Purushottam Papatla, PhD
Co-Principal Investigator
Purush Papatla is the co-director of the Northwestern Mutual Data Science Institute at UWM and an NMDSI Professor of marketing at UWM’s Lubar School of Business. He is an expert in consumer marketing, specializing in Big Data and social media. Purush incorporates a mechanical engineering background and a deep interest in psychology and anthropology into his data science work. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Osmania University in India, a master’s in industrial and systems engineering from the University of Illinois-Chicago, and a doctorate in marketing from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He serves on the board of directors of the Marketing Accountability and Standards Board, and on the steering committee of the Forbes CMO Council. He previously served as the interim associate dean of academic affairs at the Lubar School of Business and chaired the school’s marketing area for many years. As a co-director of the NMDSI, Purush is working to further expand his own teaching and research in data science as well as that of his colleagues and all colleges across the UWM campus. His goal is to graduate more students skilled in data science while having a significant, positive impact on the Milwaukee community.
Amber Wichowsky, PhD
Co-Principal Investigator
Amber Wichowsky is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at Marquette University. Her recent book, The Economic Other: Inequality in the American Political Imagination, draws on experiments and public opinion surveys to examine how Americans are reacting to growing economic inequality in the United States. Her other research on Americans’ political attitudes and behavior, campaign finance, and political advertising has appeared in some of the leading journals in political science. She is an occasional source for media coverage of US elections, including CNN, NPR, Fox News, and several local news outlets, and her commentary has appeared in The New York Times and the Washington Post.
Amber is also the Director of the Marquette Democracy Lab, a research initiative that brings together students, faculty, and local partners to investigate ways to deepen and broaden civic engagement in our communities. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and was a Postdoctoral Associate at Yale University's Center for the Study of American Politics. She previously worked on community and economic development policy and performance management initiatives at the U.S. Office of Management and Budget in Washington, D.C.
Project Team
Savannah Charles is a senior in the Honors Program at Marquette University studying Political Science, Peace Studies, and Criminology. Post-graduation, Savannah is interested in pursuing JD/PhD programs with career aspirations in law or academia.
Adam Honts is pursuing his Master’s degree in Industrial Mathematics at UW-Milwaukee. He received his B.S. in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science from UW-Milwaukee and co-founded the university’s Data Science Club in 2020. His research interests include deep learning, image processing, and optimization.
Kaley Gilbert is currently a freshman at Marquette University where she is majoring in Political Science and International Affairs with a minor in History. Kaley is also the Vice President of Marquette’s Mock Trial team.
Ling Tong is a doctoral student in the College of Health Sciences at UW-Milwaukee. Ling’s research focuses on developing predictive models using large amount of clinical data to understand health outcomes. Ling is proficient in various type of visualizations to enhance understanding.
Emma Hazeltine is a junior at Marquette University studying Interdisciplinary International Affairs, Political Science, and History. She will graduate in Spring 2021 and intends to pursue law school.
Jake Beihoff is an alumni of UW-Milwaukee, having received his B.S. in Mathematics in 2018 and M.S. in Management in May 2020. Currently, Jake works as a Data Science Manager for Molson Coors Beverage Company. His research interests include text mining, image processing, deep learning, and marketing analytics.
Former Project Team Member
Katie Shanahan recently graduated with a Master of Science in Computing with a specialization in Big Data and Data Analytics. She is now a Senior Analyst, Credit and Fraud Risk at American Express.
Former Project Team Member
Ben Garski recently graduated with a Master of Science in Information Science and Technology from UW-Milwaukee. He is now a Risk Selection Data and Analytics Specialist at Northwestern Mutual.