People

Program Director

Elena Eneva is the Director of DataLab and works with partners, industry mentors, and student fellows to define and lead projects that solve our partners’ real world problems and support communities. She is an AI researcher practicing across multiple social good domains, including healthcare, fighting human trafficking, and explainable and equitable AI. She has over 20 years of experience in machine learning, data science, and AI across business, technical, and R&D groups. Besides sciencing with data, she is passionate about volunteering with community organizations in the Bay Area where she is based, gardening, dancing, and creating elaborate constructions out of paper.

Lead Data Scientist

Ridhi Jhamb is an experienced data scientist with a solid foundation in Computer Science and Statistics. Her enthusiasm for problem-solving and intelligent systems fuels her drive to build Human-AI collaborative decision-making systems that solve a wide range of problems for organizations. Combining her extensive experience in Data and AI with her deep understanding of social issues, Ridhi is determined to build an intersection between data-powered technologies and social welfare. As DataLab’s Lead Data Scientist and Sr. Technical Mentor, she steers projects, conducts training sessions on data science with Python, and addresses pressing social concerns with a like-minded team of scientists harnessing data. Ridhi is pursuing a Master's degree in Data Science at the University of Pennsylvania. When she’s not playing around with the data, she enjoys being outdoors, playing sports, watching sunsets!

Assistant Director and Technical Mentor

Michael Komnick has a passion for data and technology. He participated in DataLab 2022 as a fellow and was given the nickname Server Guy due to his overwhelming love for home servers and computer networking. This year he is excited to return as an Assistant Director and Technical Mentor, in charge of data and all the systems it touches, with a particular focus on data security and protecting personally identifiable information. Michael is also pursuing a major in Computer Science, a minor in Mathematics, and a minor in Interdisciplinary German Studies at the University of the South (C’24). In his free time, he enjoys fencing, playing video games, and refining his computer science skills.

Assistant Director and Technical Mentor

Hallie Rutten is a data scientist with a particular interest in statistics. She completed her BS with a major in Mathematics and a minor in Computer Science at The University of the South, and participated in DataLab 2022 as a fellow, before returning as an Assistant Director and Technical Mentor for DataLab 2023. Hallie is pursuing her Master’s in Statistics and Data Science, and hopes to apply these skills to drive data-based decisions in all sectors of society to improve the everyday person’s overall quality of life. In her free time, she enjoys fencing, reading, hiking, swimming, and a personal project on the statistics of bat wing morphology.

Technical Mentor

Alberto Bengoa is a computer scientist with over 20 years of experience across multiple domains in the software industry. He has expertise in data management, data warehousing, healthcare, aerospace, consumer goods, and manufacturing, with a focus on building the best technical solutions that solve real-world customer problems. Alberto is Lead of Customer Data Engineering at Stylitics, leading a team in charge of architecting and building a data processing platform which provides continuous reports and derived insights from a seamless merging of customer and internal data. At DataLab, he is a Technical Mentor who focuses on helping teams write collaborative and readable code, specifically in view of the open-source nature of DataLab’s products. Alberto is also a passionate photographer, a soon-to-be-world-champion (maybe) chess player, a lover of the outdoors, a prolific consumer of science-fiction books, and a movie aficionado.

Data Science Consultant and Technical Mentor

Don Rung is a practicing Data Manager who is committed to using data to meet the needs of marginalized communities. He is a Sewanee native and a University of the South graduate (C’20). In 2022, he joined DataLab as a Technical Mentor, providing extensive data and technical support to all seven teams. He is currently working at KIPP Massachusetts Public Charter Schools, where he analyzes data from student assessments, family surveys, and alumni outreach records to create online dashboards that help school and regional leadership make data-driven decisions. At DataLab, Don is steering all the projects toward final products that are insightful and actionable. When he’s not working, you can find him on a trail or a lake.

Chief Communications Officer

Sara Hollis is our social media and communications officer. She is passionate about the different social issues we tackle and works to spread awareness and garner support through social media outreach. She works closely with the staff and teams to set marketing goals and develop plans to achieve them in a timely manner. She completed her BA with a major in Psychology and a minor in Philosophy at the University of the South in 2021, and just completed a two year Child & Family Resilience Fellowship with the University. In her free time, Sara enjoys reading, writing, playing the guitar, and playing both board and video games.

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