Machine Learning Algorithms of Predictive Analytics.” [October 3, 2012]
  • 11Ants Analytics signed Elder Research as US reseller for predictive analytics software products. Read the Media Release here. [October 2, 2012]
  • The Washington Examiner published an article “Analytics takes center stage” about the Predictive Analytics World-Government conference in Washington, DC, chaired by Elder Research Director of Business Development, Isaiah Goodall. [September 17, 2013]
  • Antonia de Medinaceli was interviewed by Data Informed for their article titled “New York Police and Microsoft Turn Crime Prevention Analytics Into Service Offering.” [August 24, 2012]
  • Antonia de Medinaceli and Elder Research’s contract fraud model with USPS OIG were featured in this Washington Post article about the DATA Act. [July 10, 2012]
  • John Elder and Bryan Jones from USPS OIG, an Elder Research client, were featured in a Computerworld article on “Putting predictive analytics to work“. [June 27, 2012]
  • Jeff Deal was interviewed about ‘Waiting for Perfect Data’ [May 22, 2012]
  • Elder Research fraud detection tool, RADR, was featured in AGA Federal Data Analytics Report. [May 2012]
  • John Elder was interviewed by Business Monthly “Analytics: The Next Tech Boom?” [May 1, 2012]

Prior to 2012