Maria Contractor

About Me

I’m Maria Contractor, a Data Science graduate with a background in statistics and experience applying analytics in finance, research, and technology. At BNY, I design dashboards and streamline workflows that improve efficiency in hedge fund analytics and compliance, while continuing to build expertise in automation and machine learning. I’m always looking for opportunities that challenge me and strengthen my skills so I can keep growing as a data professional.

I thrive on projects where analytics meets strategy. That includes evaluating large language models, developing predictive dashboards and deploying machine learning systems. I enjoy translating complex data into clear insights that drive better decisions, and I’m eager to bring that same energy to future roles. Outside of work, I stay creative and energetic through tennis with my family and learning new Bollywood dance styles.

Skills

Experience

BNY Mellon

Hedge Funds Analyst — Aug 2025 – Present

• Built out a Power BI dashboard to monitor digital tool usage across hedge fund teams, helping leadership measure adoption and identify areas for automation.
• Highlighted efficiency gains worth 1000+ hours per year, creating a data-driven case for scaling automation.
• Exposure to hedge fund administration processes, with a focus on driving modernization in an environment managing $50B+ AUM.

Power BIPythonSQL

BNY Mellon

Global Compliance & Risk Analyst Intern — Jun 2024 – Aug 2024

• Created Power BI dashboards that gave real-time visibility into thousands of daily cash and liquidity transactions, reducing reliance on manual spreadsheets.
• Documented and standardized 10+ treasury workflows in Visio, providing a roadmap for future automation projects.
• Gained hands-on experience balancing compliance requirements with operational efficiency in a global financial setting.

Power BIRisk AnalysisCash ManagementVisio

University of Central Florida

Data Analytics Research Assistant — Aug 2024 – May 2025

• Designed a Power BI system to track graduate student contracts, making status updates accessible to faculty and administrators at a glance.
• Automated weekly and cumulative reports, reducing manual effort by ~40% and improving the timeliness of decision-making.
• Introduced predictive insights to flag potential engagement issues early, strengthening collaboration across 15+ departments.

Power BIPredictive AnalyticsData Visualization

Limbitless Solutions

Data & Research Intern — May 2023 – Dec 2023

• Analyzed how children interacted with gamified prosthetic training platforms, using R (ggplot2, dplyr) to visualize progress and engagement trends.
• Helped show a 10%+ increase in user engagement from game-based training methods compared to traditional approaches.
• Contributed to a manuscript (pending publication) documenting Limbitless’s use of reinforcement learning agents to make rehabilitation gaming more adaptive and user-friendly.

Rggplot2dplyrReinforcement Learning

Data Glacier

Data Science Intern — May 2023 – Aug 2023

• Worked on deploying a Flask + Heroku app that hosted a linear regression model trained on 10K+ records to predict student test scores.
• Applied Python data transformation techniques to clean and analyze 50K+ cab ride records, conducting performance comparisons between companies.
• Collaborated in a remote, global team environment, learning best practices for version control, documentation, and presenting results to diverse stakeholders.

PythonFlaskHerokuETLLinear Regression

Projects