Kevin Womack came to Columbia University for graduate school after double majoring in computer science and mathematics at Morehouse College. He figured the M.S. in Data Science program would allow him to leverage both of his passions.

Today, the Class of 2021 alumnus is a data scientist for Expedia, an adjunct professor at his undergraduate alma mater, and a data science manager for Reconstruction, which is an education startup. He is on the cutting edge of research, and has the independence to have a wide range of experiences.

“I found that my interests were so expansive, they can’t be captured in one role,” Womack said. “I think if I was doing just one of these things, I would feel unfulfilled in some way. So I said ‘yes’ to a bunch of things at once, and now I’m doing it all.” 

Womack joined Expedia at the beginning of 2021, and has been working on innovations in conversational AI, NLP, and automated speech recognition technology, which is new territory for the company. This work involves important considerations for technology ethics, including how to make the process of model building more collaborative and transparent. 

At Morehouse, Womack leads the capstone course for software engineering majors. Three of his nine students are young women from Spelman College, Morehouse’s sister school. The students leveraged Amazon Comprehend and Amplify to build a full stack web application on AWS to address the challenge of managing misinformation online, particularly fake news on social media.

Reconstruction offers a high quality, affordable curriculum designed by diverse educators that highlights Black contributions. Womack joined the startup to guide their thinking about data and address the challenges of quantifying and measuring student progress in an alternative learning environment. He works directly with school districts and is becoming an expert on the regulations around student data. “Parents want their students’ privacy protected, but they also want results. When you consider data needs from the beginning, it’s much easier,” he noted.

Finally, as a member of the Data Science Institute’s Data Science Racial Equity Advisory Committee, Womack brings the views of young people in his field to the table, and offers insights that faculty and staff may not have about the data science student and alumni experience. His ultimate goal: “More people like me in my field.”

Womack enjoys growing his skills as a practitioner and leader in data science, and applies the knowledge he acquires across all of his roles. But he is mindful of both the opportunities and the responsibilities of his work. “There’s a double-edged sword with data science,” he said. “You want it to be very good, but there’s a concern if it’s too powerful.”

— Karina Alexanyan, Ph.D.