Logo
Logo
Nov
11–12
2021
Past EventNov 11, 2021

Rising Stars in Data Science Workshop

–

The Rising Stars in Data Science workshop at the University of Chicago focuses on celebrating and fast tracking the careers of exceptional data scientists at a critical inflection point in their career: the transition to postdoctoral scholar, research scientist, industry research position, or tenure track position. The Autumn 2021 workshop will showcase the exciting, innovative data science initiatives at UChicago as well as the research work of exceptional PhD students and postdocs from over 15 institutions nationwide and globally.

View the profiles of the Autumn 2021 cohort here, and read more about the program here.

Please note that this is a private workshop. If you are a current UChicago PhD student or postdoc who would like to virtually attend the two panels on November 11th, please register here.

Agenda

Thursday, November 11, 2021

9:30am–10:00am

Welcome Breakfast

The events on Thursday November 11th will take place in the David Rubenstein Forum building (1201 E 60th St, Chicago, IL 60637). Directions to the building and for transportation/parking nearby can be found here.

Upon arrival, please check in at the front desk and take the elevator to the 6th floor. Our team will have name tags and event agendas available.

Breakfast will be served in the Kapani Family Lounge.

10:00am–10:10am

Opening Remarks

Rubenstein Forum, Room 601

Rebecca Willett, Faculty Director of AI, Data Science Institute; Worah Family Professor in the Wallman Society of Fellows, Department of Statistics, Computer Science, and the College
10:10am–11:10am

Panel: The Academic Job Search – Perspectives from Recent Hires

Rubenstein Forum, Room 601

Rana Hanocka, Assistant Professor, Computer Science
Cong Ma, Assistant Professor, Department of Statistics
Audrey Sedal, Research Assistant Professor, Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago
Chenhao Tan, Associate Professor of Computer Science and Data Science; Faculty Co-Director, Novel Intelligence
Victor Veitch, Assistant Professor of Statistics and Data Science
11:10am–11:30am

Break

Rubenstein Forum, Kapani Family Lounge

11:30am–12:15pm

Opportunities at the Data Science Institute

Rubenstein Forum, Room 601

Julia Lane, Assistant Vice President for Science, University of Chicago
Ningzi Li, Professional Research Specialist, Data Science Institute; Adjunct Assistant Professor, Booth School of Business
Jamie Saxon, Senior Software Engineer, Mapbox
David Uminsky (he/him), Executive Director and Research Professor, Data Science Institute
12:15pm–1:15pm

Lunch

Rubenstein Forum, Dining Room

1:15pm–2:30pm

Break

2:30pm–3:30pm

Rising Stars Lightning Talks – Sessions 1 & 2 (Concurrent)

Session 1: Machine Learning I –Rubenstein Forum, Room 601 | Chair: Lorenzo Orecchia

Rising Stars Speakers:

  • Lingjiao Chen (PhD Candidate, Stanford University)
  • Mengdi Huai (PhD Candidate, University of Virginia)
  • Konstantin Mishchenko (PhD Candidate, King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (KAUST))
  • Wei Tang (PhD Candidate, Washington University in St. Louis)

Session 2: Natural Language Processing – Rubenstein Forum, Room 701 | Chair: Chenhao Tan

Rising Stars Speakers:

  • Xiaoan Ding (PhD Candidate, The University of Chicago)
  • Anjalie Field (PhD Candidate, Carnegie Mellon University)
  • Shi Feng (Postdoctoral Scholar, Center for Data and Computing)
  • Abhilasha Ravichander (PhD Candidate, Carnegie Mellon University)
3:30pm–3:45pm

Break

Rubenstein Forum, Kapani Family Lounge

3:45pm–4:45pm

Panel: Faculty 101 – How to Make the Most of Your First Year

Rubenstein Forum, Room 601

Raul Castro Fernandez, Assistant Professor, Computer Science; Faculty Co-Director, Data Ecology
Marshini Chetty, Associate Professor, Computer Science
Ravi Chugh, Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science
Samantha Riesenfeld, Assistant Professor, Molecular Engineering and of Genetic Medicine
5:00pm–6:30pm

Happy Hour & Poster Session

The happy hour and accompanying poster session will take place in the John Crerar Library, in room JCL 390.

Friday, November 12, 2021

8:15am–8:45am

Breakfast

The events on Friday November 12th will take place in the John Crerar Library. Directions to the building and for transportation/parking nearby can be found here.

Upon arrival, please take the stairs or elevator up to the third floor. Go through the third floor doors, make a left, and room 390 is on your right beyond the yellow doors.

Breakfast will be served in the John Crerar Library, outside of room 390.

