Lab 2 – Benjamin Harris Bio

About Me!

Hello! My name is Ben and I am 26 years old! I’m a data analyst currently focused on various healthcare applications. In the future, hoping to take on more data analyst roles and/or data scientist roles. I grew up in Cincinnati, lived in Columbus (OSU for undergraduate education) for four years, and have lived in Cincinnati since living in Columbus.

In my free time, I like to spend time with friends and family, as well as stay physically active! I like to bike, play pickleball, and I just started rowing (at the gym, not outside yet)! Haha, we’ll see how long I can sustain rowing as a part of my routine; I just integrated this into my routine this past week. In addition to the previously mentioned activities, I have had various “daily step goals” that I have tracked with my Apple Watch. I currently do not have one, but my most recent “daily step goal” – that I accomplished every day for a few months – was 20,000+ steps. Getting this number of steps in was pretty time-consuming, so to help me accomplish this goal, I got a working treadmill to compliment my standing desk! This was very helpful in accomplishing my daily goal; I would walk while typing for a few hours during the workday.

Academic Background

• B.S. in Industrial & Systems Engineering (THE Ohio State University, Columbus, OH)
• Currently pursuing M.S. in Business Analytics (University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH)

Professional Background

I am currently a data analyst for CCHMC (Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center) and have worked there since 10/30/2023 (the day before Halloween); Haha, one might say I had a “spooky/scary” start! I am still in the “learning” phase of my current role.

Prior to my current role, I was a data engineering and analytics consultant for a company called Interstates. I primarily consulted with P&G and my tasks included the following:

• Creating data collection pipelines for different manufacturing lines via Linux/Debian
• Elicited requirements for Tableau dashboards and developed them for customers
• Configured and customized dashboards in Grafana using SQL and InfluxQB query languages
• Created scripts that enabled customers to remotely change operational parameters (e.g. spindle speed) on their manufacturing lines

Before the role at Interstates, I was a Lean Six Sigma Consultant for a company called Peerless Saw in Groveport (OH); This company manufactures sawblades for firms within the lumber industry. I took on this role while taking classes for the purpose of acquiring a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt certification. Fortunately, I managed to acquire the certification at the end of the role. To acquire this, I re-engineered their production process (same steps, different order) and in turn, this increased their daily output and furthermore, increased annual revenue by approximately $700,000. In addition to generating a business case, I had to prove the process changes were significant both statistically (before-after/2-sample t-test) and practically, as well as thoroughly explain my process improvements to a panel of judges.

Experience with R

Outside of this class, I have very little experience with R. I think I have toyed around with RStudio for my own entertainment a few times. In addition to that, I may have touched it for one or two brief assignments during my undergraduate coursework. As suggested in the introduction post on Canopy, I would describe myself as a beginner in R, but not a newbie

Experience with other Analytic Software

I have the most experience with Python (5+ years), some experience with SQL (1-2 years), a lot of InfluxDB (time-series database tool; 3 years) experience, a lot of Linux experience (2-3 years), and a lot of Minitab experience (2 years).