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Applied Machine Learning certificate prepares professionals for data science careers

Neuron illustration

Effective data analysis can make all the difference for a company’s efficiency. Advances in machine learning (ML) have helped data scientists harness the power of artificial intelligence (AI) and take their analysis to the next level. Brian D’Alessandro, head of data science for Instagram’s Well-Being and Integrity teams and author of Cornell’s Applied Machine Learning and AI certificate program, has 20 years of experience in ML model construction. D’Alessandro spoke to the eCornell team about the certificate, ML instructional approaches and career paths. 

What can students expect in the program?

“Even when students have learned how to build a model, I would argue that they haven’t learned to build a good model yet. There’s an empirical process required in tuning model parameters such that you get the prediction quality that you’re looking for. So, in this certificate,  we ensure students learn how to build a strong, basic model . . . how to tune it and validate it, and then we start to introduce more complex algorithms that are more often used in industry settings. We cover K-nearest neighbors, decision trees and linear models – the full spectrum. Throughout the program, we emphasize the consistency of the API across different machine learning algorithms.”

Are any important aspects of working with ML frequently overlooked?

“I really like to emphasize digging into data first before learning algorithms. The cliche at this point is “garbage in, garbage out,” and that’s very true for machine learning. So what I want to do here is build an appreciation for what will ultimately be 80 to 90 percent of the workload, which is data preparation. We emphasize the importance of it. [We] don’t dismiss it . . . this is the one area of machine learning that is often not spoken about or taught in textbooks.”

What about this program will help students upskill or pursue a career change?

“The program is oriented toward developing the core machine learning skills for most data science jobs or machine learning engineering. If you are a working professional and you want to get into either one of the fields, this certificate is designed to be one of the best starting points, presuming you’re co-learning, or have already learned, Python.”

Take the first step toward building successful machine learning algorithms in Cornell’s Applied Machine Learning and AI certificate program. Learn more and enroll now.

This story was drafted by eCornell marketing intern Justin Heitzman.

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A culture of intrapreneurship: 3 practices for organizational innovation

A worker sitting in front of a laptop and holding a lightbulb in his right hand

In business, reinvention does not happen overnight. It is the result of scaled innovation – years of experimentation to identify and implement solutions to evolving challenges.

However, some senior leaders see innovation only as a one-off like a new product, service upgrade or go-to-market strategy. The misconception can stall a company’s progress toward significant goals and lasting industry impact. Expert faculty from the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business and ILR School recently shared three tactics organizations can use to integrate innovation throughout their operations.

1. Create a culture of intrapreneurship.

Rather than limiting out-of-the-box thinking to specific projects, executives and managers can guide employees to operate like entrepreneurs within their businesses. Through this approach, known as intrapreneurship, leaders help team members function with the autonomy and accountability to contribute new creative ideas on a continuous basis.

“As I work with companies globally, the primary reason I see innovation ‘getting stuck’ is that organizations approach it as a singular task,” said Neil Tarallo, senior lecturer of management and organizations at the Cornell Nolan School of Hotel Administration. “Innovation is an ongoing process, and it requires commitment, adaptability and a willingness to embrace change.”

Great innovation, according to Tarallo, begins with the C-suite and moves downward throughout an organization. Executives can foster creativity from the top by dismantling rigid hierarchies and empowering employees at all levels to share ideas. Additionally, managers can encourage cross-functional collaboration among teams.

“The companies best positioned to innovate when it is most necessary are those that innovate in small ways every day,” said Tarallo. “These organizations operate in teams that bring a range of specialties and perspectives to each challenge they face. This approach leads to a more forward-thinking culture than can sustain a business in the long term.”

2. Support risk-taking and long-term thinking.

Innovation often requires risk. To help employees adopt a positive risk mindset, leaders can encourage – and reward – experimentation, set realistic expectations for results and make it clear that failures are opportunities to learn and not stairsteps to punitive consequences.

