Eric Cai Email & Phone Number

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

I use advanced methods in statistics and mathematics to measure the impact of merchandising and retail services for manufacturers of consumer packaged goods (CPG). The 4 main components of my job are: - methodological research and execution in measurement analytics- business consultation for internal stakeholders and external clients- cross-functional project management with product managers, database administrators, and technology providers- product development for a… Show more I use advanced methods in statistics and mathematics to measure the impact of merchandising and retail services for manufacturers of consumer packaged goods (CPG). The 4 main components of my job are: - methodological research and execution in measurement analytics- business consultation for internal stakeholders and external clients- cross-functional project management with product managers, database administrators, and technology providers- product development for a proprietary software - providing consultation to the design and user-experience teamsFor statistical analysis, I use Python (Pandas, NumPy, Matplotlib, and Seaborn) in Jupyter Labs. For data extraction from Acosta's internal data platform, I use Python, SQL, and PySpark in Databricks.My biggest methodological contribution was using Monte Carlo simulations to estimate the sample size required for 80% statistical power in a specialized regression model. This model does not have an analytical formula for its statistical power, so I simulated data with an underlying effect at various sample sizes. I estimated the power at each sample size by calculating the proportion of the tests that rejected the null hypothesis, and I used the resulting power estimates to infer the sample size required for 80% power. This solved a long-standing problem that confounded Acosta's Advanced Analytics Team, and I brought my unique skills in mathematical statistics and Monte Carlo simulations to provide this solution.Acosta serves suppliers of consumer packaged goods, and one of its core services is sending field associates to display our clients' products on shelves properly in retail stores. This service is called retail merchandising. Acosta's clients include Coca-Cola, Kellogg's, Campbell's, and Nestlé. One of my main duties is to measure how merchandising increases the sales of our clients' products. To learn more about retail merchandising, watch this video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKt8NvQD2J0 Show less

Toronto, Canada Area

In March, 2022, I won the Acosta Business Intelligence Innovation Award with my co-worker Davis Ly. We provided mathematical and computational consultation to an internal team that measured the impact of its retail services for a major telecommunications client. We received 3 separate nominations, including one from our direct supervisor and one from a senior vice president. Here are some quotations from their nominations."Davis and Eric took on a slate of high-priority… Show more In March, 2022, I won the Acosta Business Intelligence Innovation Award with my co-worker Davis Ly. We provided mathematical and computational consultation to an internal team that measured the impact of its retail services for a major telecommunications client. We received 3 separate nominations, including one from our direct supervisor and one from a senior vice president. Here are some quotations from their nominations."Davis and Eric took on a slate of high-priority, high-complexity, high-effort tests to serve our Executive Leadership Team in addition to their core work. Their consistent service and drive to help their clients understand sophisticated analysis processes meant that an advanced analytics tool can plug right into the business to create value today.""By bringing in academically rigorous statistical techniques, we limit [our] risk of bad outcomes and we limit the chaos of 'change for change sake' that was resulting from the previous process.""The result is a strengthened partnership with a reliable and common understanding of business results, and less noise to manage in the business."There were 17 teams or individuals who received nominations for the Innovation category; Davis and I were one of two winning teams. In total, there were 9 categories of Business Intelligence Awards, garnering over 200 nominations.In June, 2022, I earned a promotion to become a Senior Data Scientist. Show less

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Mosaic is a subsidiary of Aocsta. As an employee of Acosta, I work with Mosaic occasionally to evaluate the effectiveness of its services in experiential retail, providing statistical or mathematical consultation upon request. Thus, for networking and business purposes, I am including Mosaic as an employer on my LinkedIn profile to make it easier for interested parties to find me. Please feel free to ask me about Mosaic's work; if I cannot answer your question, I would be glad to refer you to… Show more Mosaic is a subsidiary of Aocsta. As an employee of Acosta, I work with Mosaic occasionally to evaluate the effectiveness of its services in experiential retail, providing statistical or mathematical consultation upon request. Thus, for networking and business purposes, I am including Mosaic as an employer on my LinkedIn profile to make it easier for interested parties to find me. Please feel free to ask me about Mosaic's work; if I cannot answer your question, I would be glad to refer you to the suitable personnel. Show less

Toronto, Canada Area

Toronto, Canada Area

- Designed an Alteryx workflow to automate the cleaning and filtering of data from "Contact Us" inquiries, drastically improving the efficiency and accuracy of generating reports from the previous manual approach using Microsoft Excel- Generated insights about website visitors for sales leads by creating pivot tables from VisitorTrack data- Increased the share of website traffic from Twitter/LinkedIn from 5% to 9%- Ghost-wrote articles for trade magazines in the retail… Show more - Designed an Alteryx workflow to automate the cleaning and filtering of data from "Contact Us" inquiries, drastically improving the efficiency and accuracy of generating reports from the previous manual approach using Microsoft Excel- Generated insights about website visitors for sales leads by creating pivot tables from VisitorTrack data- Increased the share of website traffic from Twitter/LinkedIn from 5% to 9%- Ghost-wrote articles for trade magazines in the retail and finance industries- Proofread major marketing materials, magazine publications, and technical documents Show less

