Since our founding in 2015, we’ve strived to place technologists in Capitol Hill to positively impact the future of tech policy. Not only has our program grown in the last year, where we’ve built more professional development opportunities for our fellows and began quarterly networking events for tech policy fellows, but the public interest technology movement has also accelerated. We have seen the passion of technologists to help bridge the gap and pivot their careers first-hand, and are committed to including technologists in every step of the policymaking process and bringing more people into public interest technology to make an impact.
This year’s applicant pool was the strongest yet and demonstrated the passion of technologists to work in government. We’re so excited to welcome our January 2023 class of Congressional Innovation Fellows and are excited to see where their journeys take them!
Andre Barbe is a Ph.D. economist with experience at the World Bank and the White House's Council of Economic Advisers. Prior to joining TechCongress, Andre was a consultant on AI and semiconductor policy for the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI, the Partnership on AI, and Georgetown University's Center for Security and Emerging Technology.
Ishvaraus Davis is an engineering leader and advocate. Ishvaraus recently worked at Meta leading a team at the intersection of engineering and ads strategy and previously worked at IBM. Ishvaraus is passionate about impacting his community and has founded organizations, mentored, and created opportunities that align with that passion.
Andrew Eich is a veteran with experience in intelligence and technology, including leading international cryptocurrency anti-money laundering projects, ransomware negotiations, red team, and counter-espionage projects. Andrew earned his MBA from American University and holds multiple technology-related certifications, including SANS Certified Incident Handler (GCIH) and Cyber Counterintelligence Analyst (CCTA).
Sean Leahy is the Director Of Technical Services at startup Sayari, with experience at Booz Allen and CACI and a graduate of Columbia University. Sean is motivated by developing long-lasting systems that promote the research, development, and innovation capacity of the United States of America. Sean has built, trained, and refined models using several of the most common data analysis and data science packages.
Devanshi Nishar is a software engineer experienced in consumer-facing emerging technologies with an interest in antitrust and consumer privacy protection. At Google, Devanshi worked on products in the AR/VR, smart home, and voice assistant spaces. She holds a Sc.B. in Computer Science from Brown University, where she was a head teaching assistant and a DEI advocate.
Ashley Nowicki is a policy researcher interested in economic and technology policy, such as dark patterns, data privacy, and competition policy. Prior to TechCongress, Ashley was a Presidential Management Fellow at the IRS and the FTC. She holds a Double Masters in Public Policy and Applied Economics from the University of Michigan.
Raine Sagramsingh is a mechanical engineer with an interest in national security, critical infrastructure, environmental policy & equity. Raine previously worked as an engineer with the Federal government in aerospace/defense. She recently received her M.S. in Public Policy from Georgia Tech with a concentration in science & technology policy and has a B.S. in mechanical engineering.
Sophie Song is an engineer and community organizer. Sophie was an organizer at Movement Alliance Project where they led research and advocacy on algorithmic inequality in the child welfare system. Sophie studied Computer Science at RIT, has worked at the US Census Bureau and Google, and led community, electoral and labor organizing efforts in the Asian American community.
Matthew Spence is a software engineer who previously worked at Avast. Matthew began his career in cyber security, where he performed incident response for the second largest university in the country and a major financial institution. During this time he developed a deep understanding of applied cryptography and digital identity. Matthew has a B.S. in Computer Science from Texas A&M.
Jasmine Suarez is an experienced cybersecurity researcher who previously worked as an IT Project Manager at the Office of the CIO at the FDIC. Jasmine is passionate about software supply chain security and vulnerability management, post-quantum cryptography, and developing policy for the future of critical infrastructure, such as healthcare cybersecurity.