Yuan Shi, assistant professor of management and organizations at the Nolan School, offers additional guidance for executives and managers discussing innovation with backers and shareholders.

“External investors might not immediately grasp the value of ideas that bridge different fields, despite the eventual significant impact of these cross-domain concepts,” Shi said. “Breakthrough innovation demands considerable patience from investors and may face threats from short-term thinking in the market. Firms should embrace longer time horizons and prioritize longer-term returns.”

Shi advises leaders to communicate with transparency, detail the competitive advantages and financial value of innovation and provide regular progress updates with evidence of impact.

3. Earmark resources for innovation.

A lack of resources can be a barrier to success for innovation, but oftentimes the greatest obstacle can be the tendency not to view innovation as an initiative that requires tangible support. According to Brian Lucas, assistant professor of organizational behavior at the Cornell ILR School, leaders may want big ideas but they are unlikely to receive them unless they make provisions for creativity.

“People believe a breakthrough idea is something that just pops into someone’s head, maybe while taking a shower, riding the bus, talking with a colleague or just by thinking hard enough,” said Lucas. “Leaders think that they just need to put out a call for innovation, and eventually one of their workers will have a good idea. Sometimes this happens. But more often breakthrough ideas are the result of deliberate creative work that requires resources.”

Lucas encourages executives to consider the four categories of people, time, space and funding in their efforts to support innovation: “Ask yourself how many people do you have working on new ideas and can these people bring in other people if needed. Do the people have dedicated time for innovation, or are they expected to multitask? Is there dedicated space for creativity and conversation? Do they have money to buy data and research, materials for prototyping, consulting services, travel and more?”

As the use of artificial intelligence (AI) increases, companies can also take steps to ensure that human knowledge and the latest technology can coexist successfully. Businesses can use tech as a tool for employee innovation and provide upskilling resources necessary for new job opportunities.

“Historically, tech advancements lead to employment and economic growth,” Lucas said. “Companies and leaders who view innovation as ongoing work are best equipped to use AI as a resource for creativity and to benefit from its potential.”

Gain expertise in cutting-edge innovation practices in one of Cornell’s more than 30 online leadership certificate programs, including Intrapreneurship, Innovation Strategy and Leadership Agility.

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Cornell launches new general counsel executive education program

Cornell Tech campus

Senior in-house attorneys and corporate leaders are navigating a dynamic business environment full of opportunities and challenges, ranging from technological innovation to shifts in regulatory requirements. At the current pace of change, 45 percent of chief executives believe their businesses could fail within a decade unless they adapt.

Cornell Law School and Cornell Tech are set to host the General Counsel Summit – an immersive executive education program designed to help these professionals address new issues in corporate governance and compliance, intellectual property, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, sustainability, ethics and more – on June 20 and 21, 2024, at Cornell Tech in New York City.

“It is imperative for in-house counsel to be on the cutting edge of business transformation,” said LizAnn Eisen, faculty director for the summit and acting professor of the practice at Cornell Law School and Cornell Tech. “These legal practitioners are pivotal in guiding companies through rapid global change. Our program is designed to help participants position themselves as strategic thought leaders and partners to executives in organizations working to capitalize on trends and avoid common pitfalls.”

The summit is structured to deliver valuable insights and practical knowledge in a variety of formats. Participants will engage in online and in-person presentations, panel discussions and hands-on workshops led by Eisen and other Cornell faculty experts, experienced corporate lawyers and decision makers, including:

  • Charles Whitehead, B.A. ’83, Professor, Cornell Law School
  • Matthew D’Amore, B.S. ’91, Associate Dean, Cornell Tech
  • C. Allen Parker, Former CEO, SVP & General Counsel, Wells Fargo
  • René Paula, Multi-Exit Executive, Public Company Officer, Board Director, Vaxxinity
  • Danielle Sheer, Chief Legal & Compliance Officer, Commvault
  • Nicholas Dorsey, J.D. ’09, Partner, Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP
  • Elizabeth Morgan, Partner, King & Spalding
  • Michael Arnold, Partner, Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP
  • Bill Priestap, Founder, Trenchcoat Advisors
  • ​​Alasdair Share, Chief Security Officer, Goldman Sachs
  • Machua Millett, Chief Innovation Officer, Lockton Financial Services
  • Margaux Knee, Chief Administrative Officer, LinkNYC
  • Susan Meisel, Executive Vice President, Sony Music Entertainment
  • Elizabeth Grayer, Non-Profit Executive and Attorney

