Dinaz Kachhi-Jiwani ’06, Lead Researcher

What has your career/education path been like since graduating?

Upon graduation, I started my career at Nielsen as a Methodological Research Analyst providing research solutions, driving innovation and digital measurement. Five years at Nielsen provided me a solid background of different methodologies, client interaction and performing research on research. I moved to Dallas to be closer to my family and started working at Instantly to support their Operations and Research team. In a very short time frame, I was promoted as a Panel Manager and eventually ended up formulating a new Department that focused on Insights & Strategy serving clients from different verticals and developing MR solutions, survey platforms and data collection Apps. Having had solid research background, I wanted to shift gears and focus on consulting and Business Intelligence. Therefore, I began working for a start-up - ResearchFidelity, where I am managing research operations and using data science to project quarterly market share for major Telecom client and spearhead custom market research projects. The experience of working at a Global organization to a mid but fast faced Market Research vendor to a start-up has made a well rounded professional that uses Market Research as a means to solve business problems.

Why did you choose your particular field of study at COM?

I had completed my Master's from India in Media Research and wanted to further my research and analytical skills. In addition, I wanted to get into a holistic program that gave me the tools to thrive in a Corporate environment. The program in Applied Communication Research was indeed tailored to develop professionals who could use their core skills to adapt into organizations need to offer methodical solutions, make sense of numbers and provide valuable insights to drive growth and change.

What skills from the program have you found most valuable?

Exposure to different research methods, ability to crunch data and communicate them effectively were the most valuable.