Give Molly Poppie a few facts \u2013 say, your age, gender, location and income \u2013 and she probably knows what TV shows you watch and products you buy. That\u2019s because it\u2019s the UWM sociology alum\u2019s job to understand everything about consumers as vice president of data science\u00a0at Nielsen Holdings.<\/p>\n
Poppie oversees a team of more than 50 data scientists in Chicago at the world\u2019s largest market research firm. Their work tells food executives and TV producers how popular (or not) their products are.<\/p>\n
It requires constant methodological innovation, and the research coming out of her of office has led to several valuable patents. High on the priority list now: how TV streaming services are affecting the landscape.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are flexible and looking for convenience,\u201d Poppie says. \u201cVariety is huge right now. The question is, what\u2019s actually going to catch on? What\u2019s going to stick around that we should\u00a0be measuring?\u201d<\/p>\n
Poppie\u2019s path to leadership began with a single sociology seminar at UWM. Originally an English major, her interests shifted to include psychology and pre-law. Then one summer, she enrolled in a sociology course on family.<\/p>\n
\u201cI loved it. It just was something that really made sense to me,\u201d Poppie says. \u201cI could see real-world applications for it, and I wanted to take more.\u201d<\/p>\n
She earned her bachelor\u2019s in sociology and psychology, then a master\u2019s degree in sociology. Along the way, she became particularly interested in how research could help predict people\u2019s motivations and actions.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn each of the classes,\u201d says Nancy Mathiowetz, UWM sociology professor emerita, \u201cshe was a model student, curious and hardworking.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s all served Poppie well at Nielsen, where she says one constant question fuels her work: \u201cHow can we make our measurement as strong and representative as possible?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Why do people do what they do? As vice president of data science at Nielsen Holdings, UWM alum Molly Poppie tries to answer that question every day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40008,"featured_media":56008,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[174],"tags":[250],"section":[246,247],"display_categories":[115,116],"related-coverage":[],"uwmnews-feed":[167,158,160],"class_list":["post-56007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-student-success","section-business-world-affairs","section-politics-social-science","display_categories-top-story-secondary","display_categories-top-story-section","uwmnews-feed-alumni-association","uwmnews-feed-letters-science","uwmnews-feed-social-science"],"yoast_head":"\n