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

- Developed a novel scoring system for identifying neighbourhoods with the highest purchasing potential of luxury cars for a major automotive company- Performed regression models that contributed to a marketing campaign for The Heart and Stroke Foundation's fundraising lottery, increasing profits by 54% and selling out the tickets 6 weeks early- Provided on-site consultation for one of Canada's largest telecommunications providers to assess a segmentation model for customers… Show more - Developed a novel scoring system for identifying neighbourhoods with the highest purchasing potential of luxury cars for a major automotive company- Performed regression models that contributed to a marketing campaign for The Heart and Stroke Foundation's fundraising lottery, increasing profits by 54% and selling out the tickets 6 weeks early- Provided on-site consultation for one of Canada's largest telecommunications providers to assess a segmentation model for customers using net promoter scores- Researched and presented the Dirichlet model of purchasing behaviour by writing the entire methodology in numerous mathematical equations and testing the model with real data in R- Wrote numerous SAS macros and scripts to automate common processes in data analysis, manipulation, and cleaning- Identified significant errors in data quality in client data in multiple projects through diligent inspection Show less

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

I used advanced methods in mathematics to estimate the amount of money that the Bank of Montreal should allocate to prepare for low-probability, high-catastrophe disruptions its daily operations; these events could take many forms, such as natural disasters, cyber-terrorism, and infrastructure failures. I wrote extensive MATLAB scripts to implement models that involved copulas, which are multivariate distributions with variables that each has the standard uniform distribution as its marginal… Show more I used advanced methods in mathematics to estimate the amount of money that the Bank of Montreal should allocate to prepare for low-probability, high-catastrophe disruptions its daily operations; these events could take many forms, such as natural disasters, cyber-terrorism, and infrastructure failures. I wrote extensive MATLAB scripts to implement models that involved copulas, which are multivariate distributions with variables that each has the standard uniform distribution as its marginal distribution. Copulas are useful for describing the dependence between variables, and they are common in modelling the various events that underlie operational risk. Show less

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

- Co-authored 5 peer-reviewed articles in academic journals about cancer surveillance and cancer research- Performed data analysis and statistical modelling on 5 major projects about colorectal cancer surgeries, peritoneal cytology tests for endometrial cancer, single fraction radiotherapy for bone metastases, cancer statistics for First Nations and Non-First Nations populations, and synoptic reporting for surgeries for breast cancer- Wrote multiple SAS macros and scripts to… Show more - Co-authored 5 peer-reviewed articles in academic journals about cancer surveillance and cancer research- Performed data analysis and statistical modelling on 5 major projects about colorectal cancer surgeries, peritoneal cytology tests for endometrial cancer, single fraction radiotherapy for bone metastases, cancer statistics for First Nations and Non-First Nations populations, and synoptic reporting for surgeries for breast cancer- Wrote multiple SAS macros and scripts to automate the generation of reports Show less

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

- Co-authored 2 peer-reviewed articles in major academic journals in HIV research- Performed statistical analysis using Cox proportional hazards regression to evaluate 2 new methods to assess the ongoing health of HIV patients- Wrote R scripts to generate ROC curves and longitudinal plots to study the predictive value ofbioinformatics algorithms in ascertaining the tropism of HIV in patient samples- Applied logistic regression to compare competing algorithms in… Show more - Co-authored 2 peer-reviewed articles in major academic journals in HIV research- Performed statistical analysis using Cox proportional hazards regression to evaluate 2 new methods to assess the ongoing health of HIV patients- Wrote R scripts to generate ROC curves and longitudinal plots to study the predictive value ofbioinformatics algorithms in ascertaining the tropism of HIV in patient samples- Applied logistic regression to compare competing algorithms in distinguishing various strains of HIV Show less

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

- Used machine learning to identify the root causes of defects in the production process for a world-leading electronics producer- Used a combination of partial least squares regression and neural networks to improve efficiency and reduce calling duration in a customer-service centre for one of the world's biggest technology providers- Demonstrated multiple techniques in statistics and machine learning using SAS Enterprise Miner for a leading company in solar technology in an… Show more - Used machine learning to identify the root causes of defects in the production process for a world-leading electronics producer- Used a combination of partial least squares regression and neural networks to improve efficiency and reduce calling duration in a customer-service centre for one of the world's biggest technology providers- Demonstrated multiple techniques in statistics and machine learning using SAS Enterprise Miner for a leading company in solar technology in an on-site visit- Created and presented multiple learning modules about advanced methods in industrial analytics for engineers and statisticians Show less

Master Of Science - Ms, Statistics

Activities and Societies: Statistical Society of Canada (SSC), Southern Ontario Regional Association (SORA) of the SSC

Bachelor Of Science - Bs, Major In Chemistry And Minor In Mathematics

Activities and Societies: Peer Education - Student Learning Commons, Peer Education - Career Services Centre, Orientation Leaders, Biology.

Incubator Program, Entrepreneurship