Brandeis Graduate Professional Studies

Alan Cheng, PhD, is a director of chemistry, modeling, and informatics at Merck Research Labs in South San Francisco, California, where he works on the discovery of new medicines for cardiac-metabolic diseases and oncology. His research interests include computer-aided drug design and biological sequence-structure relationships. He received a PhD from the University of California, San Francisco, and undergraduate degrees from the University of California at Berkeley.

Richard Allen, PhD, is a Research Fellow at Pfizer, Inc. in Cambridge, Massachusetts. At Pfizer, he works to apply mathematical and quantitative techniques to address critical uncertainties in the drug discovery and development process. His research interests include: systems modeling of physiology, generation and application of virtual patients and populations, and reduction of mechanistic models. Before joining Pfizer, he was a post-doctoral researcher at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and received his PhD from University of College London and an undergraduate degree from the University of Durham, UK.

Karol Estrada, PhD, is a strategic, enterprising and accomplished human genomics executive respected for 15+ years of experience as a leader in human genetics with a focus on integrating genomic knowledge to discover, validate and improve drug targets. He is the Vice President of Translational Genomics at Maze Therapuetics. He is an internally recognized researcher in the field of human genetics with over 60 publications in high impact factor journals.

Before joining Maze Therapuetics, he held increasing levels of responsibility roles at BioMarin and Biogen. He has served on several international consortia focused on the design and conduct of large genetics studies for a range of human traits and diseases.

Dr. Estrada’s teaching in the Master of Science in Bioinformatics focuses on the use of modern approaches for the study of human genetics, including statistical genetics and genetic epidemiology.

Timothy Song, MS, is a bioinformatics engineer at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. He works on creating tools for the cancer informatics pipeline and aiding oncologists in their research. His prior work includes analyzing Influenza viral diversity in human populations from next generation sequencing data.

Steven Dupree, MBA, has more than a decade of experience helping startups across multiple industries achieve $1B+ valuations through digital marketing and tactical customer acquisition. After receiving an MBA from Stanford University, Steven dabbled in venture capital before exiting to build companies again. He continues to invest in and advise promising entrepreneurs in his free time.

Meredith Fortney, MBA, is the Director of Talent Acquisition Programs at FanDuel, where she heads the Employer Brand, Talent Marketing, and Campus Recruiting efforts for the country's #1 sportsbook company. In her 15+ years in the marketing field, she has honed her skills in the medical, education, retail and manufacturing fields. She is an active member in her local chapter of the American Marketing Association and is an adjunct professor at both Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU)’s Undergraduate School of Business and Boston College's Woods College of Advancing Studies.

Garrett Gillin, MBA, is a co-founder and principal at 215 Marketing, a 2020 INC 5000 company and Google Premier Partner agency in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he oversees the development and execution of integrated digital marketing initiatives. With vast experience in SMB marketing in both B2B and B2C settings, Garrett brings a practical and applied approach to his courses at Brandeis University. Garrett has an MBA from Drexel University.

Garrett has developed and currently teaches two courses at Rabb: Search Engine Marketing and Optimization (RDMD 110) and Conversion Rate Optimization (RDMD 135).

Edgar (Ed) Anderson, MSPM, PMP, has over 25 years of experience in project and program management, managing large scale IT and information security projects, primarily in the financial services industries. He is also a member of the faculty in Northeastern University's College of Professional Studies, teaching graduate-level project management courses. He has served on the Advisory Board for the Project and Program Management program at Brandeis University's Graduate Professional Studies school. He earned his BS in business administration from the University of Connecticut and an MS in project and program management from Brandeis University.

Cheryl Coleman, MSPM, PMP, CSM has more than 30 years experience in help desk management, desktop technologies, call center technologies, financial systems, project management, application development and business analysis. She has over 18 years of experience as a technical project manager and has a graduate degree in project management. She is a member of Project Management Institute, Scrum Alliance and is a certified Project Management Professional and Certified Scrum Master.

Nadeem Malik is a senior consultant with 20+ years industry experience in project and program management, global software development management and solution architecture for mid- to large-scale information systems. He is certified as Project Management Professional (PMP), Stanford Certified Project Manager (SCPM) and Enterprise Architecture (TOGAF). He is a graduate of Brandeis University with a major in computer science. He also has an MS in advanced information technology from Imperial College, London.

Nadeem received the Rabb School Outstanding Teacher Award for 2016.

