Last day in Cyprus :’( It’s been such a great trip and I’ve made some friends and memories that I will never forget. I’m so grateful for the opportunity to participate in this program! Onto the prompts now. Today we went to UNIC and got a lecture on data science, crypto, and blockchains. The first lecture was all about data science and supply chain analytics. In today’s day and age, everything is in a database. From your grades to every google search, it’s all data science. Data science is the convergence of 3 main topics: hacking skills, math and statics knowledge, and substantive expertise. It has to deal with the efficient extraction of knowledge and data. Data analytics can be broken up into 4 different types. There is descriptive which has to do with explaining what has already happened, diagnostic which explains why something happened, predictive which forecast what might happen, and prescriptive which recommends an action based on the forecast. Data science also has to deal with machine learning. Machine learning is when a model is mimicking a real world process with explicitly being programmed for what it is trying to do. Machine learning is an evolutionary process, you have to train the model over time and eventually it will be able to better predict the target outcomes.
We were then lucky enough to get a lecture from the CEO of UNIC about crypto and blockchains. In 2013, UNIC was the first university to launch a cryptocurrency and blockchain program and to this day remain one of the highest rated universities for this program. He explained how blockchains are kind of like a public park, where there is no set administrator that is able to change things. A blockchain is a public domain that everyone owns. A blockchain is always continuously growing. In private databases the administration is able to change whatever they like which can cause havoc. He explained that the head of IT at UNIC has control over everyone’s data, and if he decided he would be able to cause a lot of damage. Blockchains are important for databases that you don’t want people to change. He elaborated about cryptocurrency and how it is a form of digital money in a way. Using encryption algorithms people are able to own parts of the blockchain which can translate to real money.
After the lectures I decided to get lunch with some of the friends I made on the trip. We went to an Italian restaurant and I got pesto penne, which was good. It was not the best pasta I’ve had on the trip but it was still quite good. After lunch I went a little souvenir shopping and got something for my dad and girlfriend. I then walked around Nicosia for a little one last time, trying to take it all in. Nicosia was definitely one of my favorite cities I’ve visited and it amazed me how it is split right through the middle between the Turkish north and the Cypriot south. After getting back to the hotel I decided to pack a little bit before taking a long nap. The nap was wonderful and I felt quite rejuvenated afterwards and was ready for dinner, which was another meze. Once again I’m so thankful that I was able to have such a great experience! I’m so thankful for all the friends I’ve made along the way and can’t wait to see them at Pitt in the fall! I would also like to thank Dr. Clark, Valerie, Dimitra, and all of the people from global semesters and Pitt who helped arrange this trip!