Participants will also enjoy peer networking receptions. Eisen believes the program’s small size of no more than 50 professionals will enable productive one-to-one conversations on best practices and strategy during those gatherings.

“The significant changes sweeping through the corporate landscape demand a nuanced understanding of how areas such as technology, geopolitics, risk and crisis management intersect with the law,” Eisen said. “Following the summit, members of the cohort will return to their companies as stronger communicators, problem solvers and influencers on these topics. They will also gain an expanded network of fellow leaders to consult in challenging times.”

Participants who complete the program will earn the General Counsel Summit: Strategic Leadership Certificate from Cornell Tech, CLE credit and 25 Professional Development Hours.

Individuals interested in the program can learn more and register online through June 10. Early bird pricing is available for a limited time.

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3 strategies to keep your best employees

Three cheerful employees working at laptops.

Though U.S. employers kicked off 2024 with the addition of 353,000 new jobs, the job-switching trend that catalyzed The Great Resignation continues at near record-setting levels. Some sectors are experiencing greater churn than others. At 5 percent, the quit rate in hospitality is significantly outpacing other industries, and engineers are increasingly seeking new professions altogether.

Hiring is just half the battle — particularly in an employment landscape transformed by artificial intelligence (AI), flexible work options, economic uncertainty and worker disengagement. Employers must adapt quickly to stop the revolving door.

As director of the Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies and the William J. Conaty Professor of Strategic Human Resources at the Cornell ILR School, Bradford Bell contends that while attracting top talent remains crucial, retention is the real test of organizational resilience. He recently shared three steps organizations can take to keep their best employees.

1. Foster a skills-based culture.

One challenge in the talent management space is the rapid transformation of jobs due to technologies like generative AI that have shifted the competencies employees must have to be successful at work.

“Companies can address this challenge by becoming more skills based. Understand and assess your employees’ current competencies and figure out what future skills employees will need to be successful in their work as their jobs and your business evolves,” Bell said.

Through industry research and trend analysis, leaders can identify skill gaps and train current employees to close them. Some organizations might see benefits in relaxing degree requirements for internal upward mobility and providing personalized learning in mentorship programs, on-demand courses and external online certificate programs instead. Leaders can also restructure performance reviews to evaluate employees based not only on past performance but also on skill development.

“The future of work is a whirlwind of automation and disruption,” Bell added. “Help your employees navigate change, solve complex problems and increase their value within your organization.”

2. Learn to lead from a distance.

Remote and hybrid work models are changing the nature of leadership. Organizations need new strategies to make up for the distance — real and perceived.

“Leaders must set the course for their teams, making sure that all members are clear about the mission, goals and expectations to avoid the conflict and confusion that can arise particularly when members are virtual,” Bell said. “Managers should also support the social climate by being more purposeful about orchestrating interactions and building relationships among team members.”

Department heads should empower employees to be more responsible for managing their own work. To assist workers, Bell encourages organizations to facilitate the effective use of technologies by ensuring all team members have access to necessary tools.

“Now that employees and organizations have experienced flexibility and the benefits that it can offer, hybrid work models are here to stay,” Bell said. “No matter where employees are located, leaders must ensure they are using technologies and tools in the right situations and can adjust based on how tasks and environments shift over time.” 

3. Drive a positive employee experience.

Replacing experienced personnel can incur considerable costs in recruitment and training. High turnover can erode morale in a manner that damages current team dynamics and fosters a reputation that repels new talent. By effectively engaging employees, organizations can mitigate these risks.

