Eric Fitzgerald

(503) 819 – 5893eric.av.fitzgerald@gmail.com

3474 S 2000 ESalt Lake City, UT 84109

Summary

Seasoned Data Scientist in the Marketing Department of Backcountry.com, a large online retailer.Cross-team collaborator who improves spending efficiency and key performance metrics by apply-ing advanced statistical techniques to analyze customer behavior. PhD in experimental high energyphysics earned searching for new particles at CERN, the world’s leading high-energy physics facil-ity. Effective communicator across departments and stakeholders to encourage buy-in and results.Designed and wrote dozens of projects and thousands of lines of analysis code in C++/Python withregular version control. Quick and avid learner of new tools and techniques, whether breaking newground or optimizing existing projects.

Skills

Programming: Python (SciPy/NumPy), SQL (Oracle), C++ (ROOT), Shell Scripting

Software: Spark, R, Excel, Git, Adobe Analytics (Omniture), OS X, Linux/Unix

Analytics: Statistics, Modeling, Machine Learning, Predictive Analytics, Data Mining

Professional Experience

Data Scientist, Marketing, 6/2015 – PresentStatistical Analyst, Marketing, 9/2014 – 6/2015Backcountry.com

• Created and implemented unique efficiency algorithms using Bayesian statistics, decisiontheory, and linear algebra in an analytic hierarchy framework for the Search Engine Mar-keting (SEM) team to increase customer retention. This helped drive an additional 12%increase above expected growth in the customer base, and a 6% increase in new customerretention (re-order) rates.

• Developed a non-linear customer-level model with per-click behavior to attribute revenue andmarketing spend across channels beyond last-click attribution, saving thousands of dollarsover third-party consultants.

• Built reporting and analytics tools for the Retention and Acquisition teams, harmonizingmyriad data sources and outputting directly actionable numbers for peak retail holidaytraffic, resulting in the best holiday peak and overall quarter in Backcountry.com history.Collaborated with the SEM and Business Intelligence (database) teams to build a new setof reporting tables in the Oracle EDW, assisting with both engineering inputs and resultinginsights.

• Tested collaborative filtering recommendation algorithms for on-site and email personaliza-tion projects, with >200% increase in click-through-rate and 10% increase in revenue overthe third-party vendor. Continued to refine the features and segmentation of these models.

Research Experience

Research Assistant, Brandeis University, Department of Physics, 6/2011 – 2/2014

• Modeled the large expected backgrounds in the LHC environment using the ROOT softwarewith a multivariate regression to fit over control regions and extrapolate to poorly understoodregions. Isolated key features and variables to improve performance of selected events; myrecommendations led to a 15% gain in selection efficiency and up to 8% gain in measurementprecision.

• Produced the final data files and Monte Carlo pseudo-data for analysis team, with appro-priate error measurement and propagation. Set world-leading 95% confidence level limits onseveral hypotheses of Beyond the Standard Model physics. Created the final visualizationplots for presentation.

• Developed and managed the muon channel of the flagship analysis of the Exotics groupin the ATLAS collaboration. Presented to the relevant working groups and collaborationmeetings and incorporated their feedback, with the results approved for publication andcollaboration use. PhD work published in peer-reviewed publication (Phys. Rev. D 90,052005; ArXiv: 1405.4123).

Research Fellow/Assistant, MIT, Department of Physics, 9/2004 – 5/2011

• Calculated energy level shifts in a diatomic molecule due to the Casimir Effect.

• Computed quantum field theory corrections to spin operators in bound states.

• Numerically estimated solutions of supersymmetric gauged linear sigma models.

Undergraduate Researcher, University of Oregon, Department of Physics, 1/2002 – 6/2004

• Designed and prototyped readout circuitry for a silicon wafer detector.

• Constructed and calibrated new detector test stand.

Education

Doctorate of Philosophy, Experimental Particle Physics, February 2014Brandeis University, Waltham, MA 02453Dissertation: A Search for New Physics in the Dilepton Channel with the ATLASDetector at the LHC

Master of Science, Theoretical Physics, May 2011Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139Thesis: A Quantum Top in a Casimir-Induced Quadrupole Field

Bachelor of Science, Physics & Mathematics, June 2003University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403Cum Laude, Departmental Honors in PhysicsDeCou Prize for Outstanding Graduating Senior in MathematicsThesis: Symmetry Breaking in Scalar QED