Announcing Our 2025 Fellows

With now a decade of running our Congressional Innovation Fellowship, TechCongress has demonstrated our dedication to bridging the divide of knowledge and experience between politics and tech. Each cohort has seen us build and iterate upon our systems for providing fellows with the training and mentorship to support the transition from the technology to public sectors. Still, with every new orientation workshop or programming opportunity, TechCongress has remained focused on creating a non-partisan pipeline for tech expertise into government, one technologist at a time.

Our past recruitment cycle was our most competitive one yet, and our selected fellows have demonstrated the outstanding expertise and passion to excel in their future offices on the Hill. We are excited to welcome our 15th cohort of Congressional Innovation Fellows, and we look forward to seeing them shape the future of tech policy.

• Ilona Bodnar is a data scientist specializing in machine learning and software development. Ilona brings experience from industry, including Google and NerdWallet, and most recently, working at a medical AI startup. She is committed to safeguarding consumer rights and promoting the transparency and accountability of impactful technical systems at scale.

• Matthew Burtell is a technologist with interests spanning AI, national security, China competition, energy, industrial policy, and business innovation. Matthew holds a BS from Yale, where he studied Computer Science and Mathematics, and has published both technical and policy AI research at Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology.

• Joshua Chavez is a technologist with engineering and product experience in defense hardware, data, and processing. Joshua recently served as the Director of Products & Technology at HawkEye360 and the Lead Technical Product Manager at SeaWatch Labs. He graduated in 2019 with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Yale.

• Rahul Hebbar is a technologist committed to AI serving humanity, not outpacing social readiness. Rahul was a Project Researcher for the New York City Council’s Legislative Division. Previously, he interned at Koopid.io, where he built machine-learning algorithms. Rahul has his B.S. in Computer Science from Rutgers University and a Master of Public Policy from Duke University.

• Shourya Jain is a product manager passionate about leveraging data and AI to strengthen American infrastructure. He previously worked at Microsoft, building features for the Azure AI platform, and Neufin, developing a platform to drive investment in energy and carbon projects. He holds a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Washington, Seattle.

• Avanti Joshi received a B.S. in Computer Science and began as a software engineer at Goldman Sachs before pivoting to infrastructure and security at Trussworks, a civic technology company. She worked with government agencies to modernize cloud infrastructure and promote application security. Avanti is excited to advise on policy issues such as cybersecurity and data privacy.

• Dhruv Kathuria holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from UC Berkeley. He was most recently a Senior Engineer at Pavilion, where he worked on procurement modernization, and previously contributed to Trust and Safety at Nextdoor. Dhruv is passionate about digital privacy and improving how governments adopt and regulate impactful software technologies.

• Lauren Luo is a software engineer interested in data privacy and governance. She most recently worked at Instagram, where she built privacy-aware infrastructure to support consent order responses and established data consistency and governance mechanisms for sensitive user data. Lauren earned her B.A. in Computer Science and American Studies from Wellesley College.

• Sabelo Mhlambi is a technologist and AI ethicist who bridges technology, human rights, and ethics. A former fellow at Harvard Law School's Berkman-Klein Center and Carr Center and Stanford's Digital Civil Society Lab, he now leads a Techstars'22 backed fintech startup. His work maximizes AI benefits while addressing risks and ensuring equitable access for underrepresented communities.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

• Anna Nickelson is a technologist with a PhD in robotics, researcher, and science communicator dedicated to safe and responsible implementation of emerging technologies. Her academic research focuses on adaptive and ethical AI, and she formerly worked at Dolby Labs, the Naval Research Laboratory, and the Brookings Institution. Her policy interests include equitable access to technology and data privacy.

• Joe Putnik is a data scientist and business owner with expertise in AI and machine learning, digital infrastructure, and process automation. He has led technology transformation initiatives across enterprises in nearly every industry and size. His policy interests include ethical AI frameworks, government efficiency, and leveraging data science to enhance decision-making and serve the public good.