“When we look at the research, we see a few key factors that impact employee engagement: the design of work itself, learning and career development and leadership,” said Bell, who asserts that it is important for employees to perform meaningful, varied tasks and view their work as significant.

Bell encourages leaders to consider how they can design jobs themselves to be more engaging and ensure that employees have access to professional development opportunities that present clear career paths within their organizations.

He encourages managers to look inward as well: “Leaders who are more transformational as opposed to transactional — those who can build strong relationships with their employees — are able to drive higher levels of engagement within their teams.”

Bell also encourages leaders to examine how they listen to employees, formally and informally. He recommends that leaders capture employee sentiment and voice through surveys and one-on-one discussions.

“This needs to be a multichannel and ongoing process in which organizations and leaders are constantly listening to employees, identifying the pain points employees are experiencing, taking action on the feedback and communicating back to employees the changes they are making,” he said. “Through that listening process, you create a productive cycle that enhances employee engagement and increases retention over time.”

Learn the latest best practices for talent management in one of Cornell’s online human resources certificate programs, including several coauthored by Bell: Hybrid Work Strategy, HR Analytics, Recruiting and Talent Acquisition and Strategic Human Resources Leadership.

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Navigating the future of product development

Cornell Tech networking event

Keeping pace with the swift disruption of artificial intelligence (AI) and other trends in tech has proven to be a challenge across industries. Cornell Tech product and technology experts Keith Cowing and Josh Hartmann know firsthand how emerging technologies and attitude shifts can prompt radical changes in the world of product development.

The Product and Tech Leadership Summit, which will take place this September at Cornell Tech in New York City, is an immersive learning and networking experience for professionals who lead product teams. They will learn from industry leaders, AI researchers and expert Cornell faculty how to leverage transformation techniques to build high-performing products and tech teams. Cowing and Hartmann recently shared a preview of the Summit’s topics:

Use Available Tools and Understand New Opportunities

While the rapid pace of change in the product development space can feel overwhelming, Cowing and Hartmann suggest using existing tools rather than shying away from them. According to Hartmann, it is unlikely that ChatGPT represents the full reality of the AI-integrated future, but professionals should be familiar with it and other current tools. Familiarity can empower executives to create plans of action: “You can’t shift the entire enterprise all at once, but what are the pieces of the enterprise that you can start to move over?” asked Hartmann, chief practice officer for Cornell Tech.

Hartmann and Cowing agree that companies must continue the work to understand and harness the power of AI. Generative AI can perform data analysis and write code, potentially allowing the automation of complex processes such as optimizing web pages for mobile.

“Some companies are building as their product – they’re AI companies. Some will put AI in their product and augment what they do. And then some will just be more efficient with it, and that’s going to affect everybody,” said Cowing, a visiting lecturer at Cornell Tech.

Breakthroughs in spatial computing technology, led by Apple’s recently announced Vision Pro, also present a range of critical product development opportunities and obstacles. “It’s too early to know if the vision – pun intended – is going to stand up. If it does, then we’re also going to see major reskilling required in our teams,” Hartmann said.

Focus on the Customer

A shift toward customer-focused strategy is driving change in the product development industry. Airbnb, for example, has made sweeping changes to its product with the intent of improving the customer experience. For Cowing and Hartmann, AI carries the potential to accelerate such processes.

“How do we implement AI and build a tooling around it that will help our customers get the job done? And that’s the key … the sweet spot comes when you can integrate AI and build value and context around AI on behalf of your customer. You can use and apply your deep understanding of your customers’ needs and use AI as an accelerant, a force multiplier,” Hartmann said.

Make a Positive Impact

While recent advancements in AI and spatial computing create many new possibilities, they also prompt serious ethical questions. Hartmann and Cowing contend that the difference that these technologies create in the world will depend on the people who implement them.

