Database Reference
In-Depth Information
9
Jonathan
Lenaghan
PlaceIQ
Jonathan Lenaghan
is the Head of Data Science at PlaceIQ, a mobile geoloca-
tion intelligence company aggregating and analyzing spatial data for marketers. In
early 2014, mobile Internet users eclipsed desktop Internet users for the first time.
Projections show that this trend will only accelerate as we move into the future.
PlaceIQ is at the forefront of the intersection of
mobile ads and location intelli-
gence. Rapid growth at this dynamic intersection brings with it challenges in terms of
privacy, data infrastructure, size of data, and the ability to process the data intel-
ligently and put what has been learned from the data to good use.
Lenaghan's precursory
career
before venturing into data science spanned theoretical
physics research, editing prestigious science journals, and being a quant researcher
for algorithmic quantitative equity trading on Wall Street. After taking his PhD in
physics from Yale, he conducted research on the statistical properties of strongly
interacting quark-gluon plasma at Brookhaven National Laboratory, the Niels Bohr
Institute, and the University of Virginia. He served as an editor of two journals of the
American Physical Society: Physical Review C (nuclear physics) and Physical Review D
(particle physics and cosmology).
Lenaghan stands out as a prime example of a data scientist who has migrated
from physical science to data science via quantitative finance. This richly varied
background informs Lenaghan's nuanced appreciation of the risk dimensions of
data science, his optimistic pragmatism, and his conviction that useful data science
depends critically on a sound engineering foundation.
