Semora Council is a Quantitative Research Analyst at Elite Research (Dallas, TX) where she gains valuable experience in data preparation and validation, statistical analysis, and research design. She uses these skills to serve clientele that span academic, corporate, medical, and non profit fields. She graduated from the MQE program in 2022. Prior to MQE, Semora graduated with her bachelor’s in Philosophy from Morgan State University where she excelled in formal and informal logic. After graduation she served as an Americorps member through The Literacy Lab, became a Research Fellow on the Relief and Restoration Project during COVID-19 at the Centers for the Study of Religion and the City, and worked as a Field Data Collector on a qualitative research study on policing at the University of Maryland under their Criminology and Criminal Justice Department. Semora is passionate about how data driven research and design can influence and change social inequities and is actively building a career nested in social change.
How has the MQE Program provided you with the skills needed to succeed in your current position as a Quantitative Research Analyst at Elite Research?
How the MQE Program provided me the skills needed to succeed in my current position as a Quantitative Research Analyst at Elite Research (Dallas, TX) was by leveraging University and community expertise to develop a well researched program that was informed on the demand for the skill set I now have and creating a simple yet effective curriculum design that any student who is truly dedicated can grasp and later excel in.
What did you love learning about the most during your time in the MQE program?
What I loved learning the most in the MQE Program was the challenging material that exposed me to my passion for facing challenges and overcoming them. With the support of my cohort and professors I loved learning that I was capable.
How did you implement skills from the MQE Program into your Capstone Project?
My Capstone Project was with Sheetz, the gas station chain. Implementing my skills with R and Python from the MQE program helped me to work with my team to map consumer movement patterns, build a predictive model to calculate market share impact, and craft a more comprehensive site selection strategy for Sheetz.
How did the MQE program help prepare you for real-world job/career experience?
The MQE program helped prepare me for real-world job/career experience by being an accelerated program, assigning MQE career chats to host, and conducting mock interviews. All of these experiences simulated my job search, hiring, and work experience closely. I often have project deliverables that have turn-around times like previous assignments, hosting MQE career chats exposed me to many working and sophisticated professionals that mirror current clients, and the mock interview process and more specifically the technical aspect of the mock interview practices is exactly what I experienced in the workforce.