Senior Data Scientist · AI Solutions · Applied AI/ML

Building intelligent systems for complex institutions

Advanced analytics and AI/ML leader at the University of Illinois System, delivering production-grade AI pipelines, LLM platforms, and predictive models that drive executive-level decisions.

End-to-End
AI Platform Architecture
Ingest · Model · Deploy · Monitor
Production
AI/ML in the Enterprise
Live on Azure · Cron-scheduled · Oracle-connected
Applied LLMs
RAG · NLP · Multimodal
LLaMA · LLaVA · GPT-4.1 · Presidio
Stakeholder
Executive-Level Delivery
AVPs · Chancellors · Governance Committees

Who I Am

Tayler Erbe
Senior Data Scientist · AI Solutions, AITS

I'm a Senior Data Scientist at Administrative Information Technology Services (AITS), University of Illinois System, where I've served as the sole Advanced Analytics and Decision Support lead for nearly three years, owning the full lifecycle of analytics strategy, AI infrastructure, and stakeholder delivery across a complex, highly regulated enterprise.

My work spans the entire stack: from architecting Linux-based analytics execution environments to deploying RAG-powered legislative intelligence platforms live on Azure. I've built systems that process 79,000+ archival emails, classify research proposals in real time via 11-step NLP pipelines, and enable natural-language search across legacy institutional file archives.

I believe in independently defining ambiguous problems, designing solutions from scratch, and sustaining delivery continuity through organizational change. I've presented to executive leadership, governance committees, and the Enterprise Architecture Committee, and I've made it a point to translate complex AI into narratives that non-technical stakeholders can act on.

2022–2023 Very Successful / Effective
2023–2024 Extraordinary / Distinguished · AITS Excellence Award Finalist
2024–2025 Very Successful / Effective

Selected Work

Delivered · UIC
Case Study ↗ GitHub ↗
02
Student Enrollment Classification & Forecasting (UIC)

Predictive ML system identifying students at risk of discontinuing enrollment, with ~82% classification accuracy. Random Forest, Tree Ensemble, and ARIMA models with 10-year enrollment projections by department and college. Full lifecycle ownership from feature engineering to executive presentation to UIC leadership.

Random Forest ARIMA 82% Accuracy Feature Engineering
R&D · Prototype Delivered
Case Study ↗ GitHub ↗
03
Email Archiving, E-Discovery & Privacy-Preserving NLP

Processed 79,676 historical .eml records from a 20-year institutional archive. PII detection and anonymization via Microsoft Presidio (5 strategies), LLaMA de-identified summarization, LDA + LLM-labeled topic modeling. Scalability analysis documented the production path. Built in partnership with RIMS and the University Library.

Presidio PII LLaMA E-Discovery Topic Modeling RIMS / Library
Active POC · RIMS Partnership
Case Study ↗ GitHub ↗
04
Archival Image Classification & Digital Preservation

Multimodal image moderation POC for large-scale historical collections empirically evaluated at 10,000+ images. Compared semantic similarity-based classification against LLaVA multimodal LLM at scale. Developed domain-specific sensitive content taxonomy for archival and legal risk. Active collaboration with the RIMS Committee at UIUC and the University Library cataloguing program.

LLaVA 10,000+ Images Semantic Similarity Dublin Core RIMS / Library
Active · ERP Modernization
Case Study ↗ GitHub ↗
05
Legacy File Archive Intelligence & Semantic Search

15+ file-type extraction pipeline (PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, images, code, HTML) with LLaVA visual intelligence and LLaMA text summarization. FAISS vector search returns Box file paths from natural-language queries, making decades of legacy institutional content discoverable for the first time. Includes image querying via LLaVA descriptions.

LLaVA FAISS Box API Multimodal Semantic Search
Active · POC Complete · Under Review Case Study ↗ GitHub ↗
06
HR Workforce Analytics Intelligence Platform

Predictive workforce analytics platform designed to transform EDW HR and payroll data into forward-looking strategic intelligence. Three completed POC workstreams cover internal mobility modeling, succession readiness prediction, and workforce growth forecasting. Uses Markov chain career simulation, Random Forest promotion prediction, graph-based career community detection, and O*NET-enriched skill matching. Developed in partnership with Luanne Mayorga, Assistant Chancellor for Illinois HR.

Attrition Modeling Forecasting HR Analytics ERP Strategy
Production · Built from Scratch GitHub ↗
07
Job Execution Monitoring Application

Custom-designed centralized health-checking and alerting system for all scheduled analytics workflows. Detects failures, cascade errors, and silent pipelines, and generates diagnostic alert emails via Linux sendmail with full traceback detail. Runs every 30–60 min with zero manual intervention.

Observability Parquet Logging Python Linux
Production · Cron Scheduled
Case Study ↗ GitHub ↗
08
Research Proposals NLP Pipeline

Full-stack production pipeline connecting live Oracle databases through 11-step NLP processing (TF-IDF + KeyBERT + LDA fusion, HERDS classification) to structured Oracle writeback, running unattended on an automated schedule. Processes all SPA research proposals and awards system-wide across UIUC and UIC — foundation for the emerging Research Proposal Intelligence platform supporting the System's ~$517M annual research portfolio.

Oracle ETL KeyBERT LDA HERDS Classification SentenceTransformer Python
Personal · In Development GitHub ↗
✦ P2
Personal AI Chatbot That Mimics Me

A helpful little professional chatbot that acts as a conversational introduction to me — answering questions about my background, projects, and working style using my resume, case studies, and portfolio content as its grounding corpus. Retrieval-augmented so answers stay factual; voiced in my own cadence so it feels like reading something I actually wrote. Intended to live on this portfolio site as an alternative to scrolling.

