About me

I’m William Thyer, I work remotely as a data scientist in Chicago, IL. I have 8 years of experience solving difficult problems with data and maching learning. I earned my PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Chicago in 2023. I like cognitive science, bicycles, remote work, and cities.

My professional experience

I’m currently a Senior Data Scientist at Cohere Health, where I’ve been since 2023. I trained, deployed, and monitored a suite of ML models that have approved hundreds of thousands of insurance prior auth requests. I also engineered data assets that inform executive decision-making and support product development.

From 2018–2023, I was a PhD researcher in the Awh/Vogel Lab at the University of Chicago. I used machine learning and EEG to understand human memory. I conducted experiments, built open-source analysis tools, and published papers in research journals.

In 2022, I interned at Intuitive Surgical, where I built ML systems to provide real-time feedback to surgeons during robotic surgery training. In 2021, I interned at Spark Neuro, where I developed machine learning tools and visualizations to detect and monitor neurological disorders.

My life and interests

Urbanism: I went to undergrad at Florida State University where I lived near campus and mostly commuted by bicycle. Tallahassee is not a bicycling haven. I sold my car and moved to Chicago, Illinois for graduate school in 2018. During my time in Chicago, I fell in love with the city, public transit, walkable neighborhoods, and dedicated bicycle infrastructure. #YIMBY

Remote work: I work fully remotely and don’t see myself ever taking a job with an in-person requirement (beyond a few meetups a year maybe). I am very interested in remote and asynchronous working strategies.

PhD to Data Science: I transitioned from a PhD in Psychology and Neuroscience to a full-time data science role at a healthcare technology startup. I have a lot of thoughts about how to transition from academia to ‘industry’.

Language Learning: I am learning Spanish (currently at B1, intermediate level). As a memory researcher, I am fascinated by applying principles from cognitive psychology and neuroscience to language learning.