8:45am–9:45am

Rising Stars Lightning Talks – Sessions 3 & 4 (Concurrent)

Session 3: Privacy –  John Crerar Library Room 390 | Chair: Heather Zheng

Rising Stars Speakers:

  • Amrita Roy Chowdhury (PhD Candidate, University of Wisconsin)
  • Arjun Nitin Bhagoji (Postdoctoral Scholar, The University of Chicago)
  • Haojian Jin (PhD Candidate, Carnegie Mellon University)
  • Sainyam Galhotra (Computing Innovation Postdoc Fellow, The University of Chicago)

Session 4: Statistical Foundations of Data Science –  John Crerar Library Room 298

Rising Stars Speakers:

  • Rishabh Dudeja (Postdoctoral Researcher, Harvard University)
  • Lihua Lei (Postdoctoral Researcher, Stanford University)
  • Jeffrey Negrea (PhD Candidate, University of Toronto)
  • Tal Wagner (Postdoctoral Researcher, Microsoft Research Redmond)
9:45am–10:00am

Break

10:00am–10:20am

Overview of the Data Science Institute

John Crerar Library, Room 390

Dan Nicolae, Elaine M. and Samuel D. Kersten, Jr. Distinguished Service Professor, Departments of Statistics, Human Genetics, Medicine, and the College Section of Genetic Medicine; Faculty Co-Director, Data Science Institute; Interim Chair, Department of Statistics
10:20am–11:20am

Keynote: Internet Equity & Access Research Initiative

John Crerar Library, Room 390

11:20am–11:30am

Break

John Crerar Library, Room 390

11:30am–12:30pm

Rising Stars Lightning Talks – Sessions 5 & 6 (Concurrent)

Session 5: AI for Society – John Crerar Library, Room 390 | Chair: David Uminsky

Rising Stars Speakers:

  • Amanda Kube (PhD Candidate, Washington University in St. Louis)
  • Faidra Monachou (PhD Candidate, Stanford University)
  • Alexander Rodriguez (PhD Candidate, Georgia Institute of Technology

Session 6: AI & Science – John Crerar Library, Room 298 | Chair: David Miller

Rising Stars Speakers:

  • Aditi Krishnapriyan (UC Berkeley & Lawrence Berkeley National Lab)
  • Liyue Shen (PhD Candidate, Stanford University)
  • Tyler Skluzacek (PhD Candidate, The University of Chicago)
  • Jennifer Sun (PhD Candidate, Caltech)
12:30pm–1:30pm

Lunch & Tour of the John Crerar Library

Meet outside John Crerar Library Room 390.

Rob Mitchum, Associate Director of Communications for Data Science and Computing
1:30pm–2:30pm

Rising Stars Lightning Talks – Sessions 7 & 8 (Concurrent)

Session 7: Computational Social Science – John Crerar Library, Room 390

Rising Stars Speakers:

  • Maria Antoniak (Cornell University)
  • Neil Gaikwad (PhD Candidate, MIT)
  • Martin Saveski (Postdoc, Stanford University)

Session 8: Machine Learning II – John Crerar Library, Room 298 | Chair: Yuehaw Khoo

Rising Stars Speakers:

  • Julian Katz-Samuels (Postdoctoral Scholar, University of Wisconsin)
  • Omar Montasser (Toyota Technological Institute of Chicago)
  • Guanya Shi (PhD Candidate, Caltech)
2:30pm–3:00pm

Break

John Crerar Library, Room 390

3:00pm–4:00pm

Panel: Inside the Search Committee

John Crerar Library, Room 390

Michael J. Franklin, Morton D. Hull Distinguished Service Professor; Senior Advisor to the Provost for Computing and Data Science; Deputy Dean for Computational and Mathematical Sciences; Faculty Co-Director, Data Science Institute
Dan Nicolae, Elaine M. and Samuel D. Kersten, Jr. Distinguished Service Professor, Departments of Statistics, Human Genetics, Medicine, and the College Section of Genetic Medicine; Faculty Co-Director, Data Science Institute; Interim Chair, Department of Statistics
David Uminsky (he/him), Executive Director and Research Professor, Data Science Institute
4:00pm–4:15pm

Closing Comments

John Crerar Library, Room 390

David Uminsky (he/him), Executive Director and Research Professor, Data Science Institute

Speakers

A man with a shaved head and trimmed goatee, wearing a gray plaid shirt, stands indoors with soft, blurred lighting in the background. He is looking directly at the camera with a neutral expression.

