Pete Benbow

Data Science Educator

Pete Benbow

I'm the James B. Duke Assistant Professor of the Practice in Data Science at Davidson College. My teaching focuses on database systems and data engineering, the back-end infrastructure that makes data science possible.

I'm also a halfway-decent angler.

GitHubLinkedInCollege bioSpotify
Pete Benbow fly-fishing

Education

A.B., Political Science (2007), Davidson College

Academic Interests

  • Relational databases
  • Data engineering
  • Business intelligence systems
  • Exploratory data analysis

Personal Stuff

  • Fly-fishing
  • Science fiction & fantasy
  • Gaming
  • Singing

Teaching

Courses I teach at Davidson College.

Data Science & Society

DAT 110

An introduction to exploratory data analysis (EDA) with R and the tidyverse, set against the backdrop of examining economic and social justice issues in the United States.

Database Programming

DAT 153

An introduction to databases and SQL. Students learn to explore and interact with relational databases, extract knowledge through analytical queries, and apply fundamental design principles to develop and deploy their own systems.

Data Engineering

DAT 342

Exploring the modern infrastructure that makes data science possible: data warehouses, lakehouses, and ETL pipelines, moving massive amounts of data from Point A to Point B.

Skills

Tools and platforms I use for teaching, research, and building.

Languages

SQLRPython

Databases

PostgreSQLMicrosoft SQL ServerMySQLOracle RDBMSDuckDBMongoDB

BI & Data Viz

ggplot2Power BIR ShinyTableauSuperset

Data Engineering

DatabricksMicrosoft FabricDuckleSparkPolars

Web Development

QuartoAstro

Projects

A selection of the data, engineering, and hardware projects I've built.

Power BI

A modest selection of a few Power BI projects I've built over the years.

R

R projects built in Shiny, Quarto, and other formats.

Home Lab

Gaming PCs and other cool stuff I've built for personal use.

Code

R packages and tools I've built or contributed to.

pipevizR

An R package that diagrams data lineage in tidyverse pipeline code

gradeR

An R package that autogrades assignment submissions

Online Instruction

Courses I've built for edX.

Analyzing & Visualizing Data with Power BI

This course got me started on the path toward becoming a professor. We have enrolled over 175,000 learners worldwide since we launched it in 2020!

Introduction to SQL

Following the success we had with the Power BI course, we launched this one in 2021 to introduce students to SQL and relational databases.

Talks

Conference sessions and presentations.

TitleDateLocation
Modeling Graduate Outcomes Using National Student Clearinghouse DataSep 20, 2023YouTube
Modeling Further Education of Graduates With NSC Data in Power BIJun 2, 2023Cleveland, OH
Database DevOps in Azure: Prepare for Ludicrous Speed!Nov 17, 2022Seattle, WA
Automating the Enterprise Data Warehouse Using Azure DevOpsApr 17, 2019Ann Arbor, MI