Image

The University of Virginia School of Data Science celebrated 152 graduates on Aug. 8 at Old Cabell Hall, recognizing 150 master’s and two doctoral graduates and challenging them to pair technical expertise with judgment, responsibility, and commitment to the common good.

Those themes carried throughout the ceremony, from graduate speaker Razan Habboub’s call for responsible data science to keynote speaker Sam Garofalo’s advice on navigating a field rapidly transformed by artificial intelligence.

Habboub, a residential M.S. in Data Science graduate, reflected on a class project examining fairness in healthcare data and how underrepresentation in training datasets could cause models to fail the people they were intended to help.

“This is not just code. This is responsibility,” Habboub recalled thinking. “The data we work with belongs to human beings. The models we build shape decisions that affect communities, families, and futures.”

The experience reinforced her belief that data scientists must ask not only whether something can be built, but whether it should be built and whom it will serve.

“Responsible data science for the common good – that is the standard I am holding myself to,” she said.

Values in the Age of AI

Keynote speaker Sam Garofalo, an M.S. in Data Science alumna and head of basketball strategy and analytics for the WNBA, reflected on how much the field has changed since she was a student.

Now that AI can produce code in seconds that once took hours to write, Garofalo said the data scientist’s role in making thoughtful decisions has become even more important. Graduates must determine which questions are worth asking, understand what data does and does not measure, and consider how technology affects real people.

“You all have the understanding of the foundations of AI, what it’s great at and where it falls short,” she said. “You get to be a reason it gets used well.”

Garofalo urged graduates to understand what truly motivates them, to let their values guide their work, and to seek out the people affected by the systems they build.

“Go find the people your work is for, and go meet them,” she said, “because you can’t build anything worth building for a person you don’t understand.”

Celebrating Student Achievement

During the ceremony, residential M.S. in Data Science graduate Caroline Kranefuss received the Wood Family Award for Outstanding Student in Data Science. Made possible through the generosity of School of Data Science Advisory Board member Oscar Wood and his family, the award recognizes exceptional academic performance and strong recommendations from faculty and staff.

The School also celebrated Ph.D. graduate Joseph Choi, whose dissertation, “Closing the Loop: AI-Assisted Framework for the Design of Microarchitected Materials,” explored an AI-assisted approach to materials design under the mentorship of Professor Stephen Baek.

Residential M.S. in Data Science Program Director Prince Afriyie recognized the master’s graduates as the inaugural cohort to complete the program under its current curriculum. He emphasized that alongside machine learning, statistics, and data engineering, graduates had learned to “collaborate, communicate, adapt, and solve problems that don't come with an answer key.”

Building What Comes Next

Interim Stephenson Dean Jeffrey Blume closed the ceremony by returning to the responsibility graduates will carry as AI, computation, and data increasingly shape society.

“Data science is not just about building models,” Blume said. “It is about judgment. It is about asking better questions. It is about understanding uncertainty, recognizing limitations, and using evidence responsibly in the service of people and society.”

Blume also recognized the late founding dean Philip E. Bourne and his belief that data science and AI should be both innovative and responsible.

“That vision remains central to who we are as a School,” Blume said, “and I hope it remains part of how each of you approaches your work going forward.” He sent the newest School of Data Science alumni into their next chapter with a familiar charge: “Congratulations and Onwards!”

Diploma Ceremony Program