Student Researchers

The Independent Research in Science course assigns students to specialists in various domains to assist them with their research. This semester, some of the students will share their progress, findings and overall thoughts regarding their projects in this bi-weekly column. The students will have a chance to display their final analyses in the Science Symposium on April 28th, 2016.

Data Analysis: A Path to Starting Your Own Small Company

with Catherine Landry

For my research project, I was assigned to work at District 3, an incubator for start-ups. I was matched with E-Panneur, a company that specializes in e-grocery. As their logistics intern, I was given the opportunity to research on different statistical ways to improve their delivery.

Initially, this involved finding the average volume of a regular order. From their databases and their products, I thought of a system to classify all the items according to their volume. Once this was done, this database was merged with the orders of the previous years, giving us an estimated volume.

After weeks of working on the database, it was gratifying to reach a point where my efforts were rewarded and I could start drawing some conclusions. My supervisor and I analysed this set of data, and started thinking about processes that could optimize the delivery system. It was exciting to start from scratch and see all the progress made from week to week, especially knowing that this information will help the company grow.

Throughout this process I was given the chance to collaborate with various people, each specialized in their own domain. The two owners of the company, to whom I would present my progress on a daily basis, were among my collaborators. Ultimately, this opportunity allowed me to apply my scientific knowledge and methods of analysis to a real life situation, but it also taught me the fundamentals needed to start and run a small company .