Industry Advisory Board (IAB)

Ashley Anhalt ✉️

Director, Data Science  | Genworth Financial

Ashley grew up in Tucson and graduated from the University of Arizona in 2013 with bachelor's degrees in applied mathematics and systems engineering.  She moved east for graduate school at the University of Pittsburgh, earned her master’s degree in industrial engineering, and began her career at PNC Bank as a data scientist.  Ashley is an accomplished data scientist who enjoys problem solving to tell a data-driven stories and make data-driven strategic decisions.  She has experience in the insurance and finance industries. (Pittsburgh, PA)

Skills: Data science and analytics, machine learning (ML), natural language processing (NLP), data-driven decision making, customer experience analytics and predictive modeling

Dan Champion

Experimental and Design Physics | Lawrence Livermore National Labs (LLNL)

As an Experimental Physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) Daniel supports multiple Department of Energy (DoE) mission areas in research, analysis, forward modeling, and large scale experiment operations. Daniel works in collaboration with physicists, engineers, and other mathematicians at the DoE National Labs to introduce and apply advanced analytic capabilities to the large-scale physics experiments at LLNL and across the DoE lab complex. Daniel has a bachelor's and master's in Mathematics from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and a PhD in mathematics from the University of Arizona, where he specialized in geometric analysis.  In his years within the industry and the government sector (Biotech, E-commerce, DoE) Daniel has leveraged his pure math background and moved towards applied mathematics and applied science where opportunities for advanced algorithms, analytic capabilities, and predictive modeling are abundant. (Las Vegas, NV) 

Brie Finegold ✉️  

Mathematician, Member of Technical Staff III | Rincon Research Corporation

Brie came to Tucson in 2010 for a postdoc at UArizona after earning her PhD in Mathematics from UC Santa Barbara. During graduate school, she was a Mass Media Fellow for the AAAS at Scientific American magazine. Over the last nine years, she has honed engineering and programming skills. She enjoys swing dancing, yoga, rock climbing and tutoring mathematics. STEM outreach at events like the Festival of Books keep her busy. (Tucson, AZ)

Skills: Cyclostationary processing, association algorithms, geolocation, data analysis, uncertainty estimation, data visualization, technical writing  

Andrew Gillette ✉️

Computational Mathematician | Lawrence Livermore National Labs (LLNL)

At the Center for Applied Scientific Computing at LLNL in California, Andrew works on research projects for the Department of Energy involving numerical simulations, scientific visualization, and machine learning. Between 2013–2020, Andrew was an Assistant and then Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Arizona. He currently leads a tech-transfer effort aimed at rapidly deploying AI techniques from academia into mission-critical use cases for the United States Space Force. (Livermore, CA)

Skills: Scientific machine learning, numerical methods for partial differential equations, computational geometry, high performance computing, graphics and visualization, education and outreach

Bridget Kennedy

Principal Scientist | AeroVironment

Bridget received her PhD in mathematics from the University of Arizona in 2009. She worked for the Department of Defense from 2010–2019. Her products range across a variety of Computer Vision applications: text localization (for OCR); zero-shot learning; and video action recognition. Previous to her current role, Bridget worked as Senior Lead Scientist at IAI, a BlueHalo company. Since 2019, she has worked on machine learning lifecycle research, remote sensing R&D, material characterization research. She has also been a tech lead for several DARPA and IARPA funded research programs. (Columbia, MD) 

Skills: Machine learning (ML), deep learning, computer vision, data science, ML Engineering 

Carolyn Lanser

Deputy Director and Board Chair | Rincon Research Corporation (RRC)

Carolyn serves in two leadership positions at RCC, which designs, builds, tests, and fields high-performance Digital Signal Processing products and services. She earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics and computer science from the U of A in 1999.  Carolyn spent many years honing her expertise in the development of scientific applications at RRC, gaining a deep understanding of complex technical challenges, which she now leverages to lead teams, drive business development, and shape technical strategy. She enjoys hiking, Pilates, and spending time with her three kids. (Tucson, AZ)

Skills: Strategic planning, data-driven decision-making, operational management, scientific software engineering

Kyle Pounder

Chief Technology Officer | Wealth, Inc.

Wealth.com is a fintech startup that builds software for financial advisors and wealth management professionals. In his role, Kyle oversees the entire engineering function, including software engineering, QA, security, DevOps, and data/AI. Prior to joining Wealth.com, Kyle worked in analytics and data science at Facebook/Meta and at Emailage/LexisNexis Risk Solutions. He earned a PhD in mathematics from The University of Arizona in 2018. (Gilbert, AZ)

Skills: Data science, A/B testing (experimentation), product analytics, software engineering

Toby Shearman

Senior Machine Learning Engineer | Woven by Toyota

Toby earned his PhD in applied mathematics from the University of Arizona in 2017, focusing his research on the geometry and mechanics of thin elastic sheets. Following graduation, he spent five years at Epsilon in Chicago, eventually serving as Director of Decision Sciences where he led a team of data scientists developing causal inference and predictive modeling platforms for digital advertising. Toby then transitioned to the autonomous driving industry, first as a Senior Robotics Engineer at May Mobility, then in his current role at Woven by Toyota. His current work centers on building autonomous driving capability through training and evaluating the planner models which dictate vehicle behavior. (Ann Arbor, MI)

Skills: Causal inference, data science, geometry, machine learning, optimization, software engineering, statistical analysis

Jefferson Taft

Applied Scientist | Microsoft

Jeff earned his PhD in mathematics from the University of Arizona in 2010, specializing in geometric flows. Jeff's career spans biotech, aerospace, and software, where he has applied advanced mathematical methods to real-world problems. He enjoys hiking, camping, biking, and horror films.  (Prescott, AZ)

Skills: Bayesian modeling, Machine Learning/AI, big data, algorithms, signal processing

Teri Suzuki

Senior Principal | Belltree Consulting, LLC

As a Director of Preclinical Research at EnduRx Pharmaceuticals, Teri develops in vitro and in vivo drug discovery strategies. Teri has 20+ years of experience leading drug discovery teams that successfully generate small molecule drug candidates. She is an inventor on US and international patents for Sanofi Pharmaceuticals and Reglagene. Teri received her PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Arizona.  (Tucson, AZ)

Skills: Early development of treatments for human disease

Gleb Zhelezov

Senior Manager | Two Six Technologies

Gleb received a PhD in mathematics from the University of Arizona in 2017. As a doctoral student and as a postdoc, Gleb's work focused on interacting particle systems, numerical methods, and phylogenetics. He now works on natural language processing and censored time series analysis. (Albuquerque, NM)

Skills: Data science, machine learning, Bayesian methods, agentic systems, large language model (LLM) evaluation