“Somehow [we must create] the incentives in the system so that people want to do the right thing and are encouraged to do the right thing,” said Cowing.

To influence positive change through new tech, Hartmann encourages professionals to pursue careers with mission-driven companies and leaders: “Be intentional about where you work. It really does come from the top,” he said.

Cowing and Hartmann look forward to welcoming professionals to the apply early.

Want to learn more before applying?

 

This story was drafted by eCornell marketing intern Justin Heitzman.

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Generative AI for Business Transformation certificate empowers leaders to improve productivity

Finger touching a screen and creating a sparkling effect against a blue background

As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to reshape industries, Cornell Tech and the SC Johnson College of Business have partnered to launch Generative AI for Business Transformation, a new, live online certificate program to equip professionals with the knowledge and skills needed to harness the power of AI.

“Organizations and individuals who can harness the potential of AI will gain a huge advantage, while those taken by the hype who don’t upskill and prepare will risk obsolescence,” said Karan Girotra, faculty author, Cornell Tech professor and Charles H. Dyson Family Professor of Management. “This certificate program is designed to provide participants with a deep understanding of the capabilities and compromises of AI, and empower them with skills to increase their managerial effectiveness and transform business processes.”

Recent advances in AI have enabled machines to outperform humans in several kinds of knowledge work, particularly in producing linguistic and visual elements based on large volumes of information. Girotra emphasizes the remarkable potential of the underlying technologies, which are facilitating breakthroughs in medicine, chemistry and physics.

The live online certificate program available through eCornell, will span five weeks, beginning April 29, 2024, and will be conducted by Girotra on Mondays and Wednesdays from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. ET. Participants will evaluate the most effective ways to adopt AI technologies, exploring how AI enables new, automated, highly scalable and low-cost methods of cognitive work. The curriculum will also address AI’s ethical and legal concerns, underscoring the need for responsible adoption and policymaking.

Girotra notes that while AI offers immense opportunities, it also presents challenges: “These new capabilities also empower bad actors, open new ethical and legal concerns and test regulatory frameworks. There is also a significant probability of a monopoly provider of the technology. This could shift economic power to Big Tech, posing a long-term existential threat to smaller organizations engaged in work that can be automated. This program will help participants navigate these complexities and leverage AI responsibly.”

The Generative AI for Business Transformation certificate is positioned as a crucial resource for leaders looking to stay ahead in an increasingly AI-driven world. Organizations and individuals seeking to transform their businesses or careers are encouraged to explore this innovative offering from eCornell. The certificate will be delivered live and space in the program is limited. Learn more and enroll.

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New eCornell certificate highlights customer-centricity as the key to product launches

Launching a product is no walk in the park. From identifying the right customer base and pricing strategies to winning over investors, the path is fraught with challenges. To truly excel, professionals need guidance that is rooted in real-world experience.

Cornell’s Marketing Strategy online certificate program – authored by S.C. Johnson Professor of Marketing Stijn van Osselaer – offers a comprehensive approach to launching a product with a customer-centric view.

“What distinguishes this course from other marketing courses is that it’s really built around all the steps you need to go through to market a product, to bring a product to market,” says Osselaer.

At its core, the program emphasizes customer-centricity as an approach to marketing strategy and decision-making. This paradigm shift encourages learners to consistently prioritize and empathize with the customer’s viewpoint. Students in the program learn to calculate metrics such as customer lifetime value and the proper interpretations of such analysis. There are multiple projects at every step of the go-to-market plan, providing participants much-needed experience with authentic scenarios.

“In venture capital, investors place great importance on numerical evidence; getting the right metrics and understanding which ones to highlight in your pitch is critical to securing an investment. The course thoroughly covers the essential metrics venture capitalists will expect founders to know,” says Osselaer.

By integrating customer-centricity into the marketing strategy, professionals can better align their products and services with the market demand, ensuring that their go-to-market plans are successfully implemented and will reach the right target market.

