Summary
Dr. Thomas Weinandy is an Economist and Data Scientist conducting research on a mobile two-sided promotions
market. He specializes in business economics and digital economics, particularly in managing complex and
big data sets. His work and research align in building insights or solutions leveraging econometrics and
machine learning with retail data. Dr. Weinandy also performs pro bono consulting from conference
organizing to nonprofit program evaluation.
Education
Select coursework
Doctorate in Applied Economics, Western Michigan University
Graduated May 2021, Cumulative GPA 3.8/4.0
- Fields: Econometrics, Applied Microeconomics
- Dissertation: Applied Microeconomics and Business Intelligence in the Digital Age
Masters in Applied Economics, Western Michigan University
Graduated December 2017, Cumulative GPA 3.8/4.0
Master of Business Administration, Wheeling Jesuit University
Graduated May 2014, Cumulative GPA 3.9/4.0
Bachelor of Arts in Spanish, Social Entrepreneurship, John Carroll University
Graduated (with honors) May 2011, Majors GPA 3.8/4.0
Certifications
100 Days of Code: The Complete Python Bootcamp, Udemy
Completed October 2022 (web portfolio)
Specialization Certificate in Applied Data Science with Python, University of Michigan
Completed December 2018
Recent Experience
Complete experience history
Research Economist, Upside
September 2022-Present; Washington DC
- Identify insights about users and merchants on a two-sided promotions market for gas, restaurant,
and grocery retail.
- Create thought leadership pieces from internal and external data sources.
- Conduct original research to drive attributable, incremental profits.
Sabbatical May 2022-August 2022
Economist, Foundry Brands
January 2022-April 2022; Dallas, Texas
- Helped the 10-month-old startup establish a Data Science Team.
- Built a pipeline from data lake into Python environment for local development and automated analysis with
most-recent data.
- Built algorithm to match organic keyword searches with branded retailers.
Senior Data Scientist, BlueGranite, Inc.
March 2020-December 2021; Portage, Michigan
- Built and implemented machine learning models using Microsoft technologies.
- Provided advanced analytics consulting for clients in the areas of retail, financial services, and health care.
- Direct internal AI strategy for four-person team of Data Scientists.
- Ran three webinar trainings on levering AI for: Azure Machine Learning, Power BI, AI Business Strategy.
Teaching Assistant / Part-Time Instructor, Department of Economics, Western Michigan University
August 2016-May 2020 / September-December 2021; Kalamazoo, Michigan
- Courses taught (with full pedagogical control): Principles of Microeconomics
- Assisted faculty with economic research projects and coursework.
- Courses assisted: Exploring Economic Data, Intermediate Microeconomics, Principles of Macroeconomics,
Women and the Economy
Computer Skills
Current Technology Stack
- Programming Languages: Python, PySpark, R, SQL
- AI/ML: Azure Machine Learning, Azure Databricks, Microsoft Cognitive Services
- Data Visualization: Power BI, Looker, Matplotlib/Seaborn/Plotly
- Miscellaneous: Snowflake, LaTeX, Jira (Kanban), GitHub
Prior Technology Stack
- Business Decision-making: POM*QM, Simul8, Microsoft Project
- Hadoop Ecosystem: HDFS, Sqoop, Ambari, Ranger, Hive, Spark
Writings
Publications
“Flexible Ubers and Fixed Taxis: The Effect of Fuel Prices on Car Services” Journal of Industry,
Competition and Trade (2021): 1-30. https://rdcu.be/cc8eC
- Winner of Best Graduate Economics Paper, Ohio Association of Economists and Political
Scientists, 2019 Annual Meeting, Cleveland, Ohio, September 2019.
"Volunteer and Technical Communities in Humanitarian Response: Lessons in Digital Humanitarianism from Typhoon
Haiyan." United Nations Chronicle 53.1 (2016): 29-30.
https://www.un.org/en/chronicle/article/volunteer-and-technical-communities-humanitarian-response
Seeking Publication
“Twitter-Patter: How Social Media Drives Retail Foot Traffic” (under peer review)
“Managing Multicollinearity Amid Big Data: A Case Study on Retail Visits and Tax Returns” (under peer review)
Current Research
“Artificial Intelligence with Microsoft Power BI.” O’Reilly.
“Predicting and Interpreting Opioid Treatment with XGBoost”
Special Projects
“Building a Twitter bot in Python to write bigram poems,” Blog post on dev.to,
August 2, 2019. http://bit.ly/bigrampoetry
Select Presentations
Complete list of presentations
Keynote Speaker: “Business in the Digital Age” International Conference on Innovative Trends in Business
and Technology, Virtual/Lahore, Pakistan, October 2022.
“Evaluating Collinear Economic Variables with Machine Learning: A Case Study on Retail Visits and Tax
Returns” Midwest Regional Graduate Symposium, Virtual/Toledo, OH, April 2021.
- 2nd place Best Graduate Presentation.
“The Peanut Butter Problem: Building an Out of Stock Product Recommender” Big Data Ignite,
Virtual/Grand Rapids, October 2020.
“Economic Lessons from the #ChickenSandwichWars.” Three Minute Thesis Competition—Western Michigan
University, Kalamazoo, Michigan, February 2020.
- WMU 1st place winner & voted People’s Choice. Finalist at Midwest regional competition.
Keynote Speaker: “Is a Recession Coming? The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Economic Trends.” Great Lakes
Ice Cream and Fast Food Association Trade Show, Battle Creek, Michigan, February 2020.
“Predicting Brand Sales with Twitter Text Analysis.” International Conference on Big Data Analytics and
Data Science, Las Vegas, November 2019.
Consulting
Steering Committee, Big Data Ignite Annual Conference, Grand Rapids, Michigan (2019-Present).
Financial Advisory Committee, St. Thomas More Catholic Church, Kalamazoo, Michigan (2017-2022).
Literature Review Committee, International Samaritan, Ann Arbor, MI (2021).
Feasibility Study for a Social Enterprise Bakery, Catholic Charities, West Virginia (2014).
“Prophetic Philanthropy: Building a Model to Predict Chapel Donations at a Small, Catholic, University” (2013).
Evaluation of a leadership training program for the Minneapolis-based nonprofit Students Today Leaders
Forever (2011).
Language Skills
Spanish (working proficiency): undergraduate major in Spanish; semester abroad in Madrid, Spain; five week-long service
immersion trips to Central America.
Professional Membership
- National Association of Business Economists
- Midwest Economic Association
- Data Science and Analytics West Michigan
October 29, 2022
