We are excited to congratulate the many students who graduated from the the School of Computer, Data & Information Sciences (CDIS) this spring. Our newest alumni will make their mark in their respective fields, connecting technology and humanity and leading the next generation of technology leaders.
Meet some of the graduates below:
Computer Sciences
Ananya Aggarwal
One of 50 students nationwide to be named a Google Generation Scholar in 2023, Ananya Aggarwal wants to encourage other young women to take the first step in tech. As a volunteer with Microsoft’s TEALS program, she teaches computer science to high school girls in order to break down perceived barriers. As a software engineering intern at Microsoft, she helped organize events to empower and connect with other female interns.
Post graduation, she says she’ll continue to promote inclusion in her new full-time software engineer role—also at Microsoft.
Usman Khan
As a high school student in Illinois, a UW–Madison Computer Sciences education was Usman Khan’s dream. He found himself on the Road to Wisconsin, a guaranteed transfer program which allowed Illinois students to start at a two-year institution and then transfer to UW–Madison after their freshman year.
Khan will be starting as a full-time software engineer at Fannie Mae following graduation.
Rishit Khare
Rishit Khare served as the lead programmer for Garage Sale, an atmospheric game born out of UW–Madison’s Game Design and Development club. For players, the only “goal” is to explore Lettuce Village at their own pace.
Khare—who added a certificate in Game Design during his last semester and is now president of the Game Design and Development club—has been credited in around 10 publicly available games ranging from platformers like The Legend of Aeolus to the philosophically-minded Infinite Monkey Theorem.
Vasudha Khanna
When Vasudha Khanna signed up for her first data science hackathon, she had no idea it would define her academic career—in fact, she had little familiarity with data science at all. From freshman to senior year, she became vice president and then president, overseeing the club’s vision and producing the annual MadData hackathon.
Khanna is leveraging a former internship with NVIDIA into a full-time job after graduation.
Michael Noguera
A Madison native, Michael Noguera sought to share the “hacker spirit” at UW—first as a lab coordinator at the Undergraduate Projects Lab, then as an organizer behind MadHacks. When not building community he was building computer systems: supported by WISCERS, a sophomore research fellowship, and the David Dewitt Undergraduate Scholarship, he contributed to research intersecting the areas of computer security and databases.
Following graduation, Noguera will pursue a PhD at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Sreya Sarathy
Sreya Sarathy loves supporting others starting out in computer and data science. A member of Society of Women Engineers and Rewriting the Code, Sreya Sarathy has learned that campus involvement isn’t just about academic enrichment — it also teaches valuable skills and leads to lifelong relationships.
Quintynn Vaughn
Like many students, Quintynn Vaughn came to UW–Madison knowing she’d study computer science—and probably at least one other academic discipline. Unlike most, she opted to expand her portfolio outside the realm of STEM courses and instead pursued a certificate in consulting from the School of Business.
Vaughn will be moving to New York City to start a new role as a software engineering consultant with EY, one of the “big four” global accounting firms, following graduation.
Information Sciences
Jacquie Kociubuk
With a focus on youth and libraries, Jacqiue Kociubuk has published numerous research papers and won multiple awards for her work, including the 2025 Jesse H. Shera Award for Support of Dissertation Research from the American Library Association.
Kociubuk has accepted a tenure-track assistant professor position at the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Library and Information Studies.
India-Bleu Niehoff
During her MA program, India-Bleu Niehoff has served as a senior library assistant for the Wisconsin Water Library, conducting educational outreach, creating digital content, and curating the library’s unique resources.
After graduation, Niehoff will work as a Cataloging Librarian for the Utah State Library Division, based in Salt Lake City.
Isha Srivastava
As a student in the MS Information program, Isha Srivastava has played a pivotal role in developing MAPWA, a practicum web application for MA Library & Information Studies students. She designed and implemented an algorithm that matches students with practicum sites—a complex task requiring both technical skill and deep understanding of user needs.
After excelling in the MS program, Srivastava has accepted a role as an Analytics Engineer at ABC Supply.
Anna Staresinic
Anna Staresinic has described her UW–Madison journey as “well-rounded.” Majoring in Information Science and Data Science, she also served as president of the Wisconsin Alumni Student Board (WASB). In addition, Staresinic has been a radio show host at WSUM, UW–Madison’s student-run station.
