Yihua Liu
Verified Expert in Engineering
Data Science Developer
Orlando, FL, United States
Toptal member since July 28, 2021
Yihua is a lead data scientist with over a decade of experience across various companies and teams. With several industry journal publications, speaking engagements, and extensive client-facing experience, he enjoys sharing and discussing his work with audiences of all backgrounds, including C-suite executives and non-technical stakeholders.
Portfolio
Experience
- Statistics - 10 years
- Analytics - 8 years
- Tableau - 8 years
- SQL - 7 years
- Machine Learning - 6 years
- Big Data - 6 years
- Python - 5 years
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) - 5 years
Availability
Preferred Environment
Python 3, SQL, Machine Learning, Analytics, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Tableau
The most amazing...
...and highest-impact project I've worked on is Covered California, the state of California's health insurance marketplace.
Work Experience
Senior Data Scientist
SimIS
- Improved learner behavior prediction accuracy from a 21% baseline (recommended next action) to 66% on unseen test data via a long short-term memory recurrent neural network (LSTM RNN) model.
- Predicted course completion with Matthews correlation coefficient 0.51 using Experience API (xAPI) student log data and built the corresponding explanatory model via factor analysis.
- Co-authored an e-learning metadata analytics strategy distributed across the Department of Defense and chaired the stakeholder working group on its adoption and implementation.
Business Analyst
Accenture
- Eliminated test case redundancies via Excel data analysis, cutting testing time by nearly 15%.
- Led deliverable review sessions with high-level stakeholders across multiple teams to ensure business requirement compliance.
- Performed ad hoc defect analysis to facilitate efficient prioritization of cross-functional effort.
Experience
Educational Outcomes Prediction
In the exploratory phase, we find methods to reduce the minority achievement gap and improve all students' outcomes. Next, we attempt to predict future test scores via several regression models. Finally, we predict whether students will graduate from high school and whether they will take a college entrance examination—SAT or ACT.
Although these events occur nearly a decade after third grade for most students, we were able to perform relatively well, with ROC AUC (area under the curve) scores between 0.7 and 0.8 on unseen test data.
Education
Master's Degree in Statistics
University of Central Florida - Orlando, FL
Bachelor's Degree in Mathematics
University of California, Berkeley - Berkeley, CA
Skills
Tools
Tableau
Languages
SQL, Python 3, Python
Other
Machine Learning, Analytics, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, Statistics, Big Data
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