Data Journeys

Emily Glassberg Sands is the Head of Data Science at Coursera - the largest online learning platform for higher education with 35M learners from around the world. Her team leads the quantitative measurement, experimentation, and inference that informs Coursera’s product and business direction.   Emily received her Bachelor's’ degree in Economics from Princeton University, and then moved on to complete her Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University. At Harvard, her research focused on experimental and applied methods to better understand labor markets and consumer decision-making.   An economist by training, Emily loves using data to build better, smarter products that have a positive impact on society. In this interview, we discuss the insights into Emily has found in her work at Coursera and how they can be applied to give everyone in the world equal access to education. We covered topics like:   Emily’s journey to a career in science, and how she went from from Montessori school, to the farms of Montana, t