Next up for Staresinic: a role with Oceaneering International as a software engineer.
Kaitlin White
Kaitlin White has excelled inside and outside the classroom at UW–Madison. In 2024, she was honored with two iSchool Student Awards: the Fenster Research Paper Award and the Larry Jacobson Innovations in Library Science Award. The latter was given for White’s work as an Energy Educator for the Vermont Energy Education Program.
After obtaining her MA, White is expanding her current role as an systems administrator for a climate education non-profit.
Statistics
Harshet Anand
Harshet Anand has made the most of his undergraduate years at UW–Madison. As a Data Science Peer Mentor, he has helped peers understand the nuances of data science and supported them in their academic endeavors. Anand also completed a data analytics internship with the Badger volleyball team, working extensively with match data using Python and R and extracting valuable insights that directly informed the team’s game plans.
With multiple internships under his belt, Anand is ready to leverage his skills outside the classroom as he seeks full-time data or computing-related roles after graduation.
Albert Dorador
When Albert Dorador took the course STAT 761, Decision Trees for Multivariate Analysis, he didn’t know it would inspire his research focus for the remainder of his PhD program. But that’s exactly what happened. He is particularly proud of a model he created called TRUST (Transparent, Robust and Ultra-sparse Trees) designed to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to solve statistical problems.
After graduation, his goal is to continue developing innovative and trustworthy AI tools that empower users in high-stakes domains (e.g. healthcare, finance, public policy) to stop choosing between accuracy and interpretability.
Alex Hayes
Alex Hayes helped develop the popular R package Tidyverse, a suite of coding tools to make data science tasks easier and more efficient. An outstanding researcher at the intersection of statistics and economics, Hayes also recently won a Best Student Paper award in the Business and Economics section of the American Statistical Association.
Next up for Hayes is a postdoctoral research position in Economics at Stanford University. Beginning in September 2026, he will join Oregon State University as an Assistant Professor in Statistics.
Niko Klekas
Niko Klekas has served as president of the UW–Madison chapter of Biokind, a student organization dedicated to helping healthcare nonprofits through data science and statistical methods. In addition, he has excelled as a tutor for the Center for Academic Excellence at the College of Letters & Science, helping other students grasp statistical concepts and their applications.
Francisco Mandujano-Reyes
Since arriving at UW–Madison in 2020, Francisco Mandujano-Reyes has completed multiple data science internships, including at Microsoft and Walmart. As a PhD student, he has also taught courses and conducted research at the intersection of machine learning and environmental science.
After graduation, Mandujano-Reyes will take on a full-time role as a Data Scientist at Microsoft in Redmond, Washington.
Emili Robles
Emili Robles has connections to all three departments in the School of Computer, Data & Information Sciences—she is a double major in Computer Sciences and Data Science, and her research mentor is Information School Assistant Professor Corey Jackson. Robles recently presented research conducted with Jackson, entitled “AI fairness and its relationship to cultural contexts”, at the 2025 National Conference on Undergraduate Research, the largest conference for undergraduate researchers in the world.
Robles will soon be moving to Seattle for a role as a Software Engineer with Starbucks.
Yuqing Wang
With stints at the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, as well as the People and Robots Laboratory and the madAbility lab within the Computer Sciences Department, Wang has emerged as a promising computing and data science scholar. In addition, she co-founded a new app, CampusConnect, that helps students discover campus events, student org activities, academic workshops and more, all in one digital location.
Wang will soon begin her studies toward an MS in Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University.
Zoë Langhoff Weinstein
Zoë Weinstein has made her mark on campus through leadership of student organizations and internships across UW–Madison. As secretary of the data science student org dotData, she organized the popular annual MadData hackathon and oversaw communication and collaboration between the club’s board and its members.
Weinstein has completed data-driven internships with CNA Insurance and the Wisconsin School of Business, and will be moving to Chicago this summer for a full-time Tech Rotational role with CNA.
Julia Woods
As a Statistics and Data Science double major, Julia Woods has enjoyed taking lessons from statistics courses and applying them to real-world challenges, including through research at the GLUE (Global Land Use and Environment) Lab and the Dinh Laboratory for cancer research.
Post-graduation, Woods will be returning to PwC in Chicago, where she previously worked as a Data Analytics & AI Consulting Intern.