iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Mine Doğucu @minedogucu.com · 29/09/2026

gen z <3 tidyverse brought to you by one of the course assistants of STAT 100

Mine Doğucu @minedogucu.com · 24/09/2026

Many students come to the #datascience classroom having mostly used Google Docs and not understanding file directories. To teach where to store & find their files I created this physical directory for my students. Everything was in the large box. I took out folders & files out one by one in class.

There is a large box on a chair with a sign that reads week01-intro-toolkit. Then there are vertically-aligned smaller boxes on a desk that read data, homework, lecture, section. Next to data box there is a paper that reads harvard-art-museum.csv and another paper that reads README.md. Next to the homework box the paper reads hw01-intro-toolkit.qmd. Next to the lecture box the paper reads lec01b-notes.qmd. Next to the section box the three papers read 01-installations.R, 02-test-installations.qmd, 03-bonus.qmd. Below the section box there three papers that read .gitignore, README.md, week01-intro-toolkit.Rproj.

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Mine Doğucu @minedogucu.com · 12/09/2026

New cover photo! In grad school a friend gifted me a business card holder as a birthday gift. She had also made and put this business card inside it. Happy to have found it in the photo archives.

A business card sized paper that has a portrait of me on the left and on the right text reads Mine Dogucu CEO of Happiness & Grit

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Mine Doğucu @minedogucu.com · 07/09/2026

I taught my first lecture at Harvard on Wednesday and these were my fun facts.

A slide with the title "Fun facts about me"

On the left side of the slide, there is an orange cat and a tabby cat laying down and looking in the same direction. The right side of the slide reads:

I have two cats: Mohsen (left) and Mojdeh (right).
I lived in the 20th century.
I love languages (and linguistics), movies, and books.
Not so fun fact: I was a first generation, low income college student.

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Mine Doğucu @minedogucu.com · 05/09/2026

There are so many turkeys on campus. This is the view from my office earlier today.

Three turkeys roaming around on a lawn in front of a red brick building next to a sidewalk. One of the turkeys has its wings open.

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Mine Doğucu @minedogucu.com · 31/08/2026

You know the minor teaching details you've on your mind that you can't do in the chaos of the academic year because 1) you're busy 2) they're so unimportant. For me summer is a great time to implement them. Here is my 404 page for my STAT 100 course. It's finally out of my head along with my giggles

STAT 100 web page that reads 404: Missing Data Point
Oops! You found a missing value (NA).
You clicked a link expecting a page, but got a 404 error instead. The page you are looking for is missing.

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Mine Doğucu @minedogucu.com · 23/08/2026

Too good to gatekeep. All book lovers need to add this book holder to their shopping cart. DM me for the affiliate link.

An orange cat laying on his back next to his human holding the open page of a book with his paw. He is also got in the midst of a self cleaning session with his tongue out.

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Mine Doğucu @minedogucu.com · 20/08/2026

Just got reminded about this eraser I had found in Rome. Simply brilliant.

A black eraser that reads errare humanum est

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Mine Doğucu @minedogucu.com · 16/08/2026

In addition to being a great read, Boggs’ “Baldwin: A Love Story” makes a good pillow. #BookSky

A cat snuggled on the book right on top of Baldwin’s portrait that stretches the whole cover.

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Mine Doğucu @minedogucu.com · 10/08/2026

Six years ago today, we adopted our youngest of the family, Mojdeh. It was pandemic times and I was teaching from home.

A woman in front of a black curtain holding a tabby kitten in her arms. Only the head of the kitten is visible. She is adorable with a tiny face and ears almost as big her face. There is a glass with neon marker mirrored writing of Greek letters and equations.

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Mine Doğucu @minedogucu.com · 13/07/2026

Look at the #stats class that is required for a psych degree in Sims 4 😬

Number of Core Classes is set to 4 Classes and listed as

1. Therefore I am: Intro to Psychology
2. A History of Perception
3. (Mis)interpreting Statistics
4. Have a Seat: Clinical Psychology Basics

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Mine Doğucu @minedogucu.com · 10/07/2026

New course prep is officially underway for Fall! 🍁 I am incredibly excited to be teaching STAT 100: Introduction to Statistics and Data Science this coming Fall 2026 at Harvard. Teaching intro courses are always a joyful challenge.

