Shoeb Hosain, Faculty Lecturer, Innovates Data Science Education with Creative Solutions at McGill Desautels

Shoeb Hosain, the Program Director of the Masters of Management in Analytics at McGill Desautels, leads the "Analytics and Solution Consulting" course, which aims to equip students with the skills needed to tackle Data Science challenges across various industries. Under his guidance, students form teams and apply their knowledge in Quantitative Methods, Technological Automation, and Business Strategy to develop innovative solutions for real-world clients.

Hosain emphasizes the importance of flexibility and creativity in data analysis, preparing his students to handle the uncertainties and imperfections often found in client data. He introduces a five-stage data building priority, encouraging the use of internal company data, industry-relevant proxies, and both paid and free publicly available data. When these options are exhausted, he advocates for the use of Synthetic Data Generation as a viable alternative.

This forward-thinking approach, although met with initial skepticism from students and industry professionals alike, highlights the necessity of using proxy and synthetic data to bridge gaps when ideal datasets are not available. Hosain's strategy underscores the importance of incremental progress in data quality and quantity, enabling future success in Data Science solutions.