Two civilian teammates attached to Military Sealift Command recently advanced their professional development by earning an advanced certificate from the Naval Post Graduate School.
Carmen Iannello, Lead Engineer for MSC’s Engineering Program and Logistics Specialist Vernon Ferrer of MSC’s Logistics Program both earned their Data Science Certificate (DSC) by completing the 12 month academic program, which ran from January to December 2021.
“The Data Science Certificate program provides education in distributed computing infrastructure and the application of statistical and machine learning techniques to appropriately manage and gain insights from data of all sizes and types,” according to Roslyn Williams, MSC Human Resource Specialist, Leadership & Developmental Programs Coordinator. “Data Science has emerged as an area critical to the mission of the Navy and the Department of Defense because of the central role it plays in intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, talent management, cyber-security, and logistics functional areas. Upon successful completion of the course work, students were awarded an academic certificate in keeping with standard practices of the Naval Postgraduate School.”
The Data Science Certificate is a one year Master’s degree level academic certificate consisting of four courses:
• CY3650 Cyber Data Management and Analytics (Q1)
• OS4106 Advanced Data Analysis (Q2)
• CS4315 Introduction to Machine Learning and Data Mining (Q3)
• OS4118 Statistical and Machine Learning (Q4)
“Self-Development is an integral part of the MSC Civilian Workforce Development Strategy,” Williams said. “As taken from the Military Sealift Command Civilian Workforce Development Strategy, ‘self-development is focused on the fundamental building blocks of personal experience, competency, and growth opportunities that begets higher level organizational success. Intrinsically, self-development requires both motivation on the part of the individual as well as organizational opportunity, and as such is a shared responsibility between employee seeking personal growth and supervisor facilitating participation. To provide for self-development, MSC invests in its employees through formal and informal learning and development related activities to close competency gaps and effect mission.’”
“Additionally, it is important to invest in oneself, and professional development is a way to realize that investment,” she said. “Professional development is not just about professional growth but also about personal growth.”
Vernon Ferrer, whose role as a logistics specialist focuses on the operation of logistics and data management systems, and in particular Ship Configuration Logistics Information Program (ShipCLIP) and Corrective Maintenance Logistics System (CMLS), offered some feedback about their experience at the Naval Post Graduate School.
“I wanted to expand my knowledge in the data science world to help with current logistics data metrics and future needs with MSC,” Ferrer stated. “The program definitely helped me learn new data wrangling and other data handling processes to use in answering specific questions in future projects including metrics development.”
“Do read the recommended reading prior the start of the program and adhere to the advice on brushing up on some programming languages, particularly ‘Python’ and ‘R,’” Ferrer offered to prospective DSC students. “I think NPS has a great program fueled by really knowledgeable professors. A definite win for anyone wanting to expand their data science tool kit.”
The Data Science Certificate program is open to GS 12-15, service members and Civil Service Mariners of equivalent status.
Pre-requisites for the DSC program include:
• Bachelor’s Degree.
• Background in statistics and some experience with higher level programming language as evidenced by transcripts or work history is required for enrollment.
• Command endorsement.
“MSC is strongly committed to providing opportunities for excellence. MSC’s external Leadership & Developmental program is a way to provide those opportunities,” Williams concluded. “Eligibility for the various programs range from GS-4 all the way through Senior Executive Service. The Naval Post Graduate School Data Science Certificate program is just one example.”
For those interested in applying, the tentative deadline for applications for Academic Year (AY) 2023-2024 is June 30, 2020,” she added.
The 2021 Naval Post Graduate School Data Science Certificate program was conducted virtually to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
For more information about MSC’s professional development opportunities, teammates can contact their Departmental Training Representatives or Roslyn Williams, roslyn.s.williams.civ@us.navy.mil.
| Date Taken: | 02.03.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 02.03.2022 10:12 |
| Story ID: | 413915 |
| Location: | NORFOLK, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 149 |
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