From an early age, Mason Zoellner knew he had a love for numbers. Growing up in Virginia, his first idea for a career in statistics revolved around sports.

“I’ve kind of always been a math nerd,” he said with a laugh. “I love looking at numbers, finding patterns, and figuring out the best way to do things.”

“After watching Moneyball, I thought that was my dream job,” he said. “But I realized quickly that I wanted to take my passion for data science in a different direction.”

That passion naturally led him to study computer science with a focus in data-centric computing at Virginia Tech. 

His curiosity next brought him to internships at the Hume Center and Naval Surface Warfare Center, where he worked on artificial intelligence and statistical modeling projects. While the technical work was rewarding, Mason admits the domain wasn’t where his heart was.

“While it was valuable, it wasn’t something I felt connected to long-term.”

The turning point came when a science writing class assignment had him search for a researcher at Virginia Tech to spotlight. A quick Google search for “Virginia Tech health data science” introduced him to the Center for Biostatistics and Health Data Science (CBHDS). He connected with Ben Brewer [Research Scientist] during the Center’s Zoom Drop-in Hours, and the rest fell into place.

“I didn’t really have anything lined up for the summer, so I just asked if I could volunteer,” Mason recalled. “Ben put in a good word, and soon enough I was connected with Alex Hanlon [Director] and Alicia Lozano [Assistant Director]. It worked out perfectly.” 

At the Center, Mason has been building tools to automate and streamline academic dossier preparation, pulling from sources like Google Scholar and Altmetric. He credits the mentorship he’s received as one of the best parts of his experience.

“Alicia gives me the problem and the end goal, but she lets me be creative in how I get there. That freedom to try different approaches has been amazing...it’s mentorship I haven’t even experienced in some of my bigger internships.”

One of Mason’s favorite tools to support that work is the Python re.match function, which allows him to quickly find and extract patterns from text. 

“It’s one of those little functions that comes in handy all the time,” he said. “It really fits with what I love most...finding patterns in data and making sense of them.” 

Outside of academics and coding, Mason invests his time in leadership and service. He serves as vice president of Virginia Tech’s Beta Upsilon Chi fraternity, where he helps guide a team of student leaders, plans events, and mentors peers.

“It’s been a huge part of my life,” he said. “Between my faith, leadership opportunities, and being surrounded by a great community, it’s helped me grow a lot personally.”

As for what’s next, Mason is keeping his options open but knows one thing for sure: he wants to continue applying data science to health. He was recently elevated from volunteer to part-time research assistant.

“This summer has really given me a passion for using data to improve patient outcomes,” he said. “Whether that’s in academia or industry, I want my work to make a difference in health.”