School of Computing and Data Science IPAC

Urvashi Batra is a technology executive and entrepreneur who helps businesses drive growth by transforming data into strategic decisions. She has led high-impact initiatives at global enterprises including Broadcom (VMware) and Contentsquare (Heap), partnering with cross-functional teams to deliver measurable business outcomes. Drawing on her MBA from Babson College and an Engineering degree from the University of Waterloo, she excels at aligning people, process, and technology to solve complex problems. Outside of her operating roles, Urvashi is committed to mentoring students and emerging leaders and enjoys spending time outdoors.

Chris Bortlik works at Microsoft as the Director of the Boston (Burlington), MA Innovation Hub. The Microsoft Innovation Hub delivers deep technical engagements focused on business outcomes. Hub senior architects and engineers lead Microsoft customers and partners from ideas to realizing business value– with a range of highly tailored single or multi-day engagements from problem exploration through to technical proof.

Nirva Fereshetian is a Principal & Chief Information Officer at CBT Architects, a Boston based award-winning design firm providing services nationally and internationally in Architecture, Interior Design & Urban Design. She is responsible for aligning business technology strategies to meet primary business objectives. She is experienced in managing projects & people with an interdisciplinary background in architecture/construction/technology and a capacity to bridge that knowledge to enable informed business decisions and increased productivity. A passionate advocate of the AEC startup ecosystem as CBT Architects continues to collaborate with many founders for the overall goal of shaping the future of the industry. She is a board member of Boston Smaht - Chapter of Building Intelligence Group, Founding member of Forum ventures.  In 2024, she was recognized as one of Boston 25 top women in tech.

Nirmal Jingar is a technology leader known for architecting high-scale, mission-critical platforms that power modern e-commerce and supply-chain ecosystems. He oversees several core Supply Chain systems at Wayfair, where he leads large-scale modernization initiatives that significantly improve reliability, performance, and operational efficiency. Nirmal is a recognized expert in distributed systems and AI-driven engineering, pioneering enterprise adoption of generative AI to accelerate development, automate diagnostics, and enhance engineering productivity. He has built and mentored high-performing engineering teams, guiding complex architectural transformations and shaping long-term technical strategy across organizations. Through his contributions to platform modernization, AI-assisted engineering, and system design at scale, Nirmal continues to influence and advance the broader field of enterprise technology.

Susan Mutter is the Director of Statistical Programming at PROMETRIKA, LLC, a contract research organization (CRO) that supports pharmaceutical clinical trials. Her expertise includes mapping clinical data to CDISC SDTM standards and SAS programming. Over more than 30 years in the clinical trials industry, she has held roles in data management, database programming, and statistical programming. Her prior experience includes collecting and analyzing data related to military ration nutrition and human factors, studying the effects of weightlessness in squirrel monkeys, and researching upper-atmosphere faint light phenomena. Susan holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Mount Holyoke College, where she majored in Neuroscience and minored in Music.

Dr. Shrikant Pattnaik is the R&D Director at Procter & Gamble (P&G), a leading consumer goods company, where he leads initiatives in digital transformation and emerging technologies. With a PhD in Engineering from the University of Cincinnati and 15 years of experience in product innovation, Dr. Pattnaik specializes in utilizing advanced digital technologies, including physics-based modeling and simulation, advanced statistics, and AI/ML methodologies, to address consumer challenges and drive product and process innovation. His expertise lies at the intersection of engineering and consumer insights, enabling him to develop innovative digital solutions that effectively respond to evolving market demands.

Will Sergeant is a Cybersecurity Professional living in the North Shore of Massachusetts and graduated as part of the Wentworth Class of 2018 in Computer Networking. He currently works as a Cybersecurity Analyst at Harvard Medical School working on Cyber Risk and Vulnerability Management. As of 2025 Will is ISC2 CISSP and Microsoft Azure AZ-104 Certified. He also recently earned a Graduate Certificate in Cybersecurity from Harvard Extension School and is expected to finish his Masters Degree in Cybersecurity from Harvard Extension School in the Spring of 2026.

Denys Shmelov earned a BA in Economics from UMass Lowell in 2010 and an MS in Mathematics from the University of Connecticut in 2012. He is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (FSA), his current role is in statutory valuation with a focus on annuities. His professional interests span finance, economics, mathematics, and data science, reflecting a strong analytical background and a passion for quantitative problem-solving.

Alice Stein is a strategic business consultant and advisor specializing in growth strategy, innovation, and the application of generative and agentic AI across industries. With over 20 years of leadership experience spanning technology, professional services, real estate, and education, she helps organizations align marketing, sales, and digital operations to achieve measurable results. At Wentworth Institute of Technology, she mentors founders through the Accelerate Innovation & Entrepreneurship Center, supporting ventures developing AI-powered medical devices, healthcare applications, EdTech solutions, and lead generation platforms. Alice is also a founding member of the Women Applying AI global network, Chair of Governance and Expansion for the U.S. PropTech Council, and Chair of the Environment and Health Subcommittee for the Massachusetts Port Authority Community Advisory Committee.

Peter Stickney is an IT Manager at RTX BBN Technologies in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He has worked in the IT field for 20 years, spending the majority of his career at BBN. His expertise includes Windows systems administration, with particularly strong experience in Linux environments, as well as a solid working knowledge of Cisco networking. In addition to his technical responsibilities, Peter leads his department’s Co-Op Program, overseeing the recruitment and hiring of approximately 15 co-op students each year.

Eric Work is currently a Senior Engineering Manager at NVIDIA for TensorRT. TensorRT is a C++ CUDA library for accelerating AI inference applications on NVIDIA GPUs. At NVIDIA Eric leads a DevOps team focused on CI/CD, developer tools, builds, testing, regression tracking, and product releases. Prior to working at NVIDIA, Eric worked at a startup called Soft Machines and also Intel contributing to next-generation CPU architectures. Eric obtained a MS in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of California, Davis and a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Washington. Eric has an interest in developing or utilizing state-of-the-art tools for improving CI/CD and developer efficiency and personally has an interest in Linux development.