Tiktok’s First Federal Contracting Expert, Tamara Nall, Earns Doctorate in Engineering

This achievement makes Nall one of only a few female Doctors in Engineering. She said: “I am so honored to be one of the few women to receive the highest level of academic accomplishment, especially in machine learning.  I dedicate this accomplishment to the millions of children who have a passion for science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) to persevere against the odds and pursue a career in this field to change the world.”

Nall completed the Doctoral program with a dissertation that focused on machine learning. The dissertation was titled “Using Machine Learning to Predict Performance Issues with U.S. Federal Contracts” and explored how the federal government could reduce terminated or de-obligated contracts with Machine Learning (ML).  She studied awards from fiscal years 2014 to 2020,  which showed that The U.S. Federal Government terminated or deobligated over $3.3 billion. Her research discovered that Machine Learning can be an effective tool in reducing the number of contract terminations.

Through her research, she identified several influential variables to avoid performance issues in contracts awarded and provide a method to predict issues which contracts before they are awarded. Therefore,  federal contracting personnel can focus on them to avoid performance issues when awarding contracts.

Dr. Nall’s award-winning company, The Leading Niche, uses data and cutting-edge consulting to offer data analytics, machine learning and cloud solutions to its federal government clients. But with her new qualification, Dr. Nall, who is also tiktok’s First Federal Contracting Expert, is positioning herself as a tech and machine learning authority. When asked how her new doctorate will influence her line of work, she explained, “Success is highly dependent on strategic decisions, but this new qualification has provided me with a more critical lens to view the future of strategic decisions and how machine learning can improve the outcome.”

In addition to her newest qualification, Dr. Nall holds an MBA from The Harvard Business School in Boston, MA. She also boasts a BS degree in Chemical Engineering from The Georgia Institute of Technology and a BBA from Emory University in Atlanta, GA.  But that’s not all, Nall is also the recipient of an honorary degree, Doctor of Humane Letters from Luther Rice College and Seminary in Atlanta, Georgia.

About The Leading Niche

THE LEADING NICHE is an award winning and internationally recognized company known for using data and cutting-edge consulting to deliver actionable intelligence. THE LEADING NICHE supports federal government customers in domestic and international markets, including the United States and Africa. Customers span both Defense and Federal Civilian Agencies. The Firm provides big data, cybersecurity, intelligence, Health IT, regulatory/compliance and investigative/examination consulting. She leads through the company’s core values and believes in giving back to the communities in which The Leading Niche operates.