Firms across various sectors seeking a critical competitive advantage can adopt the approach when collecting and analyzing data on customer behavior, preferences, feedback, and satisfaction levels. Companies that successfully implement this strategy can see improved customer retention, increased word-of-mouth advertising and higher returns on marketing investments.

“This program has a lot of useful things that you can take directly to practice. There are a lot of tools and explanatory notes. There are many spreadsheet templates you can take directly into the workplace.”

Ready to improve the odds of success for your next product launch? Enroll in eCornell’s Marketing Strategy certificate program.

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Is It Time to Return to the Office?

Many Americans favor the flexibility that comes with working from home, a sentiment captured in recent surveys showing that more than two-thirds prefer remote work options, and nearly a third would willingly accept a lower salary to maintain this work style.

While introducing remote work or hybrid models can meet employee desires for greater autonomy, it raises concerns of potential disconnect, reduced team synergy and decreased retention rates. Employers are faced with the challenge of evolving a work environment that respects individual preferences and maintains the integrity and collaborative spirit of a cohesive workforce. Finding a balance is critical.

In a recent Keynote webcast, “Work from Wherever,” Nick Fabrizio, a distinguished senior lecturer at Cornell’s Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy, shared his views on the return-to-office debate and key perspectives of both employees and employers.

What are the main causes for dissatisfaction among remote employees?

Fabrizio: “In a new Gallup survey, it’s stated that only 28% of workers feel connected with the organization and that is at an all-time low. Last year it was 32%. You would think that with a variety of different work arrangements, people would be really satisfied. But in terms of being connected with the organization, it’s not there. And that should be alarming to organizations.

People complain that they don’t really know what’s going on in the company. They know what’s going on with their projects and their responsibilities, but they often feel they are losing connection to the whole organization.”

Why do companies want employees back in the office?

Fabrizio: “There are a few things that are complicating this. One is the feeling of disconnectedness at work, one is retention and another one is losing bright young workers because there is no process for them to be evaluated, connected and advanced in the organization. Organizations feel like they can’t create those opportunities being disconnected.

A lot of these organizations now are paying a lot of money in real estate for empty offices. That can’t continue. Some industries are going to force people back because of that. While others are going to force workers back because they are working on recruitment and retention, and others will force people back because they have a hybrid arrangement strategy.”

How can remote leadership be practiced in virtual work environments?

Fabrizio: “As an organization, what you want to create is touchpoints. Managers must deliberately try to create connections so that remote workers can make connections with other people in the organization.

There are five or six different modes for us to communicate, and some workers are saying they feel overwhelmed by that. Organizations should pick one method and do that. It’s very hard even for the worker then to realize and look at a Teams meeting at 3 p.m., [a client Zoom meeting] at 2 p.m., something else happening at 4 p.m., so they start to feel disconnected because there’s so many different mediums to keep track of.”

How can employers encourage productivity among remote employees?

Fabrizio: “Certainly not more forced interactions, but I think it’s the employee’s responsibility to be deliberate about keeping track of what they’ve accomplished. Sort of your value to the organization. It’s like a personal self-inventory of what you have accomplished, what you feel like you mean to the organization, how the organization is a benefit to you.”

Which work arrangement will become the new standard in the future?

Fabrizio: “I’m very effective working at home. Now, [I’m] hybrid, so I have that client-facing part of my work, but when I come back to the home office, I’m very productive.”

I think we’re going to quickly go to a hybrid scenario where better-performing organizations will have to define what their work arrangements are for different business units within the organization. I think organizations will have to do a better job of defining within the same organization what roles [will] be five days a week in office, two or three days in office and what roles are going to be completely remote.”

​​Discover how Cornell’s remote leadership and hybrid work strategy online certificate programs can make you a better manager and equip you with the competitive advantage needed in today’s evolving world of work.

This Q&A has been edited for length and clarity. Experience the full Keynote “Work from Wherever” online.

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Supply chain management meets modern analytics in Cornell certificate program

While supply chain disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have mostly eased, predicting customer demand and other elements of supply chain management continue to present companies with complex existential challenges.

