Meet Erin DiPietro

What was your program of study?

Bioinformatics, M.S. Online

What was your Bioinformatics, M.S. concentration and why did you choose to focus on this area?

My concentration in the program of bioinformatics was the laboratory based side of the program. Obviously I'm a biologist by nature. But one of the deficits, I would say, of being a clinical embryologist is when we do biopsies and we take samples we sort of send them into this big black box and we send it off to companies and you really don't know why you're getting results or how the results are coming to you you're just sort of accepting what is given to you and so personally for me. I'm always and always have been interested in the why, and so I chose bioinformatics because I knew that was going to help me understand why I was getting the results that I was and to better understand and interpret the results for my patients.

What field were you working in when you started this program?

I came in from a very clinical side. I came in knowing nothing about computer programming and I would say, by the end I was probably a stronger programmer than my significant other who works in the field. So I would say that you know, even if you have no experience you can take this program and you will learn so much from it, and you will get so much from it.

What was your favorite course or course(s) taken?

My favorite course that I took in the program was the machine learning course because I had no idea until I took the course how involved AI, or you know and machine learning is involved in my field, and in every single field. It opened my eyes to a lot of the different algorithms and techniques, and it just was a great experience overall.

Have you participated in any program related research projects or internships while in the program that you can talk about?

Our final project for the course I did some machine learning training on data that was relevant to my field specifically. Obviously, I tried to take as much as I could out of the courses to apply to my field because it is very specialized, and I was able to predict fertility potential based on data sets using machine learning technology, which was a really amazing concept.

Would you recommend this program to others and why?

I would absolutely recommend this program to others, and especially if you have any interest in the computer based background of biology and I specifically would recommend it because you learn everything from the bottom.

Have you utilized any career services or participated in any networking events through NYU and can you tell us about that experience?

Be ready to be with a range of people that you will learn so much from. I learned so much from some of my peers and colleagues that I will cherish for the rest of my life. I met some people in my degree, who were physicians for many years and I met people who are just like me fresh out of College and the amount of experience and and the people that you meet while you're part of the program is probably one of the best parts of being a part of it.