TechCongress Announces Third Class of Congressional Innovation Fellows

Today, TechCongress, a nonpartisan initiative dedicated to
building 21st century government and developing cross-sector technology
leaders, is pleased to announce its 2018 class of
Congressional Innovation Fellows. This year’s class of fellows
brings experience from public interest organizations, private sector companies,
the military, government, and tech startups. These Congressional Innovation
Fellows have deep technical expertise and will find a placement with a Member
of Congress or Congressional Committee to gain firsthand knowledge about the
legislative process while applying their in-depth technical experience to
policy challenges. Past classes of fellows have worked with the House Ways and
Means Health Subcommittee, and the House Oversight and Government Reform IT
Subcommittee, Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and
the Offices of Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii).  

“We are thrilled to be growing the Congressional Innovation
Fellowship again in 2018. Over 150 individuals from academia, civil society,
government, and big and small tech companies applied to join the program,”
said Travis Moore, Founder and Director, TechCongress. “Technology
policy cuts across every committee’s jurisdiction, and tech companies are
increasingly moving into highly regulated sectors like health, finance,
transportation, and energy. Our country needs leaders who can understand and
bridge the complexities of government and tech.”

The 2018 Congressional Innovation Fellows
are:

Bukky Adebayo, a product manager
at Bedrock Analytics, a consumer packaged goods analytics company. As a product
manager, she specialized in building data products. Prior to Bedrock, she
managed data courses at General Assembly. She’s also been a product manager at
Wecyclers and Hopper Travel. Adebayo received her Bachelors in electrical and
computer engineering from Olin College of Engineering.

Collin Anderson, a Washington
D.C.-based researcher focused on cybersecurity and Internet freedom, with an
emphasis on countries that restrict the free flow of information. Prior to the
Congressional Innovation Fellowship, Anderson was a researcher at Measurement
Lab, cofounder of Security without Borders, and an adviser with several
organizations focused on human rights and Iran. These involvements center on
how public policy can promote online expression and accountability, including
regulation of the sale of surveillance technologies and sanctions programs.
Anderson’s most recent work is an extensive analysis documenting how Iran uses
cyber warfare to pursue its foreign policy interests and repress dissent,
published through the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace .

James Gimbi, a consultant at
Mandiant, a FireEye company. He performed breach investigations and guided
cyber strategy for clients in government and the Global 500, spanning defense,
finance, healthcare, professional services, and other industries across four
continents. He produced the Security Operations Center for a top Asia-Pacific
bank and reviewed the DHS National Cyber Incident Response Plan. Gimbi
developed and taught security courses for federal law enforcement, conferences,
and private clients. Gimbi holds a Bachelor of Science with honors from the
Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in information security and forensics.
At RIT, he published research on covert channels, studied politics, and worked
co-ops with Mandiant, BOCES, and Cisco Systems.

Robbie Narang, a biotechnologist
with expertise in the rapidly growing intersection of life science
entrepreneurship, personalized medicine, and robotics. Previously, Dr. Narang
held scientific and marketing roles with biotechnology startups. He was a
member of a scientific team that successfully brought a biotechnology startup
to acquisition in 2016, where he worked on automated systems for drug
discovery. He then went on to found his own consultancy, serving in advisory
roles for small, innovative teams trying to enter highly-regulated
personalized/precision medicine markets. Dr. Narang holds a Ph.D. in molecular
microbiology from Tufts University and a Bachelor of Science in biology from
the University of New Mexico.

John A. Price, a three-time
Bronze Star veteran of the U.S. Army Special Operations. Price supported the
Intelligence community focusing on planning and leading small teams in
high-stress environments. Price has multiple combat tours including the Middle
East and Mediterranean, where he successfully managed multiple sensitive
programs for the U.S. government customers totaling more than 100 million
dollars. A trusted confidant for several government agencies, Price most
recently worked as a consultant dealing with risk management and mitigation through
developing advanced technical solutions in the most dynamic environments. Price
holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Colorado, a Masters in Business
Administration from the George Washington University and speaks both Russian
and Farsi.

Jamie Sternlicht, a mechanical
engineer who specializes in robotics. Prior to the fellowship, Jamie was a
Project Manager for ULC Robotics, an international company that creates robotic
solutions for the utility industry. At ULC, Sternlicht worked directly with
clients to assess project requirements, and collaborated with software,
electrical and mechanical engineering teams to create robotic systems
solutions. Sternlicht currently lives on a modern dairy farm in upstate New
York. She believes that autonomous technology solutions, such as utility
inspection systems, voluntary milking systems, and driverless cars, affect
positive change for the economy and enable safer and happier communities. She
received her Bachelor of Science and Master of Engineering in mechanical
engineering from Cornell University.

“I’ve seen firsthand the transformative
impact of applying tech expertise to solving problems in government.”
said Cecilia Muñoz, Vice President, Policy and Technology and
Director, New America National Network. “We need more technologists at every
level of government, and I’m excited to see the expertise in this year’s class
of Congressional Innovation Fellows. TechCongress is playing an important role
in bringing more technology professionals into Congress to work on some of
today’s biggest policy challenges.”  

TechCongress is incubated at New America’s
Open Technology Institute (OTI) and one of several projects at OTI aimed at
bridging the divide between the tech and policy communities, and building a
sector of public interest technologists. The 2018 class of TechCongress fellows
is supported by the Ford Foundation, the Hewlett Foundation and entrepreneur
and investor Reid Hoffman.