• Connor Sandagata is a data scientist who seeks to bring his expertise in machine learning, data analysis, and causal modeling to inform policy. Connor was the Senior Data Scientist at WPA Intelligence, where he specialized in using machine learning to analyze public opinion in political campaigns. He holds a Bachelors in International Relations from the University of Rochester.

• Pauls Toma is a computer scientist and a lawyer. Pauls interned with SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, where he bridged the gap between blockchain technology and securities law. He previously interned at DOJ, where he combatted the criminal misuse of cryptocurrency. He has a BS and MS in Computer Science and a JD from the University of Detroit.

• Akash Wasil is a technology and national security professional with experience in research, entrepreneurship, and AI policy. His work has involved AI and cybersecurity, US-China tech competition, semiconductor policy, national security preparedness, and applying AI in healthcare. Akash was an NSF-funded Ph.D. student at UPenn and holds a B.A. from Harvard University.

#AskTechCongress: What does it mean for Congress to be at the end of a session?

TechCongress aims to bridge the divide of knowledge and experience between politics and tech for better outcomes for both. Our new #AskTechCongress series will answer your questions about Congress, providing insight into the legislative process from an introductory perspective. Submit questions and keep updated with the series by subscribing to our Today In Tech newsletter.

On January 3, 2025, the second session of the 118th United States Congress will officially come to a close, marking the end of this legislative period. In the time leading up to January, Congress may finalize pending bills, address budget appropriations, and attempt to pass key policies before the transition of power to newly elected Congress members. Negotiations and compromises on last-minute “omnibus” bundle bills and other unresolved pieces of legislation are common. With 18,455 bills and resolutions currently before Congress, and only about 7% passing and becoming law¹, this session marks an important shift in both legislative priorities and political dynamics. 

The term “session” describes the series of meetings held by the House of Representatives and the Senate each year. With elections every two years, each Congress serves for two legislative sessions. Because of the 20th Amendment, Congressional sessions have started and ended at noon on the January 3rd of odd numbered years since 1935². Before this amendment, sessions began with inaugurations in March and ended with elections in November. This created a four month “lame duck” period where members of Congress serving out the rest of their term were limited in their ability to hold meetings and carry out major changes during their last days in office. This shift in the timing of Congressional sessions provides a framework for understanding how the legislative calendar unfolds, from the introduction of bills to the final adjournment.

The legislative timeline consists of bill introductions, committee hearings, debates, votes, and more, but it typically concludes with a sine die adjournment. “Sine die”—“without a day” in Latin—signifies an end to a session without a specified date to reconvene, meaning Congress will not meet again until the next session. The exact timing of adjournment depends on various factors including legislative deadlines and elections, so instead, a target adjournment date—December 20th for this session³—is set before the holidays.

Ending a session plays a crucial role in legislative strategy, as any bills that are not passed into law by the end of the session will “die” and must be reintroduced in a future session. This puts lawmakers under pressure to pass—or block—critical measures before the session ends. Issues such as budget, defense, and healthcare are frequently brought up in last-minute policy proposals, and multiple bills may be repackaged into a single one to be voted on. The end of session may even include Senate confirmations of federal positions and judicial appointments. 

This waiting period before the new year puts Congress under a magnified lens of public scrutiny. People evaluate the “productivity” of a Congressional session by how many significant bills it passes. This adds more pressure for parties to push initiatives in the final months, and especially during a Presidential Election year since both major parties pivot priorities to fulfill campaign promises. 

The legacy of the 118th Congress will depend on how it prioritizes different issues and navigates the political landscape. Recognizing the importance of this phase of the legislative process is the first step in understanding the nuance and impact of the Congressional session. 

References

¹https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/#bystatus 

²https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/constitutional-amendments-amendment-20-date-changes-presidency-congress-and-succession

³https://www.senate.gov/legislative/2024_schedule.htm