The crisis laid bare the vulnerabilities in traditional forecasting models – where a single miscalculation could lead to product shortages and severe revenue losses – and revealed the need for a more advanced data-driven approach.

The eight-week Supply Chain Analytics online certificate program from the Cornell SC Johnson Graduate School of Management equips specialists from various sectors with strategies to master key elements of supply chain management. Li Chen, professor of operations, technology and information management, leads the program.

“We know that the future is unpredictable, right? But we still want to make predictions. The idea is to look at historical sales and demand data, and based on that, utilize formulas to make good demand forecasts,” Chen said. “I teach this data-driven approach with a focus on measuring forecast performance as well. Every time you forecast, you should compare it to the actuals to gauge the accuracy of your predictions, so you can refine your methods over time.”

Diving into topics like demand variability and inventory management, the program provides a robust set of tools for actionable insights. It digs into inevitable trade-offs between reducing inventory and increasing transportation costs, offering a nuanced perspective to students interested in supply chain consulting and analyst roles or anyone who seeks to better understand the strategic aspect of operations management and logistics.

The instruction provided on industry standard operations and inventory management systems also highlights underutilized functionalities of software designed to improve the efficiency of supply chain configurations.

“This content will truly help people, especially those using systems like SAP or Oracle, to appreciate what’s underneath the hood,” Chen said. “My hope is that through this content, we can bring more attention and awareness to the potential end users.”

The program is directed toward entry-level supply chain analysts and those in management roles who run backend operations.

With a finely-tuned curriculum that balances theoretical underpinnings with practical insights, the Supply Chain Analytics online certificate program prepares professionals for disruption and how the unpredictable can become the expected. Learn more and enroll today.

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Cornell certificate equips leaders with natural language processing skills

In today’s digitized world, every action we perform generates data. A significant chunk of this information is in the form of text. Companies across industries grapple with colossal amounts of unstructured text data from diverse sources. Natural language processing (NLP) techniques make it possible to interpret, categorize and gain value from this otherwise overwhelming information, giving companies a competitive edge in an increasingly data-driven landscape.

“Natural Language Processing with Python,” a new online certificate program from Cornell, was designed by Oleg Melnikov, visiting lecturer at the Cornell Bowers College of Computing and Information Science, to teach professionals the fundamentals needed to apply NLP in the workplace. Melnikov met with the eCornell team to discuss the importance of NLP knowledge and the ins and outs of the certificate program.

How does Natural Language Processing differ from machine learning?

“[NLP] is a topic that overlaps with machine learning. The difference is that machine learning doesn’t focus on text. It can have some examples related to text, but it’s primarily related to developing concepts of modeling, whereas in NLP, our domain is textual and we are focusing on solving language problems: text classification, translation, maybe building different representations of text in the mathematical domain. Machine learning steps in when we have converted text to numbers. Then we can apply machine learning algorithms.”

How are businesses currently leveraging NLP for their operations?

“This domain is expanding dramatically, and there are lots of projects in pretty much every domain. Different sectors, different companies, anything from McDonald’s to aviation, have some sort of textual interaction. All that requires some sort of summarization, some sort of categorization . . . where an individual doesn’t have to work with individual text but can step up at an aggregated level and process these massive text banks at scale.”

Who can gain the most value from your NLP program?

“NLP recently has been divided into two subdomains. One is what we’re introducing the students to: the classical techniques. Students who have not worked with NLP before would be good candidates for the certificate program. The courses are focused on preparing and developing students for the practical uses of natural language processing. There is another domain, which is a more modern, ChatGPT-like, neural-network-based NLP . . . that is for students who are more advanced with NLP skills.”

With textual analysis proving to be an integral tool across many industries, a working knowledge of NLP can help you and your workplace become more efficient. Expand your theoretical and technical expertise with NLP by enrolling in the Natural Language Processing with Python certificate program.