Gustavo Varela Alvarenga

Data Scientist & Statistician · Ph.D.

Turning messy data into decisions.

Ph.D. in Mathematical Statistics, University of Maryland. Two decades across industry, research, and academia.

Now — on sabbatical, working on independent data projects and teaching math.

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Gustavo Varela Alvarenga
Ph.D. · University of Maryland
20+ years in data
R · Python · SQL
Forecasting & ML

I build statistical and machine-learning models that find patterns and forecast what comes next. Over two decades across industry, research, and academia — most recently at Google and as Regional Head of Data Science for Latin America at Argus Media — I’ve shipped R and Python data products, taught computational statistics, and published award-winning applied economics.

Selected Experience

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01 Senior Data Science ResearcherGoogle 2025 — 2026 02 Volunteer TeacherCursinho Popular MTST 2023 — Present 03 Regional Head of Data Science, Latin AmericaArgus Media 2021 — 2025 04 NSF Mathematical Sciences Graduate InternPacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) 2019

Education

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Ph.D., Mathematical StatisticsUniversity of Maryland 2014 — 2021 M.A., EconomicsUniversidade de Brasília 2009 — 2011 B.S., StatisticsUniversidade de Brasília 2004 — 2008

Papers

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Impacts of Sector Funds on firms: new perspectives from the dose-response function G. Varela Alvarenga, D. M. Pianto, B. C. Araújo · 2012 ★ Prêmio CNI de Economia · 2nd place, Innovation & Productivity (2012) Demand for air tickets in the Brazilian economy: a co-integration analysis P. F. Alves, G. Varela-Alvarenga, C. H. Rocha · 2011 Counter-cyclical policies in the automobile industry: a co-integration analysis of the impacts of IPI reduction on vehicle sales G. Varela-Alvarenga, P. F. Alves, C. F. dos Santos, F. De Negri, L. R. Cavalcante, M. C. Passos · 2010

Recognition

Prêmio CNI de Economia · 2012

Second place — Innovation & Productivity

Awarded by Brazil’s National Confederation of Industry (CNI), with the Brazilian association of graduate economics programs (ANPEC), for the first Brazilian study to use a continuous-treatment (dose-response) method to evaluate innovation incentives — finding no crowding-out of private R&D.

About the award ↗
NSF MSGI · ORISE Profile

Doctoral student uses AI to improve energy systems

Profiled by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) for summer-2019 research at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory — applying machine learning to alloy micrographs for the DOE’s Fossil Energy XMAT project.

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