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Mine Doğucu @minedogucu.com · 08/07/2026

My annual Berry Consultants pen is running out of ink for the first time! I wish it would survive a few more weeks. IYKYK. #JSM2026

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Mine Doğucu @minedogucu.com · 01/07/2026

Greetings from Cambridge, MA where I have a new home, a new job, an office with a (real) window, and many supportive people to help me get started. Hashtag blessed.

A view from a large window that overlooks to a red brick building and a small lawn

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Mine Doğucu @minedogucu.com · 16/06/2026

Also, did I mention my hometown Mersin, Türkiye in the boo.k? I sure did.

When working with time data, you will encounter UTC quite often. UTC stands for Coordinated Universal Time. Think of it as the world’s main clock. A reader of Hello Data Science in Mersin, Türkiye would see a different time on their clock than a reader in Guadalajara, Mexico. But if both readers turned to the main clock of the world, they would see the exact same time.

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Mine Doğucu @minedogucu.com · 16/06/2026

I used my high school besties' names (Nihan and Selin) in the book and one of them shared this on Instagram 🩷

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Mine Doğucu @minedogucu.com · 05/06/2026

A former student (now doing his PhD!) dropped by this week to gift me this. He clarified it’s a joke and that I didn’t actually make his class cry. 😂 Academia has many challenges but moments like this make it worth it. Hearing from former students (and their wellbeing) is truly the best gift.

Coffee tumbler that reads “tears of my students (still warm)”

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Mine Doğucu @minedogucu.com · 05/06/2026

Reading Persepolis again tonight. Marx and Descartes as drawn by Marjane Satrapi. RIP 🌷

In one panel Marx is showing Descartes an apple and saying “You mean that even though you see this stone in my hand it doesn’t exist since it’s only in your imagination?” And Descartes responding “Exactly”. In the next panel Marx is giggling while hitting Descartes’ head with the the stone. Descartes says “Ouch! What are you doing Karl, you broke my skull”

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Mine Doğucu @minedogucu.com · 30/05/2026

A British friend texted me that PinkPantheress’ dad is a statistician. Stephen G. Walker is a Bayesian. This is our chance to make Bayesian nonparametrics mainstream. Looking at you @isba-bayesian.bsky.social.

WhatsApp message that says “Just read that PinkPantheress has a statistician for a father

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Mine Doğucu @minedogucu.com · 24/05/2026

🎨 Being married to an artist means my #DataScience classes get custom illustrations! 🧥 I teach overfit models in #MachineLearning like a jacket tailored perfectly to fashion models—flawless on them, but fails to fit an ordinary sample of people.

Three models with similar body features wearing perfectly fitting jackets and pants

Three ordinary people with varying body features and ill fitting jackets and pants. The clothes are either too big or too small for them.

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Mine Doğucu @minedogucu.com · 02/04/2026

We got off at the same station and my husband was picking me up so we got our mini reunion.

A group of three people in front of a sign that reads Union Station East. On the left is a very happy woman showing many of her teeth. In the middle is a man wearing a cap, his face is covered with an emoji. On the right is a man with glasses holding the phone for a selfie.

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Mine Doğucu @minedogucu.com · 23/03/2026

Some good news on our end. Our little Mohsen is now 10 years old 🎈🌸

Black and white Polaroid photo of a fluffy cat and a woman hugging. Chest up is visible. They are both looking into the camera. Polaroid frame has the handwritten text as Mohsen is 10! 2026-03-23

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Mine Doğucu @minedogucu.com · 23/02/2026

Currently reading (slowly) my first (non-picture) book in Spanish. Learning a language is arduous but the joy of starting to understand stories is priceless.

Book cover with a lot of bright colored animals including lots of birds and a butterfly. The overall cover color is green with lots of plants and trees in a jungle. The book title is called Cuentos de la Selva and the author is Horacio Quiroga

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Mine Doğucu @minedogucu.com · 22/02/2026

Interesting review of the book “Everything is Predictable“ #Bayesian

There book cover and title “Everything Is Predictable: How Bayes' Remarkable Theorem Explains the World” by Tom Chivers is reviewed by a user named Brian with five stars with the following comment:
There's a stereotype of computer users: Mac users are creative and cool, while PC users are businesslike and unimaginative.
Less well-known is that the world of statistics has an equivalent division. Bayesians are the Mac users of the stats world, where frequentists are the PC people. This book sets out to show why Bayesians are not just cool, but also mostly right.