Raul Castro Fernandez

Assistant Professor, Computer Science; Faculty Co-Director, Data Ecology
A woman with straight dark hair and dangling earrings, wearing a tan blazer over a dark top, smiles at the camera in an indoor setting with blurred lights in the background.

Marshini Chetty

Associate Professor, Computer Science

Ravi Chugh

Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science

Ravi Chugh

Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science
A middle-aged man with a reddish beard and glasses, wearing a blue plaid blazer and a checked shirt, looks at the camera with a gentle smile. The background is softly blurred.

Michael J. Franklin

Morton D. Hull Distinguished Service Professor; Senior Advisor to the Provost for Computing and Data Science; Deputy Dean for Computational and Mathematical Sciences; Faculty Co-Director, Data Science Institute
A woman with long, curly brown hair and a black top smiles in front of a textured beige stone wall.

Rana Hanocka

Assistant Professor, Computer Science
A woman with wavy auburn hair smiles at the camera. She is wearing a navy blue blouse and small stud earrings, standing in a softly blurred indoor setting.

Julia Lane

Assistant Vice President for Science, University of Chicago
A woman with straight dark hair, wearing black-rimmed glasses and a dark blouse, smiles at the camera against a plain light gray background.

Ningzi Li

Professional Research Specialist, Data Science Institute; Adjunct Assistant Professor, Booth School of Business
A person wearing glasses and a red polo shirt smiles while standing outdoors with a bright blue ocean and partly cloudy sky in the background.

Cong Ma

Assistant Professor, Department of Statistics
A person wearing glasses and a red polo shirt smiles while standing outdoors with a bright blue ocean and partly cloudy sky in the background.

Cong Ma

Assistant Professor, Department of Statistics
A man wearing round glasses, a grey suit, a light blue shirt, and a navy bow tie, smiling slightly in front of a blurred green outdoor background.

Dan Nicolae

Elaine M. and Samuel D. Kersten, Jr. Distinguished Service Professor, Departments of Statistics, Human Genetics, Medicine, and the College Section of Genetic Medicine; Faculty Co-Director, Data Science Institute; Interim Chair, Department of Statistics
A woman with short, curly dark hair is smiling. She is wearing a maroon blouse and is positioned in front of a light-colored, modern background.

Samantha Riesenfeld

Assistant Professor, Molecular Engineering and of Genetic Medicine
A smiling person with short brown hair and glasses, wearing a blue button-up shirt, a backpack, and sunglasses on their head, stands outdoors with greenery in the background.

Jamie Saxon

Senior Software Engineer, Mapbox
A woman with straight, shoulder-length blonde hair smiles at the camera. She is wearing a dark blazer over a black top, standing in a brightly lit hallway with glass walls.

Audrey Sedal

Research Assistant Professor, Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago
A man with short black hair and black glasses, wearing a light blue collared shirt, smiles slightly at the camera against a blue textured background.

Chenhao Tan

Associate Professor of Computer Science and Data Science; Faculty Co-Director, Novel Intelligence
A man with short dark hair, wearing a colorful plaid shirt, smiles at the camera against a plain light background.

David Uminsky (he/him)

Executive Director and Research Professor, Data Science Institute
A man with light brown hair and a beard is sitting indoors, resting his head on his hand and smiling gently. There is greenery on one side and a wooden bar with bottles and glasses in the background.

Victor Veitch

Assistant Professor of Statistics and Data Science
A woman with short curly hair, glasses, and a blue blazer stands smiling by a large window overlooking tall buildings, a road, and a body of water.

Rebecca Willett

Faculty Director of AI, Data Science Institute; Worah Family Professor in the Wallman Society of Fellows, Department of Statistics, Computer Science, and the College

More on this topic

Upcoming EventJun 11, 2026

Research Talk: Tao Lin (Harvard)
Past EventMay 14, 2026

Research Talk: Zifeng Zhao (Notre Dame)
Event promotional graphic for Chicago Data Night, a Monthly Speaker Series taking place on Wednesday, May 20th. Featured speaker is Tian Li, Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Data Science at the University of Chicago, shown in a headshot wearing glasses and a striped shirt. The dark red and black background features abstract wave designs. Logos for the University of Chicago Data Science Institute, Chicago Booth Center for Applied Artificial Intelligence, and ChiData are displayed at the bottom.
Past EventMay 20, 2026

Chicago Data Night: Tian Li (UChicago)
Past EventMay 27, 2026

AICE Speaker Series: Tapio Schneider (Caltech)

arrow-left-smallarrow-right-large-greyarrow-right-large-yellowarrow-right-largearrow-right-long-yellowarrow-right-smallclosefacet-arrow-down-whitefacet-arrow-downCheckedCheckedlink-outmag-glass