Community Spotlight #2: Duncan Tulimieri
March 3, 2023
Duncan Tulimieri is a graduate student at the University of Delaware and a teaching assistant for ReproRehab. He has recently been improving his ability to write with clarity and conciseness. He enjoys problem-solving (especially programming problems), experimental visualization, mentoring, writing, and collaborating with his peers.
Tell us about your background.
I graduated from Dension University, a small liberal arts school in Granville OH, in 2019. There I majored, and was a departmental fellow, in the Health, Exercise, and Sports Studies program with a minor in Biology. I played four years of club ice hockey and ultimate frisbee. After graduating from Dension University, I came to the University of Delaware to pursue a PhD in Biomechanics and Movement Science in the Sensorimotor Control and Robotic Rehabilitation laboratory.
What sparked your interest in learning data science?
I became interested in data science when I realized that, if utilized properly, it can be a powerful tool to extract meaning from a seemingly arbitrary set of numbers. I became passionate about data science because I fell in love with the cleanliness, clarity, automation, and other safeguards it provides against making senseless mistakes.
What are you most excited about ReproRehab?
I am most excited to pass down the small amount of wisdom I have accrued throughout my time diving into data science. I want to teach others the lessons, good and bad, I learned along my journey so that they can learn from, and not repeat, the mistakes I have made.
What advice would you give to those who wish to follow a similar path?
Explore and embrace errors. If you hear someone talking about something that you do not know or read something that has a topic that seems like it may help, dive in! Go watch way too many YouTube videos. Go read blog posts that only make a little bit of sense. Go ask your peers if they have heard about the topic. Go get your keyboard keys dirty and implement the idea in a small project. At the end of your exploration, you will find that your knowledge about the topic surpasses any of the sources you have consulted. Beware that during this exploration you will be confused and frustrated, but when has that ever stopped you? This may seem like wasted time, especially when your screen is painted red with errors, but you will remember all the things not to do which is debatably more valuable than remembering the things to do. You will not be restricted by what you have read or watched, but only by your willingness to explore.
Anything you are passionate about outside of ReproRehab?
I am passionate about observing and conserving nature. Some of my favorite times during my undergraduate degree were during my ecology labs in the field where we went out to the biological reserve and saw what we learned in the classroom. Ecosystems are complex and simple all at once, just like the human body. They are fully interconnected and deficits in one area may result in impairments in a completely different space. I derive a lot of inspiration from nature because I believe time is the most powerful optimizer.
Anything else you would to share? (website/github/podcast)
If you would like to connect with me, please do so on LinkedIn. To get in contact with me, you can send me an email. If you want to learn more about me, check out my website. To see some of the programming projects I have done, and am currently doing, check out my GitHub.