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Mine Doğucu @minedogucu.com · 14/02/2026

Our younger cat in return is intrigued by the toddler’s toy.

A cat sitting by a puzzle with large pieces and looking at it.

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Mine Doğucu @minedogucu.com · 16/01/2026

It is 2026 but nonetheless, I started a personal blog where I will write about my life with my spouse and cats. It is mainly for my friends and family but since it is public, I'll share here too. An Artist and a Scientist First post: We Met Hisao Shinagawa anartistandascientist.com/posts/2026-0...

A vinyl that reads Rock'n Roll Records by Hisao Shinagawa More Money More War

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Mine Doğucu @minedogucu.com · 14/01/2026

🖼️ In addition to text, you will find many figures explaining concepts. Here is one example with an explanation of how case_when() function works in #dplyr in #rstats

A flowchart illustrating the logic of the case_when() function, commonly used in R programming.

At the top, the code structure is shown as: case_when( condition1 ~ action1, condition2 ~ action2, condition3 ~ action3 )

The logic flows vertically through a series of pink rectangular decision boxes and green circular action outcomes:

Step 1: The process starts at condition1. If TRUE, it leads to action 1. If FALSE, it moves down to the next condition.

Step 2: At condition2, if TRUE, it leads to action 2. If FALSE, it moves down to the next condition.

Step 3: At condition3, if TRUE, it leads to action 3.

Final Step: If condition3 is also FALSE, the process concludes by moving to a final green circle that says return NA.

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Mine Doğucu @minedogucu.com · 14/01/2026

📖 Big news! We just released the first five chapters of our new book, Hello Data Science. It is a fully open-access resource written for beginners. Please help us spread the word! A few points about the book are below 👇 🔗 www.hellodata.science #rstats #datascience #tidyverse

A hex sticker with a text that reads Hello Data Science with green, yellow and pink scatterplot points in the background. There is a web address www.hellodata.science

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Mine Doğucu @minedogucu.com · 12/01/2026

📚Coming soon: Chapters from our open-access book "Hello Data Science," based on our intro courses across three institutions! 📦 Today, we’re releasing the early version of the #rstats package with datasets. Find it on GitHub (on its way to CRAN): github.com/hellodata-sc...

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Mine Doğucu @minedogucu.com · 01/01/2026

Now that I have finished my last book of the year I can share my year in books.

Goodreads 2025 Year in Books 10,637 pages read 41 books read

Shortest Book 76 pages Longest Book 572 pages

Average book length in 2025 259 pages. Most shelved book is Educated and least shelved book is biz ise yalnizca arabalardik

My average rating in 2025 4.3 Highest Rated on Goodreads is the book Washing My Mother’s Body with 4.58 average

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Mine Doğucu @minedogucu.com · 24/11/2025

I love finding random and unexpected vinyls. At the back it says “The music heard here, recorded in Anzahar, Olukman, and Tülünk villages in the province of Sivas in south-eastern Turkey...” 1972 USA release

Vinyl cover with an illustration of a man playing a traditional flute and two men playing two string instruments. They are sitting out in the fields with the village further away in the background. The text reads Turkish Village Music recorded in Turkey by Laxmi G. Tewari

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Mine Doğucu @minedogucu.com · 14/11/2025

It is a beautiful rainy day in LA.

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Mine Doğucu @minedogucu.com · 09/11/2025

Today I paid for a time machine to take me to my teen years 🥹

Vinyl of The Cranberries called Stars the best of 1992-2002

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Mine Doğucu @minedogucu.com · 01/11/2025

I have lived in many places and have experienced many different traditions. The most meaningful for me has definitely been The Day of The Day. Thank you LA for bringing this tradition to our lives. Thinking of my mother, aunt, grandparents - today and always. Siempre en mi corazón 🫀

The Day of the Dead offerings decorated on the floor of a park. A painting with La Catrina (skeleton) on the backdrop. A large skull in the center on the floor with marigolds around it.

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Mine Doğucu @minedogucu.com · 31/10/2025

I know I am late to watching The Big Bang Theory but if anybody had told me that Sheldon Cooper is a Bayesian I might have done it sooner.

