Industry Seminars

The HDSI Data Science in Industry Seminar series provides the opportunity for Harvard students, faculty, and postdoctoral fellows to hear directly from industry data scientists about the role data science plays in their organization, the methods and techniques being used, and their own career trajectory.

Watch previous seminars on the HDSI YouTube Channel

Previous Industry Seminar Participants

Delfina
Elsevier
Microsoft
Toyota
Oxfam

Speakers are invited from companies spanning a broad range of sectors, including finance, tech, sports, pharma and media. Reach out if your organization would like to participate in our Data Science Industry series.

Upcoming Seminars

Oct

Industry Seminar: Alan Hanley, GE Vernova

On October 30, 2025 at 1:30 pm

Nov

Industry Seminar: Tyler Otto, Reddit

On November 13, 2025 at 1:30 pm

Past Seminars

2025 (Fall)

Snowflake

Anupam Datta Principal Research Scientist and Snowflake AI Research Lead

What is your Agent’s GPA? Measuring and improving agent quality

Snowflake Recording

2025 (Spring)

Sakshi Jain, Engineering Director, Responsible AI and Governance

Operationalizing Responsible AI & Governance at Scale in an evolving AI landscape

LinkedIn Recording

Intuit

Amy Smith, Technical Program Manager

From GIS to Data Science to Responsible AI

Intuit Recording

Duo Security

Scott Henry, Technical Lead

Beyond Algorithms: Why sociotechnical systems matter in cybersecurity

Duo Security Recording

2024 (Fall)

Instacart

Michael Curran, Director of Platform & Foundations Data Science

Experimentation at Scale in the Tech Industry: Lessons I Have Learned

Instacart Recording

USDA Economic Research Service

Maria Bowman, Economist

Conservation practice use by U.S. agricultural producers

USDA Recording

Direct Relief

Andrew Schroeder, Vice President

Novel data and AI through the lens of Direct Relief

Direct Relief Recording

2024 (Spring)

Cropin

Praveen Pankajakshan, Vice President, Data Science & AI

Geospatial AI for Monitoring Food Security and Climate Resilient Agriculture

Cropin Recording

Voya Investment Management

Ron Papka, SVP, Head of Data Engineering and Governance

Monetizing Data Science on Wall Street

voya Recording

Foundation Medicine

Leah Comment, Director, Decision Sciences

Causal data science: personalizing treatment decisions in cancer

foundation medicine Recording

2023 (Fall)

Intuitive

Slawek Kierner, Senior Vice President, Data, Platforms and Machine Learning

Surgical Data Science: Driving outcomes in robotic surgeries

Intuitive Recording

Delfina

Isabel Fulcher, Chief Scientific Officer; 2019 HDSI Postdoctoral Fellow

Improving maternal health with data-driven digital care systems

DELFINA Recording

Microsoft

Francesca Lazzeri, Principal Data Scientist Manager | Cloud + AI

Building LLM applications responsibly, safely and ready for production

Microsoft Recording

2023 (Spring) Data Leadership Special Series

In Spring 2023, Harvard Data Science Initiative, together with the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, hosted a series of virtual seminars on data leadership. Between February and April 2023, we invited senior leaders from McKinsey & Company to join Harvard faculty and industry leaders from companies and NGOs to discuss novel and increasingly urgent challenges in AI, digital trust, ethics, data governance, and regulation. View the four-part seminar series below.

The Chief Trust Officer – What it means to be a technical leader

Mike Towers, Chief Digital Trust Officer, Takeda

Liz Grennan, Expert Associate Partner, McKinsey & Company

Digital Trust as a Global Concept

Daniel Dobrygowski, Head of Governance & Trust, World Economic Forum

Liz Grennan, Expert Associate Partner, McKinsey & Company

Data Ethics – Leaders and Frameworks

Anastasia Zygmantovich, Global Data Science Director, Reckitt

Alex Singla, Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company; Global Leader of QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey

Adopting Digital Trust: Culture, Talent, and Capabilities

Eric Nelson, CIO North America, The Kraft Heinz Company

Kate Smaje, Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company

Reflecting on the Spring 2023 Data Leadership Special Series with McKinsey & Company experts

The HDSI shared a Q&A interview with McKinsey’s Liz Grennan, Expert Associate Partner, and Alex Singla, Senior Partner and Global Leader of QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey, about the series and what it means for the field of data science now and in the future.

READ Q&A

2022