Machine Learning at Expedia group, lessons learnt and more!

Extremely excited to start the new year with our next meetup at Expedia with talks from two very talented data scientists at hotels.com. Having worked in this industry at hotels.com, I highly recommend coming and talking to the team about the interesting and challenging machine learning problems they solve that ranges from deep learning solutions to bayesian and reinforcement learning solutions.

AGENDA

6.30 - 7.00 pm - Drinks & Networking

7:00 - Introduction

7.10 - 7.40 pm - 9 Lessons, Thoughts from the data science coalface

7.40 -7.50 pm - Break

7.50 - 8.30 pm - Data Science at Expedia- Computer vision & Deep learning

A little about our hosts:

Expedia Group recognizes our success is dependent on the success of
our people. We are the world's travel platform, made up of the most knowledgeable, passionate, and creative people in our business. Our brands recognize the power of travel to break down barriers and make people's lives better – that responsibility inspires us to be the place where exceptional people want to do their best work, and to provide them the tools to do so. Whether you're applying to work in engineering or customer support, marketing or lodging supply, at Expedia Group we act as one team, working towards a common goal; to bring the world within reach.

Our portfolio of travel brands includes: Brand Expedia®, Hotels.com®, Expedia® Partner Solutions, Egencia®, trivago®, HomeAway®, Orbitz®, Travelocity®, Wotif®, lastminute.com.au®, ebookers®, CheapTickets®,
Hotwire®, Classic Vacations®, Expedia® Media Solutions, CarRentals.com™, Expedia Local Expert®, Expedia® CruiseShipCenters®, SilverRail Technologies, Inc., ALICE and Traveldoo®.

TALKS

7.00 - Introduction from Expedia Group
Speaker: Alice Jacques

7.10 - 7.40 pm - 9 Lessons, Thoughts from the data science coalface
Speaker: Katrina Soderquest

Katrina is going to talk about the lessons learnt as a data scientist in her journey from academia to the industry and the insights she has to offer to everyone pursuing that transition! She will touch upon her work in her post-doc, Tesco as well as HCOM.

7.50 - 8.30 pm - Data Science at Expedia- Computer vision & Deep learning
Speaker: Aida Mashkouri

Aida is going to talk about being a data scientist in Expedia, the R&D culture and the challenges they tackle. She will focus on the applications of deep learning, especially in the computer vision domain and how it can be used in the travel industry to create a better customer experience. She might also dive into a twitter bot that writes and tweets music if time limitations allow for it!