Author: Patrick Boily

Patrick is a graduate from the University of Ottawa. He obtained his Ph.D. in Mathematics in 2006. He has taught over 35 courses at Universities in the Ottawa area since 1999, and worked on a number of projects as a federal public servant from 2008 to 2012. He joined Carleton University in 2012 to start and manage the Centre for Quantitative Analysis and Decision Support (CQADS), and is an Adjunct Professor at both the University of Ottawa and Carleton University. He is the president of Idlewyld Analytics and Consulting Services since 2016. Patrick’s academic interests reside in the application of mathematics and statistics to evidence-based decision support. He has provided consulting services to numerous entities over the years, including United Way, the Public Health Agency of Canada, the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Transport Canada, the Nuclear Waste Management Organization, the Privy Council Office, and Correctional Services Canada. He has extensive experience in operations research, data science and predictive analytics, stochastic modeling, and simulations – managing and being involved in numerous projects in these subject areas from inception to completion. He also leads various workshops and training courses on data science and statistical analysis through the Data Action Lab.

Data Science and Machine Learning

Patrick Boily

In October 2012, the Harvard Business Review published an article calling data science the “sexiest job of the 21st century”, and comparing data scientists with the ubiquitous Wall Street “quants” of the ’80s and ’90s: a data scientist is a… Read moreData Science and Machine Learning

Data Visualisation & Representation

Patrick Boily

What can be done with the data, once it has been collected? Two suggestions come to mind: analysis is the process by which we extract actionable insights from the data (this process is discussed in later posts), while visualisation is… Read moreData Visualisation & Representation

A Short Introduction to Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs)

Patrick Boily

What do you feel like eating for dinner tonight? Do you feel like pizza, pasta, or perhaps sushi? When you are asked such a question, you would usually provide (some sort of) answer straight away. But how do you come… Read moreA Short Introduction to Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs)

Data Analysis Case Studies

Patrick Boily

In Data Science and Data Analysis, as in most technical or quantitative fields of inquiry, there is an important distinction between understanding the theoretical underpinnings of the methods and knowing how and when to best apply them to practical situations…. Read moreData Analysis Case Studies

Fundamentals Principles of Analytical Design

Patrick Boily

In his 2006 offering Beautiful Evidence, Edward Tufte highlights what he calls the Fundamental Principles of Analytical Design. In this short article, we illustrate Tufte’s principles by analyzing the Gapminder’s Foundation Health and Wealth 2012 data visualization. Data Science Report Series… Read moreFundamentals Principles of Analytical Design