Open to Opportunities

Srika Raja

Data Scientist & Statistician

Passionate about extracting insights from complex data through advanced statistical analysis, machine learning, and research methodologies. Experienced in developing scalable solutions for real-world problems. Published researcher with a CRAN package and experience building enterprise-scale analytics solutions.

3.93 GPA
5+ Programming Languages
pPCA CRAN Package
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Srika Raja
Iowa State University B.S. Statistics & Data Science Graduated December 2025
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Experience

Professional Journey

Research, internship, and leadership experience in data science and education

Data Science & Analytics Intern

John Deere Financial
Ames, IA May 2025 – Aug 2025
  • Built and integrated the Global Wholesale Portfolio Health Dashboard into the Channel Analytics application, featuring interactive maps, trend graphs, and currency conversion, providing leadership with real-time visibility into dealer portfolio health and risk across countries.
  • Designed Databricks ETL pipelines to extract FSCM data from the Enterprise Data Lake, process it, and load it into Amazon S3 for seamless integration with R Shiny, ensuring compliance with European data privacy regulations.
  • Replaced 35+ static Excel reports with an automated, centralized dashboard, reducing manual reporting time and enabling faster, data-driven decision-making on dealer credit risk and portfolio health.
  • Operated in an Agile framework with weekly check-ins, standups, and structured code reviews to maintain quality, adapt priorities, and deliver milestones on schedule.
Databricks PySpark R Shiny Amazon S3 SQL

Data Science Intern

Iowa State University Extension & Outreach
Ames, IA May 2023 – Jul 2023
  • Developed a web application for the Farm, Food and Enterprise Development (FFED), Community and Economic Development branch of Iowa State University Extension and Outreach which helps rural grocery store owners to decide a less competitive location and estimate the profit for the given expenses.
  • Analyzed a lot of data from various sources including USDA (United States Department of Agriculture), ACS (American Community Survey), and BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) to get background knowledge on the topic and narrow down the factors to consider.
  • Utilized various packages in R like the Tidyverse and Tidycensus to clean, analyze and visualize data.
  • Coordinated team workflow by distributing responsibilities, collaborating via GitHub for version control, and creating a documentation website to track contributions and project progress for future reference.
R Tidyverse Tidycensus GitHub

Tutor & SI Leader

Iowa State University Academic Success Center
Ames, IA Feb 2023 – May 2024
  • Tutored Calculus II and helped students better understand concepts and 90% of the tutees saw increases in grades.
  • Built and managed small learning groups. Promoted teamwork by encouraging tutees to work as a team.
  • Facilitated the course by conducting supplemental instruction for a class of 10-15 students for Applied Trigonometry.
  • Led collaborative learning groups to clarify difficult concepts and help students learn to solve problems.
Calculus II Applied Trigonometry Teaching

DIS Team Leader

Iowa State University, New Student Services
Ames, IA August 2023, 2024
  • Help freshmen to smoothly transition into college. Help them explore the campus and help them navigate their way to the various events conducted by the university for the freshman.
  • Collaboratively worked with other team leaders to help my team make more connections and form a bigger community.
Leadership Mentoring Communication

Mathematics & Science Tutor

Logigram Academy (Volunteer)
Chennai, India Nov 2017 – Jul 2022
  • Tutored Math and Science for Middle schoolers & High school freshmen and sophomores.
  • Mentored first-generation students from financially weak backgrounds to make their first step toward progression.
Mathematics Science Mentoring
Research

Publications & Research

Contributing to the field of statistical computing

CRAN Published

pPCA: Partial Principal Component Analysis of Partitioned Large Sparse Matrices

Raja, S. and Dutta, S. (2024). R package version 1.1.

An R package implementing Principal Component Analysis for very large sparse genetic data using the Lanczos algorithm for iterative SVD. Enables scalable analysis on standard computing hardware without storing the full matrix.

View on CRAN Source Code

Undergraduate Researcher

May 2024 – Present

Advisor: Dr. Somak Dutta, ISU Statistics Department

  • Worked under the guidance of Dr. Somak Dutta on developing an R package that does Principal Component Analysis for very large sparse genetic data in a matrix-free manner.
  • Implemented the Lanczos algorithm for iterative SVD, designing sparse-matrix methods that eliminate the need to store the full matrix, enabling scalable analysis on standard computing hardware.
  • Published an R package pPCA in CRAN.
  • Presented research findings at the Iowa State Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium.
  • Replicated and validated results from Zhu, Wang, & Samworth (2020) on high-dimensional PCA with heterogeneous missingness to establish theoretical grounding before extending methods to new computational challenges.