RAG LLM Agents Vector Search Persona Grounding FastAPI
Personal · In Development GitHub ↗
✦ P3
Adaptive Narrative Engine Psychologically Driven RPG

A personal project exploring the intersection of psychology, game design, and AI. An adaptive storytelling system where NPCs and narrative branches respond dynamically to a player's personality, inferred from dialogue choices mapped to the Big Five (OCEAN) framework. LLM-generated dialogue serves dual purpose: advancing story and extracting personality signals. Includes a Jungian archetype NPC system, FAISS-backed memory, and a healing/safety layer. Built modularly with FastAPI backend, vector memory, and a React chat-style UI.

Big Five / OCEAN LLM Agents Jungian Archetypes FAISS Memory FastAPI Adaptive Narrative React

Technology Stack

Languages & Modeling
  • Python
  • SQL
  • R
  • scikit-learn
  • Random Forest / Tree Ensemble
  • ARIMA with exponential smoothing
  • Feature engineering & validation
NLP & LLM / AI
  • LLaMA (Ollama local inference)
  • LLaVA multimodal models
  • GPT-4.1 (Copilot AI Agent)
  • spaCy · NLTK · KeyBERT
  • LDA topic modeling
  • RAG architectures
  • Prompt engineering
  • Microsoft Presidio (PII)
Vector Search & Data
  • FAISS vector indexing
  • MiniLM / BERT embeddings
  • Sentence-Transformers
  • pandas / numpy / pyarrow
  • Parquet / batch pipelines
  • Oracle (cx_Oracle)
  • TF-IDF / hybrid retrieval
Infrastructure & Cloud
  • Azure App Service (live)
  • Azure Blob Storage
  • Linux analytics servers
  • GitHub Actions
  • Streamlit dashboards
  • Box API
  • Cron scheduling
  • KNIME → Python migration

Where I've Worked

Oct 2024 – Present
AITS · AI Solutions Team
University of Illinois System
Senior Data Scientist AI Solutions

Moved into the newly formed AI Solutions Team, bringing institutional AI expertise into a dedicated platform focused on expanding generative AI and applied machine learning across the University of Illinois System. Continuing to own flagship AI platforms while contributing to team-wide AI strategy and cross-campus partnerships.

Deploying the Legislative Intelligence Platform to Azure App Service, the first production cloud AI deployment in team history
Contributing to university-wide Generative AI Committee and AI governance documentation
Expanding archival AI programs in partnership with RIMS Committee and University Library
Late 2023 – Oct 2024
AITS · Advanced Analytics Team
University of Illinois System
Data Scientist Advanced Analytics (Decision Support)

Reclassified to Data Scientist and functionally assumed team lead responsibilities following major organizational restructuring. Served as sole Advanced Analytics and Decision Support lead, owning strategy, delivery, and stakeholder engagement across HR, enrollment, payroll, policy, governance, and archival domains.

Recruited, onboarded, and mentored 7+ data science interns; one intern joined after attending a political science class presentation on legislative AI
Rated Extraordinary / Distinguished (2023–2024); named AITS Excellence Award Finalist
Regular presenter to executive leadership, governance committees, and the Enterprise Architecture Committee
Architected the Linux-based analytics execution environment supporting all production AI pipelines
May 2022 – Late 2023
AITS · Advanced Analytics Team
University of Illinois System
Data Engineer Advanced Analytics

Joined AITS as a Data Engineer on the Advanced Analytics team. Quickly took initiative beyond the role's scope researching new techniques, developing project plans, and delivering innovative solutions independently. Assumed functional team lead responsibilities in early 2023 before formal reclassification.

Scoped, designed, and delivered analytics platforms and data pipelines from scratch with no prior institutional precedent
Rated Very Successful / Effective (2022–2023); supervisor noted ability to independently identify solutions to entirely novel challenges
Began leading weekly planning meetings, building project roadmaps, and managing agile sprint boards in Microsoft Teams

What Colleagues Have Said

She has an incredible ability to turn complex analytical goals into clear, actionable plans, whether it's designing NLP workflows, building large-scale data pipelines, or guiding our use of tools like Azure and KNIME. She approaches every challenge with both strategic insight and technical precision, helping the team meet goals while understanding the "why" behind every solution.

Tejasri Joshi · Data & BI Analyst · Direct Report at AITS

Tayler led all of our projects, but most notably our Legislative project. She came up with many different ways to collect and process data regarding future legislation in Illinois to create a model that predicts whether legislation would pass or not. She showed the team how to use unconventional tools like Pinecone and Azure for NLP analysis; her vision and dedication to pushing boundaries led to strong progress.

Azaan Barlas · AI Data Scientist · Direct Report at AITS

Tayler also challenges us to think beyond conventional solutions, helping sharpen our problem-solving skills and encouraging creative, critical thinking. Her guidance brings a strong sense of direction to every project, and her ability to balance strategic oversight with hands-on support has made a lasting impact on my growth.

Ruchita Alate · Data Science Analyst · Direct Report at AITS

She encouraged me to explore innovative solutions to the problems we tackled, providing me with the opportunity to learn new concepts and tools. Her strong technical skills motivated the team to learn and grow. Tayler's welcoming manner made it easy to approach her with any questions or concerns, and she ensured that the team had everything we needed and advocated for better resources.

Riya Saini · Data Science, Nationwide Children's Hospital · Direct Report at AITS

Academic Background

B.S. Cognitive Science, Machine Learning & Neural Computation
University of California, San Diego

Graduated Spring 2021

Let's Connect

Interested in analytics strategy, applied AI, or the work described here? Reach out.