Welcome to our new students and welcome back to our returning students! I have been happy to see many of you already in person, but I would like to invite you all to our annual welcome event next week on Monday, September 9 at 5:00 in the Sociology Department lounge. The event is open to all MA students and faculty. Pizza and drinks will be served. It will be a great opportunity to meet everyone and discuss some important information about the program. This will be a part of the weekly Monday Meetup series for students who want to get together to discuss anything related to data analytics and the industry. We will be having a weekly get together in the department lounge on Mondays from 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM. Faculty will be there every week, along with any students who want to come by before their evening courses. Students can join the Monday Meetup for: Academic advising for all students Career and academic advising for current DATA students Get homework help (Graduate & Data Minor students) Learn about and collaborate on extracurricular projects Meet other analytics-minded students I will be the acting Co-Director with Professor Hongwei Xu this year. My email is listed below, and you may contact me with any questions. The Sociology Department is in Powdermaker Hall 252. The main phone number for the Sociology and Data Analytics programs is: 718-997-2800. Looking forward to seeing you all soon, Professor Sperry ryan.sperry@qc.cuny.edu