Sean Milligan encompasses over 25 years of enterprise project and program management experience in varying industries. He specializes in leadership throughout the personal, team and organizational layers of project and program management and service delivery, as well as the human dynamics inherent in a collaborative approach to meeting demands of stakeholders and organizations. While project management has evolved from a scientifically driven approach to a people-focused mindset as a result of a shift in human factors, Sean's focus on these factors brings a more holistic approach to leading teams and projects.

Sean received his Master of Science in project and program management from Brandeis in November 2014 and is also a certified Myers-Briggs Practitioner.

Sean currently teaches the Human Side of Project Leadership and Challenges in Project Management courses, and received the 2019 Award for Outstanding Teaching from the Rabb School of Continuing Studies.

Dr. Aline Yurik is the program chair for Brandeis GPS Master of Software Engineering program. She has been teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in computer science, software engineering and information technology for over two decades. In parallel with teaching, Dr. Yurik works in the software and information technology industry as a director of software engineering. She has been involved in a number of information technology projects in healthcare, financial and telecommunication industries. Dr. Yurik's area of expertise is business transformation for a digital enterprise, with the focus on core business processes, transactions and portals. 

Dr. Yurik teaches courses in programming, design, architecture, information technology strategy and health information technology topics. Dr. Yurik was also a judge at the TechTogether Boston 2019 hackathon.

Dr. Yurik has a PhD in Computer Science, MA in computer science, MS in information technology, and BA in computer science, all from Brandeis University. 

Erik is the Principal Quality Development Engineer for InterSystems Corp. in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1978, InterSystems is the leading provider of data technology for extremely critical data in the health care, finance and logistics sectors. Its cloud-first data platforms solve interoperability, speed and scalability problems for large organizations around the globe.

Prior to InterSystems, Erik worked in power-systems development for Comprehensive Power, Inc. in Massachusetts and in QA, testing and release management at EMC, Bell & Howell, IBM, Micrognosis and Eastman Kodak Co.

Erik's teaching in the Master of Software Engineering program includes software development, software process, testing and release management.

Robert "Kirk" Lipscomb is a technology manager with 40 years' experience in software development. He is currently senior project lead for Karthik Consulting, leading a DevSecOps transformation on a cybersecurity project for the United States Space Force. Kirk has owned a software consulting firm and has managed development teams in a variety of industries. He has a strong track record of successful agile transformations, even in industries like defense contracting where he managed a team supporting military operations on-site in Baghdad, Iraq. Kirk has a BS in computer science from Texas A&M and an MBA in technology management from the University of Colorado.

Eva Kaniasty, MS, is the founder of Slipper Studios, a user experience (UX) consultancy providing UX strategy, research and UX design. Her areas of interest include start-ups, education, health care and design for sustainability. She received her master's degree in human factors from Bentley University, served as president of UXPA Boston, and is a repeat presenter at local and national conferences.

Candra K. Gill, MA, MSI, is the Principal UX Architect at Cox Automotive Inc. Candra's approach to UX is informed by training in human-computer interaction with a humanities background and strong direct services work. She has worked in the UX field in corporate environments, marketing agencies and on projects for non-profit organizations, producing work for notable clients in telecommunications, financial services, consumer products & retail, and manufacturing. 

Dr. Diana Hubbard is an anthropologist and information scientist who is currently the head of design for the Battle.net Platform at Blizzard Entertainment. She previously was the director of research at Hilton and has also held lead design and research positions at SAP and IBM. She has an MS in applied anthropology, as well as a PhD in interdisciplinary information science from the University of North Texas.

Dr. Hubbard designed and teaches the Research Methods course in the Master of Science in User-Centered Design program.

David Lumerman, MS, is corporate vice president of user experience at New York Life Insurance, where he develops engaging interaction for New York Life websites, applications and interactive experiences, and has done so for over 16 years. Previously, David developed online games and game shows with Pearson Television and Uproar! Games, most notably "Family Feud" and "To Tell the Truth." He earned his master's degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and undergraduate degree from the School of Visual Arts in New York City.

Jen McGinn, MS, is a senior director of product design at VMware. Jen has spent more than 20 years working as a UX leader, designer, user researcher, technical trainer, and writer at companies including Veracode, CA Technologies, Oracle, Nokia and Sun Microsystems. She regularly presents at local, regional and international UX conferences, and has published peer-reviewed papers on persona development, heuristic evaluation, Agile user research and usability rating scales. Jen has a BS in information systems management from UMBC and an MS in human factors in information design from Bentley University.