Michael Turtora

Background

About Michael Turtora

The short story: I LOVE data! I love discovering patterns and building models for estimation, classification, and prediction. A “whatever tool gets the job done” guy that enjoys mastering new skills, I often had to overcome “impostor syndrome” while hopping from one specialty to another. I especially love finding visual representations of complex results to make the incomprehensible understandable. Focusing on the essentials of a problem to generalize without oversimplification gives me joy. The long story: I completed my Master of Science in Operations Research and Applied Statistics from George Mason University while working for the Branch, Northeast Region Research at the U. S. Geological Survey headquarters in Reston, VA. As a technician, I navigated unstable funding environments and maximized my organizational skills by simultaneously working on multiple projects across a wide range of scientific disciplines. As a computer literate, quantitatively oriented techie with a biology degree, I completed tasks from bottle washing (literally) to computer programming and experimental study design in support of projects studying the effects of human activities on aquatic ecosystems. After receiving my masters I headed north for a couple years in Boston as a team member of a study unit of the newly formed National Water Quality Assessment Program (NAWQA). As a professional project ecologist, my duties included study design and logistics; sample collection as a field-team leader; and data analysis. A significant achievement was finding a linear algebra solution to extend the capabilities of our geographic information system (ArcGIS) that drew on my understanding of food-web networks. From Massachusetts, my service to the USGS brought me to FL as study-unit biologist on the Georgia/Florida NAWQA where among routine duties I related toxic element concentrations in stream-bed sediments to the land-use of stream watersheds. I worked for the remainder of my career in Florida utilizing the versatility I developed as a technician to find local funding for a range of aquatic studies. Since my retirement from public service in 2016, I focused on my analytical and coding skills by working as a contract data scientist on projects from web-design to robotic process automation and even returned to my roots by creating an animated map of the recent Tampa Bay red-tide bloom. Having just completed an MIT Certificate course, I am hopeful that I will be able to put the new methods I’ve learned to work – whether continuing as a solo practitioner or as a member of a team.