Jonathan Hahn

Q&A with Jonathan Hahn

Tell us about your background and how you got into technology.

I grew up in rural Iowa and have always had a passion for solving problems. I discovered the power of machine learning at an internship in the defense industry, when I learned about radar tracking algorithms. Since then, I’ve been increasingly amazed by our growing ability to collect data and infer incredibly useful information from it.

What is your role at WWT?

As a Data Scientist, I look at large amounts of data and attempt to extract useful information for our clients. Sorting and piecing together data is an important part of this process, but the most exciting part for me is in building models and testing out cutting-edge algorithms with powerful computers.

What innovation is happening in your technology focus area that has you really excited?

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been advancing at an alarming rate. Speech analytics, automated driving and image recognition have all been improved by deep learning techniques that we don’t fully understand yet. I recently learned of a machine that plays chess at a master level – not by brute force – after playing against itself for just 3 days and training a deep neural network. I am excited to see how we train computers that work more like human minds.

Describe a recent interaction with a customer that led to solving a problem.

We have been working with a mining company to track their fleet of trucks using an array of sensors. They required an algorithm that estimates truck location in real-time. We tested and delivered a solution that was simple enough to run quickly, but smart enough to handle many situations with noisy data.