Chris Albon is the Director of Machine Learning at the Wikimedia Foundation. Before that, Chris was the Director of Data Science in three previous roles and founded a data visualization company. He has worked in mission-driven technology companies and non-profits for over ten years, including disaster relief, healthcare, humanitarian aid, anti-corruption, conservation, and free knowledge. Chris has a Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Davis.
[Email](mailto:
[email protected]) / [X](https://x.com/chrisalbon) / [GitHub](https://github.com/chrisalbon) / [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisralbon/)
## Jobs
- **Director of Machine Learning**, [Wikimedia Foundation](https://wikimediafoundation.org/), June 2020 - Present
- **Advisor**, [BaseTen](https://www.baseten.co), August 2021 - 2022
- **Director of Data Science**, [Devoted Health](http://www.devoted.com/), July 2018 - April 2020
- **Director of Data Science**, [BRCK](https://www.brck.com/), June 2017 - July 2018
- **Co-founder**, [Popily](https://venturebeat.com/business/popily-launches-a-data-visualization-tool-thats-as-easy-to-use-as-three-clicks/), 2015 - 2016
- **Director of Data Science**, [Ushahidi](http://www.ushahidi.com), 2013 - 2015
- **Project Director**, [FrontlineSMS](http://www.frontlinesms.com), 2011 - 2013
## Projects
- **Author**, [Machine Learning Flashcards](http://machinelearningflashcards.com/), 2018 - Present
- Created handmade digital flashcards describing concepts in machine learning
- Sold over 20,000 copies.
- **Creator**, [ChrisAlbon.com](https://chrisalbon.com), 2015 - 2022
- Created one of the most popular Python and Machine Learning tutorial sites online
- Personally wrote 700 technical tutorials on Python, Pandas, Scala, SQL, Scikit-Learn, Keras, PyTorch, command line, and more
- Served over 20,000 unique visitors every weekday
- 700 tutorials were donated to [FreeCodeCamp](https://www.freecodecamp.org) in 2022 and the site was closed down
- **Author**, [Machine Learning With Python Cookbook](https://amzn.to/2HwnWty), [O’Reilly Media](https://www.oreilly.com/), 2018
- Authored the Python machine learning book in O'Reilly Media's cookbook series
- Book is a highly regarded desk reference for working data scientists with 4.6 stars on Amazon
- **Co-founder & Co-host**, [Partially Derivative](http://www.partiallyderivative.com), 2014 - 2017
- Co-founded a popular podcast on data science and machine learning.
## Talks
- [**Don't Do Invisible Work**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=HiF83i1OLOM), NormConf, 2022
- [**More Ethical Machine Learning Using Model Cards At Wikimedia**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4GMq7MC7Js&feature=emb_title), apply(conf), 2022
- [**Keynote**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSrRrqxOGHk), TWIML, 2021
- [**MLOps At Wikimedia**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKVR5RYkqnc), DataCamp, MLOps.community, 2021
- [**ML Models And Infrastructure At Wikimedia**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1flCSH_n9k), Weights And Biases, 2021
- [**Devoted Health And Data Science**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNsZIgulTi8), Google Cloud Tech, 2019
- [**Getting Your First Data Science Job**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxptIfS1PM0), DataCamp, 2018
- [**How To Learn Data Science**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxptIfS1PM0), Metis Data Science Training, 2017
## Education
- **Ph.D., Political Science**, University of California, Davis. 2012
- Dissertation: Statistical modeling of rebel and government behavior towards health systems during and after civil wars.
- **M.A., Political Science**, University of California, Davis. 2010
- **B.A.**, University of Miami, Miami, FL. 2006
- Triple majored in political science, international studies, and religious studies.