{"id":2059,"date":"2022-07-20T09:30:05","date_gmt":"2022-07-20T16:30:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/?p=2059"},"modified":"2026-02-24T13:14:37","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T21:14:37","slug":"data-analytics-audrey-dickinson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/data-analytics-audrey-dickinson\/","title":{"rendered":"Data analytics alumna: Oregon State has \u2018all the tools\u2019 for student success online"},"content":{"rendered":"
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After earning her bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering, Audrey Dickinson returned to Oregon State to earn a master’s in data analytics online that would allow her to have a greater impact in her career.<\/p><\/div>\n

Editor’s note:<\/strong> This article was originally published in the Oregon State College of Science’s IMPACT magazine.<\/div>\n

\u201cIf you say some vaccine is X percent effective, what does that really mean?\u201d asked Audrey Dickinson (M.S. in Data Analytics \u201921). The Oregon State University alumna went back to school to learn how to answer just such important questions.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Dickinson was working as an engineer at HP in Corvallis when she realized that a better understanding of data would make her work even more impactful. The value of data for industry really stood out to her, she said. Oregon State\u2019s two-year online\u00a0M.S. in Data Analytics<\/a> gave her the flexibility<\/a> to earn her credentials while still working full time at HP.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of great professors and the coursework was very valuable. Right away, I applied things that I was learning to my real-life job,\u201d she said. Professor Charlotte Wickham in the Statistics Department of OSU’s College of Science was particularly engaging<\/a>: \u201cShe has a data visualization course which has helped me immensely in communicating data analytics,\u201d said Dickinson.<\/p>\n

Ensuring ethical use of data<\/h2>\n

Since graduating from the data analytics master’s program online, Dickinson traded her engineering role for that of a Driver Analyst at HP, looking at key data points driving business metrics. In today\u2019s unpredictable world, the value of professionals who can accurately interpret data and forecast results is greater than ever.<\/p>\n

Data analytics is \u201cvery powerful,\u201d Dickinson said, but understanding its limitations is also important. Equally vital are the ethical use of data and integrity in how we convey supposedly cut-and-dry scientific figures to a public not initiated into the scientific process.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe talk a bit about that in our data science courses,\u201d Dickinson said. \u201cIf you report something in a very scientific manner, how is that interpreted by the general public?\u201d Although science is often thought of as objective, how we communicate it and present data has a big effect on how it is perceived.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf someone comes to you and they say, \u2018I can predict this with a certain amount of accuracy,\u2019 what does that truly mean? And how much confidence can you really stake in their results? I think that\u2019s powerful to know and understand,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Finding identity in STEM<\/h2>\n

Before delving into data analytics for her master\u2019s, Dickinson earned her B.S. in Chemical Engineering on Oregon State’s Corvallis campus. Although a minority as a woman in many of her classes, she \u201calways had a lot of support\u201d in her program, she said, finding community in Oregon State\u2019s engineering sorority Phi Sigma Rho<\/a> and inspiration in the excellent mentoring and involvement of professors such as Willie E. ‘Skip’ Rochefort<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a very unique person,\u201d she said, always participating in events like\u00a0Discovery Days<\/a>\u00a0to get students more involved.<\/p>\n

Dickinson knows the value of getting hands-on with math and science in early education, because her mom was a middle-school math teacher growing up. STEM was accessible and inviting to Dickinson from an early age, but she acknowledges that is not the case for students who may struggle with math and how to apply it practically.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think math and science can be this ladder-esque study,\u201d she said, \u201cwhere if you feel like you struggle with it at a certain point in your life, and then you progress, you may never feel like you\u2019re confident or you\u2019re good at it.\u201d Students can have bias in how they perceive their own skills, she said, due to past experiences.<\/p>\n

A solid support system can go a long way to rewriting the story for students who struggle. <\/span><\/p>\n

“It is very important to find mentors and people that you connect with to talk to about your career, the decisions you\u2019re making, what you want to do and how to achieve that,\u201d Dickinson said.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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For women in STEM, \u201cthere\u2019s still not equal representation,\u201d she said, and getting plugged into a community is particularly vital. Part of Dickinson\u2019s role at HP includes mentoring interns and new hires. She said these programs are a \u201cgreat tool for building relationships\u201d and making sure team members from all backgrounds are supported and welcomed.<\/p>\n

Mapping her future through Oregon State<\/h2>\n

Dickinson now works at HP in Washington D.C. Leaving the West Coast was bittersweet and gave her the opportunity to reflect on her time at Oregon State for both her degrees.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really found that Corvallis and Oregon State has been a home for me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Dickinson\u2019s story is also a reminder of how flexible and interdisciplinary a career in STEM can be. Although initially an engineer, more time on the job brought nuance to her perspective, and she was able to layer Oregon State\u2019s data analytics master’s on top of her engineering degree to achieve a weightier position at HP.<\/p>\n

Sometimes a career path can take unexpected turns, but in the end, \u201cyou really do get what you put into things,\u201d she said. \u201cGetting more involved at OSU in my undergrad days really led to some of the internships I ended up doing, and the job I ended up taking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her advice for future students is to take advantage of all the resources Oregon State has to offer.<\/p>\n

\u201cOSU has all the tools and the people to help students be successful and to really create that community,\u201d she said. \u201cFind the professors that you feel are strongly influential for you, or if you find a group interesting, get to know them!\u201d<\/p>\n

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Learn more about Oregon State’s M.S. in Data Analytics and Graduate Certificate in Data Analytics.<\/em><\/p>\n

Request information<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

<\/span> 4<\/span> minute read<\/span><\/span>Audrey Dickinson was working as an engineer at HP when she realized that a better understanding of data would make her work even more impactful. Oregon State\u2019s online\u00a0M.S. in Data Analytics gave her the flexibility to earn her credentials while still working full time at HP. \u201cRight away, I applied things that I was learning to my real-life job,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":2060,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,6,3,8],"tags":[159,32,219],"class_list":["post-2059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all","category-ecampus","category-features","category-students","tag-college-of-science","tag-data-analytics","tag-feature-1"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/assets\/Audrey-Dickinson-800x450-1.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7BNSE-xd","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2089,"url":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/online-data-analytics-brent-wolf\/","url_meta":{"origin":2059,"position":0},"title":"Taking wildlife research to the next level with online data analytics master’s program","author":"Grace Peterman","date":"August 22, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Brent Wolf is a wildlife research biologist with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. 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