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MSDS Residential Student Profile: Ashley Miller
Ashley Miller
Education
M.S. in Data Science 2025, University of Virginia
B.A. of Arts in Music 2014, University of Virginia
Hometown
Charlottesville, Virginia
Q: Tell us about your path to data science.
I came to Charlottesville as an undergraduate student at the University of Virginia (UVA), where I tried a few different tracks. First, I was pre-medical, then applied to the commerce school, but when I finally chose a major, I settled on music.
I studied mostly theory and applied what I learned to sound engineering and music composition while here in school. I liked to synthesize using software and sampling, taking an interdisciplinary approach that incorporated these tools, my knowledge of traditional instrumentalism and newly acquired musique concrète ideas. I attribute much of my influence while at UVA to Ted Coffey, Matthew Burtner, Fred Maus, and I-Jen Fang, among others. I interned at The Sound, a recording studio owned by Mark Graham and helped build their new studio located in the McIntire Plaza, incorporating material science into its construction.
Once I graduated, I worked a myriad of hospitality jobs in Charlottesville. I appreciated that I could make people happy with something relatively simple. I kept working in different positions, from server to host, bartender and floor manager until I was tired of the long nights and waning business here in Charlottesville. The market seemed oversaturated, and businesses and employees alike suffered in those last years before the pandemic lockdown. This period was further punctuated by the previously inconceivable neo-conservative rally-associated riots and murder of 2017, which forever changed the landscape of the downtown restaurants and nightlife.
I heard about the M.S. in Data Science (MSDS) program while working at the UVA Medical Center as an administrative coordinator for medical scribes in the Ophthalmology Department. I was missing the Statistics prerequisite, so I decided to try and complete an online course to gauge my preparedness to restart my academic career. It made me apprehensive to think about going back to school after being away for a decade, but I knew that I would regret not giving it a shot.
It was manageable to excel in the class while still working full-time at the hospital, and I enjoyed the new concepts that I was learning. I found the prospect of entering an emerging field and working with bleeding-edge technology and methods extremely attractive. I wanted to invest in myself and my future, so I penned and submitted my application, hoping that I would be a worthy candidate. I knew that if I was able to grow my value as an asset, I would be given the leverage to accomplish great things.
Q: What do you hope to do with a data science degree?
My work in healthcare has been extremely rewarding, and it seems there are some interesting applications in diagnostic medicine as well as opportunities for data warehousing and systems architecture. I could also see myself entering the consulting space and taking a more ad hoc approach, tailoring my work to client-specific projects. I love tackling a new challenge, so the idea that I might escape the confinement of a singular domain or paradigm calls to me.
I have been interested in music as a passion, so I would also like to explore the intersectionality of arts and data science. I would like to know the value of applying machine learning and artificial intelligence to sonics. Are we able to glean value from audio much like we do with images or quantitative data?
Q: What has surprised you about the MSDS program so far?
I was excited to see that we have so many different educational backgrounds for people in the cohort. It gave me relief since I wasn’t a thoroughbred computer science or statistics professional.
Q: What are you involved in outside class?
I am a performing DJ and like to curate and put on shows for friends, at music festivals, and at venues such as The Jefferson, The Southern, and The Looking Glass. I am an avid yogi and practice most days of the week at Hot Yoga Charlottesville on Water Street.
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Q: What advice would you give someone considering a master’s in data science?
I would say do some research about your fields of interest and the companies that inhabit them. It will be helpful to know where you’d want to end up before you get too far in the process, especially for the residential program since it is so short!
Q: What are some fun facts about yourself?
I spent the first 13 years of my life learning largely unstructured at home with my family, entering the public school system in 2006. I grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, before moving to Los Angeles and finally to Fairfax, Virginia in 2003.
I attained the black belt rank of Shodan in Shotokan karate at 12 and competed in the Shoto Cup in Sydney, Australia in 2006.
I have played musical instruments since I was two years old. I started with classical violin, playing in the orchestra throughout my childhood, and now play the drums. I was taught how to produce music electronically by a dear friend of mine, the late Kendrick Castro, in 9th grade – without his influence, I probably would never have pursued a music degree or performed beyond grade school.
