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home / agenda / Chicago May 2026

AGENDA (May 2026)

Our Agenda is open to the public (no email or signup necessary), so you can decide for yourself if you want to attend.  ​

​Click on picture for short bio and abstract. A checkmark means the slides will be shared with attendees after the conference; an X means they will not.

DAY 1 

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7:00-8:30 AM

BREAKFAST & REGISTRATION

Grab your name tag, enjoy the full breakfast buffet!

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8:30-8:50 AM

Opening Statement

Michael Tsiappoutas

Conference Chair

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8:50-9:30 AM

Forecasting at scale with interpretability

Jean Ortega

Software Engineer at Google

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9:30-10:00 PM

Inside the Mind of a Large Language Model: How an LLM Thinks and Reasons

Paul Debjyoti

Data Scientist at Amazon

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10:00-10:30 AM

COFFEE BREAK

Grab a coffee and enjoy the snacks!

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10:30-11:00 AM

When Good Data Gets Bad: A Data Science Lens

Niruta Talwekar

Data Engineer at Meta

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11:00-11:30 AM

From Models to Outcomes: What It Really Takes to Run Production ML at Scale

Ahsaas Bajaj

Machine Learning Tech Lead at Instacart

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11:30-12:00 AM

Small Country, Big Ambitions: How Lithuania Inventoried and Integrated Public Sector Data

Milda  Aksamitauskas

Chief Administrative Officer at University of Wisconsin–Madison 

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12:00-1:30 PM

NETWORK LUNCH

Network over full lunch buffet with other attendees, speaker, and board members!

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1:30-2:30 PM

DISCUSSION PANEL

Panelists discuss and answer questions.

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2:30-3:00 PM

Data Reliability Engineering: Applying SRE Principles to Data Science Platforms 

Muhammed Yunas Chirayath

Principal Data Engineer at Discover Finanvial Services 

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3:00-3:30 PM

From Problem Space to Business Impact: A Practitioner's Framework for Building AI That Gets Used

Prerana Jakhotia

Lead AI Product Manager at Blue Cross Blue Shield 

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3:30-4:00 PM

COFFEE BREAK

Grab a coffee and enjoy the snacks!

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4:00-4:30 PM

Anchoring the Algorithm: Using Geo-Lift Experiments to Calibrate Bayesian MMM

Lan Nguyen

Digital Marketing Manager at LinkedIn

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4:30-5:00 PM

Beyond Prompts: How Context Engineering Powers Intelligent AI Systems

Shivendra Srivastava

Software Development Manager at Amazon

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5:00-7:30 PM

NETWORK DRINKS

Network over a drink!

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DAY 2 

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7:00-8:30 AM

REGISTRATION & BREAKFAST

Grab your name tag, enjoy the full breakfast buffet!

 

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8:30-9:20 AM

Less Is More: Small and Midscale Language Models in Biology, Medicine and Healthcare

Robert L. Grossman

Partner, Analytic Strategy Partners and Director, Center for Translational Data Science, University of Chicago

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9:20-10:00 AM

The Last Mile of Analytics: Transforming Technical Capability into Strategic Value

Tabish Azeem 

Team Manager, Business Intelligence at Box

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10:00-10:30 AM

COFFEE BREAK

Grab a coffee and enjoy the snacks!

​

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10:30-11:00 AM

Transforming Customer Journey Data into Actionable Insights 

Dmitrii Timoshenko

Applied Scientist at Amazon (AWS)

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11:00-11:30 AM

In the age of AI, what does it actually mean to be an data expert or a specialist?

Mariusz Gąsiewski

CEE Mobile Gaming and Apps Lead at Google

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11:30-12:00 PM

Generative AI in Public Safety: Data Science Innovations and Lessons Learned

​Holly Baker

Policing Lab​​​​

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12:00-1:30 PM

NETWORK LUNCH

Network over full lunch buffet with other attendees, speaker, and board members!

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1:30-2:30 PM

DISCUSSION PANEL

Panelists discuss and answer questions.

​

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2:30-3:00 PM

Behavioral Economics – Expecting the Unexpected 

Danaïl Davidov

Senior Actuary at Desjardins

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3:00-3:30 PM

COFFEE BREAK

Grab a coffee and enjoy the snacks!

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3:30-4:00 PM

Building Trustworthy AI Systems at Scale: From Distributed Architectures to Real-World Deployment

Tejas Pravinbhai Patel

Software Development Engineer at Amazon

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4:00-4:10 PM

Closing Remarks

Michael Tsiappoutas​

Conference Chair

BACKUP SPEAKERS

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Enterprise Governance of AI Use - Building the Plane in the Air

Ian Pytlarz

Principal Data Scientist at Purdue University

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When Good Models Fail: Making Machine Learning Useful in Real-World Decision Systems

Prakhar Srivastava 

Data & Applied Scientist at Zurich North America

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