As we are launching into a new semester, I would like to bring the Urbana Champaign Data Science User Group (DSUG) to your attention again. DSUG hosts an event every first Friday of the month, 12-1pm Central Time. DSUG’s aim is to build a community of interest around data science and AI to foster learning, collaboration, and networking. The group serves both students and professionals to bridge the gap between analytical sciences and practical applications of industry. Anyone is invited and included, from undergraduate students (or younger!) to seasoned professionals. This group and series is supported by the Research Park.
For our first meetup of 2022, we are excited welcome an accomplished panel of iSchool alumni to offer their experience and learnings from working in different areas of data science. The panelists include Sneha Agarwal (Data Engineering Tech Lead in the AI Fairness Team at Meta), Dr. Henry Gabb (principal engineer in the Intel Software and Advanced Technologies Group), Dr. Kinyetta Nance (UX leader, design thinker, and product strategic and Senior User Researcher at Twitter), and Saumil Shaw (Technical Program Manager in the Global Anti-Corruption & Risk Monitoring team at Walmart). You are invited to join us, hear about their career paths and current jobs, and ask them your questions.
How to attend:
Friday, Feb 4, 12:00-1:00 p.m. Central Time, Data Science User Group monthly speaker event:
The meetup will be hosted on Zoom (https://illinois.zoom.us/j/92602473524?pwd=cExZQVN6UHFxVU1UR0Zad2JPaHZtQT09). Please RSVP for the event at the CU-DSUG Meetup Page (https://www.meetup.com/CU-DSUG/events/btjlgsydcdbgb/).
Bios:
Sneha Agarwal currently works as the Data Engineering Tech Lead in the AI Fairness team at Meta (2018 to present). Prior to Meta, she worked at Intelligent Medical Objects (IMO) as a Data Engineer (2015-2018). She graduated with a MS in Bioinformatics from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (2015), and completed her undergraduate in Bioengineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India (2013). Throughout her career, her love for programming has been a driving factor. She is passionate about finding smart yet intuitive automated solutions to support decision making in complex problems. On the personal front, Sneha was born in India and moved to the US in 2013. In her free time, she enjoys music and outdoor activities.
Henry Gabb, PhD, is a senior principal engineer in the Intel Software and Advanced Technologies Group. He first joined Intel in 2000 to help drive parallel computing inside and outside the company. Prior to joining Intel, Henry was Director of Scientific Computing at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center MSRC, a Department of Defense high-performance computing facility. Henry holds a BS in biochemistry from Louisiana State University, an MS in medical informatics from the Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, a PhD in molecular genetics from the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine, and a PhD in information science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has published extensively in computational life science and high-performance computing. Henry is also the editor of The Parallel Universe, Intel’s quarterly magazine for software innovation.
Kinyetta Nance, PhD, is a UX leader, design thinker, product strategist and Senior User Researcher at Twitter. She has over 15 years of research experience in the government sector, academy, and technology industry. She is passionate about solving meaningful problems and making people’s lives better with user centered design. Her work uses cross-cultural design frameworks to develop mobile payment systems and online communities. Over the last decade she’s collaborated with diverse product teams including Meta, Adobe, and Twitter, leading insights to create products that users love. She holds a PhD in Information Sciences from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign where she studied the social construction of technology and user experience.
Saumil Shaw is a Technical Program Manager in the Global Anti-Corruption & Risk Monitoring team at Walmart. Prior to that, he worked as a Data Scientist at Country Financial. He earned a Master’s of Science in Information Management University from the Illinois Urbana-ChampaignUniversity of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (2019), and a Bachelor of Engineering (B.E.) from Dwarkadas J. Sanghvi College of Engineering (2017).