A projected scene that shows a man in front of a whiteboard which has the Bayes’ rule on it. The scene is paused and the information reads The Big Bang Theory S4 E2: The Cruciferous Vegetable Amplification.

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Mine Doğucu @minedogucu.com · 18/10/2025

If you are interested in #dataviz you might possibly like the winners of the @amstatnews.bsky.social K-12 poster competition. Some posters are so adorable!!! 🥇 K-3 winner! 📊 Screen Time Fun: Are Your Eyes Happy Too? 🔗 magazine.amstat.org/wp-content/u... 🏆: magazine.amstat.org/blog/2025/08...

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Mine Doğucu @minedogucu.com · 16/10/2025

#datascience folks might find this podcast episode interesting. BBC Witness History episodes are also quite short!

September 29
The birth of the Excel spreadsheet
Witness History

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Mine Doğucu @minedogucu.com · 12/10/2025

We got to listen to Mahler’s “Resurrection“ performed by LA Phil tonight. Mahler is one thing, Symphony No 2 is another thing, and LA Phil conducted by Dudamel is yet another thing. I will leave this quote by Mahler here for the night 🖤

"Why have you lived? Why have you suffered? Is it all some huge, awful joke?
We have to answer these questions somehow if we are to go on living-indeed, even if we are only to go on dying!" These are the questions Mahler said were posed in the first movement of his Symphony No. 2, questions that he promised would be answered in the finale.

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Mine Doğucu @minedogucu.com · 08/10/2025

Last night I got to see Jafar Panahi after the screening of It Was Just An Accident. Thank you @amcinematheque.bsky.social. We have the original movie poster of Panahi’s White Balloon from 1995 hanging on our living room wall. Big fan of him! Glad that his visa problem was resolved.

Jafar Panahi and his translator on stage, sitting on chairs and holding microphones.

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Mine Doğucu @minedogucu.com · 02/10/2025

Mama’s Visit, Acrylic on paper, 30 x 22.5 in, 2025 by @mortkhakshoor.bsky.social This one has a very special place in my heart.

A brown man with a mustache wearing a white shirt and dark pants has his hands in his pocket. The white fabric of the shirt has dark shades at every fold. There is a colorful hummingbird facing the man’s chest, almost his heart. The hummingbird has her wings wide open.

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Mine Doğucu @minedogucu.com · 27/09/2025

Yes, I did buy a book solely based on its title.

First page of a book that reads I Married an Artist, Billy Button, The Ryerson Press Toronto Canada. There is an illustration of a woman sitting on a chair and holding her head while covering her face. It’s giving “what have i done?” Impression.

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Mine Doğucu @minedogucu.com · 14/09/2025

Buying a hummingbird feeder was definitely the best purchase of the summer. Why didn’t we do this earlier?!

An orange-brown hummingbird feeding off a red feeder

An orange-brown hummingbird is just chilling on a feeder, looking up.

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Mine Doğucu @minedogucu.com · 14/09/2025

Many years ago when I bought my first car, I only had one CD in it: Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra conducted by Gustavo Dudamel. We listened to the CD billion times. Years later we moved to LA and found Dudamel as the conductor of LA Phil. It is his final season in LA. He sure will be missed!

CD cover of young musicians wearing sportsy jackets with Venezuelan flag seated in an orchestra setting. Dudamel is the conductor. The cover reads Fiesta Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela Gustavo Dudamel

Billboard that has a photo of Dudamel and reads Gracias Gustavo. Don’t Miss Dudamel’s Final Season.

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Mine Doğucu @minedogucu.com · 08/09/2025

The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo as (half) depicted by Mohsen on this lovely Monday morning.

A orange cat laying down on a green oriental carpet. His body goes from lower right corner to the upper left corner with his paws pointed towards the upper left corner. He is fluffy, adorable, and super relaxed.

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Mine Doğucu @minedogucu.com · 18/08/2025

I came to the States in Aug 2005 for my bachelor’s. One of my first classes was a stats class. The prof asked us to ask our classmates how many states they visited & make a visualization of the distribution. Everyone was shocked to hear I’d only been to MA. “I just arrived last week” I kept saying.

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Mine Doğucu @minedogucu.com · 14/08/2025

The best bookstore in LA is truly The Iliad.

A cat on a short stool standing like an Egyptian statue.

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