Cao Lu

DEGREE/DEPARMENT

PhD in Applied Mathematics and Statistics

YEAR GRADUATED

2016

JOB TITLE

Applied Scientist

JOB LOCATION

Amazon

CONTACT INFO

travis.lucao@gmail.com

LINKEDIN PAGE

Link

I received my PhD degree in the computational mathematics track from the Applied Mathematics & Statistics Department. My advisor was Prof. Xiangmin Jiao. My research focused on efficient solvers for linear systems that arise from PDE applications. Before coming to Stony Brook, I earned my Bachelor's degree from Nanjing University.

Position Description

I am currently working as an applied scientist at Amazon. My responsibility includes demand forecasting and inventory planning. Previously I was working as a software developer. I helped build a system that automates operations of business analysts.

Structure of a typical day

I go to work around 10:00 am and leave around 6:30 pm. As a software developer, my daily routine involved system maintenance, debugging and building new features. As an applied scientist, I have the freedom to do experiments, survey papers and propose new methods. In terms of operations, I usually need to add logic into the models and explain the results to the business team. There are a lot of meetings in both roles.

How did you find the job?

Everyone is applying to technology companies these days.

Advice to other students?

Machine learning has become very popular. It is useful not only in traditional areas like NLP and computer vision but also in general applications. Knowledge of machine learning and data science can be helpful for both your research and job searches.