CV

SKILLS 

Programming: Python, R, SQL (PL/SQL, T-SQL), HTML/CSS

Data Visualization: Power BI, Tableau, SSRS, Google Analytics, R Shiny

Statistical Tools & Analysis: R, Python (Pandas), SPSS

Data Management & ETL: SQL Server, Oracle, SSIS, Excel (Macros/VBA)

CRM & Workflow Tools: Slate, Salesforce, Jira, Git/GitHub, Confluence, VMock, Coursedog

Project Management: SharePoint, Hive

Enrollment & Admissions Strategy: Slate, Columbia SIS, Predictive Modeling

EMPLOYMENT

Columbia University • New York, NY, USA 

Associate Director, Data Analytics, Columbia Business School, Dean’s Office • Sep 2023 – Current

  • Managing data audits and technical projects to enhance reporting efficiency and accuracy.
  • Leading CBS’s internal and public-facing data strategy and storytelling, with a focus on admissions, student outcomes, and enrollment patterns.
  • Building a Power BI reporting environment and semantic model to provide insights on the student lifecycle from admission to post-graduation, improving strategic decision-making.
    • Working hands-on with Slate, SIS (Microsoft SQL Server), Columbia’s Finance and HR databases (Oracle), and other 3rd party CRMs and data sources.
    • Developing dashboards to dynamically model yield and predict enrollment patterns.

Business Intelligence Reporting Analyst, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Office of Development • Dec 2021 – Aug 2023

  • Developed reports, dashboards and scripts (Power BI, SSRS, Tableau, Oracle, R) to support fundraising; worked cross-departmentally with finance, comms, marketing and stewardship.
  • Improved SQL queries and workflows to enhance report performance and decrease load time.
  • Developed predictive scoring models to identify top prospects, improving strategic targeting and outreach.

Data and Research Analyst, Columbia College, Office of the Dean • April 2019 – Nov 2021

  • Engineered ETL pipelines via SSIS and stored procedures, which supplied internal data warehouses with several hundred thousand records refreshed daily.
  • Built high impact reports and dashboards (SSRS, Power BI, Microsoft SQL Server) to track student data, used by decision makers working in finance, admissions, enrollment, and student life. 
  • Developed reporting to accurately track and implement millions of dollars of tuition offsets for college students taking classes during the summer of 2021.

National Institutes Of Health, NIMH • Bethesda, MD, USA 

Post Baccalaureate Fellow, Clinical and Translational Neuroscience Branch • June 2016 – June 2018

  • Initiated the implementation of R statistical programming software in the lab’s analytical workflows; trained lab members and created sample code templates.
  • Designed statistical analysis of study data using SPSS and R. Advanced the lab’s research on variance in polygenic risk among subgroups of schizophrenia patients.
  • Selected to give an oral presentation at the International Congress on Schizophrenia Research.

EDUCATION

MA in Quantitative Methods in the Social Sciences, Data Science Focus 

Columbia University • New York, NY, USA • Sep 2021 – Oct 2023

  • Relevant Coursework: Natural Language Processing, Projects in Advanced Machine Learning, Advanced Analytic Techniques, Data Visualization, Data Analysis

Python Programming and Backend Development

Launch School (Online) • Aug 2024 – In Progress (mastery-based program)

  • Relevant Coursework: Programming Foundations (Basics, Intermediate), Object-Oriented Programming

BA in Neuroscience and Behavior, Minor in Film Studies 

Wesleyan University • Middletown, CT, USA • Aug 2012 – May 2016 • High Honors

PUBLICATIONS

Dickinson, D., Zaidman, S. R., Giangrande, E. J., Eisenberg, D. P., Gregory, M. D., & Berman, K. F. (2020). Distinct Polygenic Score Profiles in Schizophrenia Subgroups With Different Trajectories of Cognitive Development. American Journal of Psychiatry, 177(4), 298-307. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.2019.19050527

Kurtz, M., Trask, C., Rosengard, R., Hyman, S., Kremen, L., Mehta, S., Rispaud, S., Zaidman, S., . . . Choi, J. (2017). Verbal Learning and Memory Enhancement Strategies in Schizophrenia: A Randomized, Controlled Investigation. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 23(4), 352-357.

PRESENTATIONS

Oral Presentations:

Zaidman, S., Giangrande, E., Weinberger, D., Berman, K., Dickinson, D. (March 2017). Exploring Polygenic Risk in Cognitive Subgroups of Schizophrenia: Associations Between Risk Profile Scores and Measures of Cognition. Oral Presentation given at the 2017 International Congress on Schizophrenia Research, San Diego, CA.

Zaidman, S., Kurtz, M. (April 2016). Pilot Testing CogSmart: A novel, compensatory program of cognitive remediation for psychosis. Oral presentation and poster presented at 3rd Annual Neuroscience and Behavior Symposium, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT.

Poster Presentations:

Zaidman, S., Giangrande, E., Berman, K., Dickinson, D. (November 2017). Polygenic Risk in Cognitive Subgroups of Schizophrenia: How does it Relate to Cognition? Poster presented at the Society for Neuroscience 47th annual meeting, Washington, D.C.

Zaidman, S., Deson, J., Berman, K., Dickinson, D. (September, 2017). Personality and Associated Differences in People with Schizophrenia, their Healthy Siblings, and Controls: Analyses of Data from the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire. Poster presented at the 19th Annual NIMH IRP Fellows’ Annual Scientific Training Day, National Conference Center, Virginia.