Presentations

2025
AI-Powered Crop Disease Detection System

Pi515 AI Challenge (Day of Innovation), Des Moines, IA

Raja, S., Prasanna Rao, A., Tirunagiri, N., Peddireddy, M., and Poola, U.S.T.
2024
Principal Component Analysis for High-Dimensional Sparse Genetic Data

Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium, Iowa State University, Ames, IA

Raja, S.
2023
Using Data to Inform Decision Making for Rural Grocery Stores

Data Science for the Public Good (DSPG) Final Presentation, Iowa State University, Ames, IA

Raja, S., Null, A., Cory, A., and Celik, H.
Projects

Featured Work

Innovative solutions in data science, statistical computing, and educational technology

1st Place · $5,000

AI-Powered Crop Disease Detection

Award-winning system for identifying crop diseases using machine learning, presented at the Pi515 AI Challenge Day of Innovation in Des Moines. State-level competition winner.

Machine Learning Computer Vision Agriculture Tech Python

Sparse Matrix PCA R Package

Developed a cutting-edge R package for Principal Component Analysis on large sparse genetic datasets using advanced linear algebra techniques, eliminating the need for full matrix storage.

R Programming Linear Algebra Lanczos Algorithm Genetic Data Statistical Computing
View Package

Rural Grocery Store Analytics Platform

Comprehensive web application analyzing USDA, ACS, and BLS data to help rural grocery store owners optimize location selection and estimate profitability based on market competition and expenses.

R Shiny Data Analytics Tidyverse Tidycensus Business Intelligence
View Project

"Hey this is Srika" Educational Channel

Educational YouTube platform providing comprehensive tutorials and academic guidance for high school students, focusing on complex topics and exam preparation strategies.

Content Creation Educational Technology Video Production Student Mentoring
Visit Channel
Skills

Technical Expertise

Comprehensive skill set in statistical analysis, programming, and data science tools

Programming Languages

R
Python
Java
SAS
SQL

Data Science & Analytics

Statistical Analysis
Machine Learning
Data Visualization
Principal Component Analysis
Research Methods
Linear Algebra

Data Engineering & Cloud

Databricks
PySpark
Amazon S3
ETL Pipelines

Tools & Software

GitHub
JMP
Tidyverse
Tidycensus
Microsoft Office
Google Workspace
iMovie
DaVinci Resolve
Kine Master
Education

Academic Excellence

Distinguished academic record in Statistics and Data Science

Iowa State University

Bachelor of Science, Statistics and Data Science
Minor: Applied Mathematics
August 2022 - December 2025 Ames, IA
3.93

GPA | Dean's List 2022-Present | Top 2% of LAS Freshmen Spring 2023

Core Statistics & Data Science

Statistical Methods Machine Learning Data Visualization Research Methods Database Systems

Mathematics & Programming

Linear Algebra Calculus R Programming Data Structures Applied Trigonometry
Recognition

Awards & Honors

Academic achievements and honors recognizing excellence in statistics and leadership

1st Place - Pi515 AI Challenge

State-Level Competition

2025

Won $5,000 prize for AI-Powered Crop Disease Detection System at the Day of Innovation event in Des Moines, IA.

Dean's List

Iowa State University

2022 – Present

Consistent academic excellence with GPA above 3.5, maintaining top performance among Liberal Arts and Sciences students.

Top 2% LAS Freshman

Iowa State University

Spring 2023

Recognized for exceptional academic performance among all Liberal Arts and Sciences freshmen students.

SAT India Top Performer

College Board

2022

Recognition for achieving a score of 1300 or higher on the SAT, placing among top performers in India.

CBSE Merit Scholar

Central Board of Secondary Education

2020

Top 0.1% of successful candidates nationwide in Mathematics and Tamil, recognizing outstanding academic performance.

Beyond Academics

Extracurriculars

Interests and hobbies outside of data science

YouTube Content Creator

Channel: Hey this is Srika

Chess

Strategic thinking and problem solving

Classical Dance

Traditional Indian classical dance

Let's Connect

I'm currently open to full-time opportunities in data science, analytics, and statistical research roles.

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