Abstract: 

I will present an overview of causal inference techniques that are a good addition to the toolbox of any data scientist, especially in certain circumstances where experimentation is limited. Use of these techniques can provide additional value from historical data as well to understand drivers of key metrics and other valuable insights. The session will be practical focused with both theory and how to perform techniques in R. The end of the session will close with recent advances from combining machine learning with causal inference techniques to do things such as speed up AB testing.

Bio: 

Vinod Bakthavachalam is a Data Scientist working with the Content Strategy and Enterprise teams, focusing on using Coursera's data to understand what are the most valuable skills across roles, industries, and geographies. Prior to Coursera, he worked in quantitative finance and studied Economics, Statistics, and Molecular & Cellular Biology at UC Berkeley.