Data Science Summer 2023 Capstone Project Showcase

Judges

Aris Fotkatzikis (MIDS ’20)

Aris is the director of data science at the Technology & Innovation group at Cepheid, the world leader in molecular diagnostics and a member of the Danaher family of companies. He is a 2020 MIDS graduate and also holds B.Sc., M.Sc., and Ph.D. degrees in physics, as well as an MBA. In his role, he manages a small group of extremely talented data scientists tasked with showcasing how data science can be used to solve complex problems and deliver business value. He has over 15 years of semiconductor and healthcare industry experience and is currently leading the first-ever implementation of ML in Cepheid manufacturing for defect detection in real-time. He is also a winner of the 2023 Excellence in Innovation Award, which recognizes science and technology innovators across the diagnostic operating companies of Danaher. He is married to Dr. Christina Papagianni and they have 2 teenage children. In his free time, he enjoys driving cars on racetracks, mountain biking, and trying to get his black belt in Tae Kwon Do.

Priya Gupta (MIDS ’17)

Priya Gupta is a data analytics leader who has spent close to a decade using data to drive business value and influence strategy. Since graduating from the MIDS program in 2017, she has processed terabytes of data to help solve advertising tech issues at Yahoo and deployed machine learning models to support various teams at ThousandEyes, acquired by Cisco in 2019. In her current role, she leads the centralized data function at Cribl, a high growth startup company, as the senior director of data & analytics. Priya currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and enjoys trying all the new food spots up and down the peninsula.

Chad Harness (MIDS ’18)

Chad Harness is an experienced data scientist and lifelong disabled rights supporter and advocate. At DataRobot, he leads technical strategic initiatives, leading technical training efforts on cutting-edge technologies for technical and non-technical colleagues. He is neurodiverse and a leader of ADAPT, DataRobot’s employee resource group dedicated to providing education and allyship to advocate for and empower DataRobot employees with disabilities to ensure an inclusive work environment.

Chad holds a bachelor’s in statistics from North Carolina State University and a Master of Information and Data Science degree from the UC Berkeley School of Information. He has seventeen years of applied data science experience in finance and technology, solving business problems with machine learning in areas spanning risk, fraud, retail, marketing, human resources, and manufacturing. He is a passionate lifelong learner.

Jacob Wilson (MIDS ’22)

Jacob is a principal in PwC’s products & technology organization and is currently focused on the use of generative AI to transform the way PwC delivers services in the market via the AI Factory. Jacob has over 17 years of experience in software engineering, data engineering, data science, data analytics, and product management. He has helped clients across industries, solve problems through the use of technology. Jacob’s main passion are NLP, ML, and GenAI. He recently received his Master of Information and Data Science degree at the UC Berkeley School of Information and is a named inventor on the patent for “Continuous Machine Learning Method and System for Information Extraction.”