HAMDAN AZHAR
New York, NY
hamdan at prismoji dot com
Professional and Research Experience
Prismoji, New York, NY
Founder (Aug. 2016 – present)
Facebook, New York, NY
Data Scientist, Ads Research (Jan. 2014 – Apr. 2016)
Public Appeal, New York, NY
Partner (Mar. 2013 – Dec. 2013)
GraphScience, Inc., Palo Alto, CA
Data Scientist (Sept. 2012 – Mar. 2013)
Ron Paul 2012 Presidential Campaign
Senior Consultant (Jan. 2012 – Sept. 2012)
Columbia Business School, New York, NY
The Center for Decision Sciences
Research Assistant (Sept. 2011 – Jan. 2012)
United Nations, Population Division, New York, NY
UMInDS Fellow (May 2009 – July 2009)
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience Institute
Graduate Student Research Assistant (Jan. 2009 – Aug. 2010)
Education
The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Ph.D. Student in Psychology (Integrative Neuroscience Program), 2010-2011
The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
M.S., Biostatistics, 2010
The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA
B.S., Economics (minor in Mathematics), 2007
Selected achievements
New York, NY
hamdan at prismoji dot com
Professional and Research Experience
Prismoji, New York, NY
Founder (Aug. 2016 – present)
- Building a freelance data journalism practice focused on politics, culture, and society
- Advising media companies on analytics and data science best practices
Facebook, New York, NY
Data Scientist, Ads Research (Jan. 2014 – Apr. 2016)
- Led cross channel lift measurement research to quantify the incremental impact of Facebook ads on consumer search traffic (presented white paper at Search Insider Summit in Dec 2015)
- Designed large scale field experiments to measure the value of matching personalized creative to audience segments (jointly with the Wharton Future of Advertising program)
- Served as a data science point of contact for complex internal audits to guide business strategy and inform XFN teams (focusing on video ads and auction optimization)
- Piloted video creative best practices research that led to the "3 second audition" narrative
Public Appeal, New York, NY
Partner (Mar. 2013 – Dec. 2013)
- Led statistical arm of a quantitative political consulting firm
- Developed algorithmic approaches to microtargeting, optimal resource allocation, election day operations, and post-election audits
GraphScience, Inc., Palo Alto, CA
Data Scientist (Sept. 2012 – Mar. 2013)
- Served on the founding data science team at an advertising technology startup and Facebook Preferred Marketing Developer
- Developed predictive models to identify social graph signatures of top spenders
- Interfaced with engineering, and product teams to translate insights into business decisions
Ron Paul 2012 Presidential Campaign
Senior Consultant (Jan. 2012 – Sept. 2012)
- Designed and implemented national caucus state microtargeting strategy
- Managed data analytics for national voter contact operations
- Consulted on opinion polling and survey methodology
- Field experience in Iowa, New Hampshire, California, Nevada, & Washington
Columbia Business School, New York, NY
The Center for Decision Sciences
Research Assistant (Sept. 2011 – Jan. 2012)
- Developed statistical models of decision-making for consumer behavior in health insurance exchanges and consulted on experimental design of behavioral studies
United Nations, Population Division, New York, NY
UMInDS Fellow (May 2009 – July 2009)
- Evaluated advanced statistical models for estimating adult mortality in sub-Saharan Africa using sibling survival data
- Generated updated UN population projections and uncertainty estimates
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience Institute
Graduate Student Research Assistant (Jan. 2009 – Aug. 2010)
- Served as lead statistician on NIH-funded study of the placebo effect
- Conducted multivariate analyses of psychometric, psychophysical, and neuroimaging (fMRI/PET) data to investigate personality trait correlates of placebo analgesia in pain
Education
The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Ph.D. Student in Psychology (Integrative Neuroscience Program), 2010-2011
The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
M.S., Biostatistics, 2010
The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA
B.S., Economics (minor in Mathematics), 2007
Selected achievements
- 5 peer-reviewed co-authored journal publications in neuroscience and plastic surgery, including a 2nd author paper in Neuropsychopharmacology
- Merit fellowships from University of Chicago, University of Michigan, and American Statistical Association; completed advanced workshops in neurobiology, brain imaging, epidemiology, and biodemography
- Published extensively on culture, politics, and society, including in VICE, Forbes, The Washington Post, The Christian Science Monitor, and The Huffington Post