Sunday, April 6, 2025
5-7pm

A workshop designed especially for those new to the analytics profession, including students, recent graduates, and those transitioning careers. Sessions include a soft-skills workshop, followed by a diverse panel of professionals who will share their career journeys, and offer candid insights about working in analytics. Registration not required but encouraged.

Welcome from INFORMS President

Dave Hunt

Soft Skills Workshop

Carrie Beam

Data Science * Predictive Analytics *
Decision Support

Bio

Carrie Beam serves as Director, MSBA Analytics Projects at the University of California, Davis, where she connects industry partners with students for capstone projects. She is a longtime member of INFORMS and served as the chair of the 2021 and 2022 Franz Edelman Award for Achievement in Advanced Analytics, Operations Research, and Management Science. She earned her Ph.D. in industrial engineering and operations research from the University of California, Berkeley.

Career Panel Moderator

Carl DeZwarte, CAP

Data Science Leader

Bio

Carol is a data scientist who excels at developing a trust-based culture where scientists thrive, and improves effectiveness, efficiency, and sales through data. As a CAP and PMP, she has been delivering results for 20 years – from patenting an inventory method for the U.S. military that saved more than $400M to defining network strategy for a $10B online retailer.

Panelists

Surya Gundavarapu

Technical Analyst
Meta Platforms, Inc.

Bio

Surya Gundavarapu (Sunny) is a seasoned Technical Analyst at Meta Platforms Inc., where he drives business impact through data-intensive applications. Currently, he is working on developing AI-powered solutions to enhance customer experiences, leveraging his expertise in Natural Language Processing. With over 5 years of experience building data-intensive applications and driving business impact, and a Masters in Business Analytics and Information Management from Purdue University, Surya has established himself as a thought leader at the intersection of data science and software engineering. He also enjoys competing in data dive competitions, with multiple conference presentations, wins, and publications in INFORMS.

Nicolas McMillan, CAP

Lead Data Analyst
Family & Children’s Services Tulsa, Oklahoma

Lili Zhang

Research Engineer
Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Bio

Lili Zhang is a Research Engineer at Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) in the Marketing Analytics organization. She received her Ph.D. in Analytics and Data Science from Kennesaw State University, M.S. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, and B.S. in Electronic Information Science and Technology from Central South University. She is a leading expert in imbalanced learning and graph analytics with multiple journal publications and practical innovations.

Rising Analytics Professionals Workshop