Sarah Wooster

About Me

Meet Sarah! Sarah is currently pursing a Master's Degree in Statistics and Data Science at UNC-Chapel Hill. She is a former full-time Data Analyst at Vanguard and a 2024 graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill with a dual undergraduate degree in Statistics and Information Science and a minor in Data Science. She is particularly interested in the intersection and use of analytics in society, which she explores in pursuits outside of her courses. She is Raleigh-born and bred, but now based in Chapel Hill, NC.

Sarah was a member of Vanguard's Technology Leadership Program, a 24-month rotational program meant to fast-track early-career professionals into advanced analytical roles. The program consists of 3 rotations through the business, each furthering a different technical skillset.

In the summer of 2023, Sarah interned at Cisco Systems in the Chief Data Analytics Office as a Data Analyst. She designed and produced a Python chatbot in Webex that identified potential data pipeline issues. The previous summer, Sarah worked as a Customer Experience and Digital Innovation intern at GlaxoSmithKline, where she developed a controlled vocabulary and taxonomy from the company’s branded websites, assisting in the company culture shift to become patient-focused. During her time at Carolina, she was the Editor for the Data Desk at the Daily Tar Heel, the award-winning university newspaper of UNC-CH. The desk supported and enhanced other desks with data-driven insights. For an example of the work she has done with the DTH, click here. She was also a student researcher for the Sports Analysis Intelligence Laboratory (SAIL).

In her personal life, Sarah pursues a myriad of extracurricular activities that further her dance education. She began dancing when she was three and joined a pre-professional ballet program at the Raleigh School of Ballet in high school. She has continued to dance outside of college and still finds opportunities to dance semi-professionally.

Projects

As a part of her academic journey, Sarah has engaged in a multitude of technology-focused projects. Examples of her work may be seen below.

The best example of her work in data analysis and interpretation lives in Decoding the Diamond. Decoding the Diamond applied machine learning techniques intending to predict how a batter will hit a baseball. The analysis employed advanced analysis methods such as neural networks, and due to the importance of the ability to relay the information to a technical and non-technical audience, focused heavily on visual interpretations. Sarah’s primary contribution was the focus on sharing insights to both a non-technical but sports-savvy and a technical but sports-naive audience. She utilized HTML/CSS and R coding languages to analyze the data and package it for audience interpretation.

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Data Journalism

“We're born problem solvers. We're compelled to deduce and to deduct because that's what we do in real life. It's this well-organized absence of information that draws us in… Make the audience put things together. Don't give them four, give them two plus two. The elements you provide and the order you place them in is crucial to whether you succeed or fail at engaging the audience.” — Andrew Stanton

Sarah’s work with The Daily Tar Heel exemplifies her work in bridging the society’s gap in knowledge regarding data. Beginning as Assistant Editor, she strove to increase data literacy through her work with the DTH. She achieved this through her collaboration with other desks and disciplines, placing data at the forefront of investigative journalism. In 2024, she was promoted to Co-Editor.

Some work she is especially proud of is the live results for the 2023 municipal election in Orange County. Working alongside fellow editor, Anh Nguyen, they provided current and accurate results to their audience. Data staffers Kate Bailey and Leo Davidson used data journalism principles to engage their audience in the numbers.

Connect

Thank you for your interest in connecting! The best way to contact Sarah is through LinkedIn.

• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• GitHub

Elements

i = 0;

while (!deck.isInOrder()) {
    print 'Iteration ' + i;
    deck.shuffle();
    i++;
}

print 'It took ' + i + ' iterations to sort the deck.';