ÈÕ±¾avÊÓƵ

Devleena Shivakumar is executive director and head of computational chemistry at Revolution Medicines, where she leads computational efforts to advance targeted oncology therapeutics with a particular focus on pancreatic and lung cancers. With over 20 years of experience in computational chemistry, and drug discovery, Shivakumar brings deep expertise from her previous roles at leading pharmaceutical and technology companies including Merck, Gilead Sciences and Schrödinger.

Shivakumar earned her Ph.D. in computational chemistry from the University of California, Santa Barbara, followed by postdoctoral research at The Scripps Research Institute and the University of Chicago.

She is passionate about exploring and integrating AI/machine learning approaches into traditional drug discovery workflows. Her extensive industry experience spans the full spectrum of drug discovery from early-stage target identification through clinical candidate selection, making her a recognized leader in the field.

Patrick Woodard serves as the chief information officer for Monument Health, where he leads multiyear strategic initiatives focused on patient access, clinician efficiency and happiness, and long-term strategic positioning for the health system. Woodard is board certified in both internal medicine and health care administration, leadership and management. He brings a physician's lens to demonstrate a balance between creative innovation and realism.

Prior to coming to South Dakota, he served as the chief digital officer for Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare and the chief medical information officer for Renown Health in Reno, Nevada. His technology background began as a startup founder during residency, bringing quality to the forefront through technology.

He resides in Rapid City, South Dakota, with his wife and a greyhound and enjoys the beauty of the Black Hills year-round.

Dave Newman is the chief medical officer for virtual care at Sanford Health, the nation’s largest rural health system that serves more than 2 million patients across seven states in the Upper Midwest through a network of 56 hospitals and more than 4,000 physicians and advanced practice providers. In this role, Newman provides strategic and clinical leadership for Sanford Health’s landmark $350 million virtual care initiative, advancing scalable models that strengthen access, quality and sustainability for rural and frontier communities in the Upper Midwest.

A practicing endocrinologist and trained clinical informaticist based in Fargo, North Dakota, Newman brings a rare combination of front-line clinical experience, digital innovation expertise and system-level operational leadership. He is recognized as a national leader in rural health transformation with a proven track record of designing and implementing technology-enabled care models that address the most persistent drivers of zip code–based disparities.

Newman is a sought-after expert and trusted voice in the evolving landscape of virtual care and artificial intelligence-enabled delivery. He is regularly invited to deliver keynote presentations, expert commentary and forward-looking insights at major national convenings, including ViVE, Reuters Digital Health Summit, Becker’s Healthcare AI Summit, the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society's AI in Healthcare Forum and the American Hospital Association's Leadership Summit, among others. His leadership has also been featured prominently across national media. In 2023, STAT News profiled him in a documentary highlighting his commitment to harnessing technology to overcome significant access challenges across the Dakotas. In 2024, Newsweek published a feature story showcasing how Sanford Health is redefining the future of rural care through its new Sanford Virtual Care Center.

Newman earned his B.S. from Drake University and his M.D. from the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences. He completed an internal medicine residency at Hennepin County Medical Center and an endocrinology fellowship at the University of Minnesota.

Outside his clinical and innovation leadership roles, Newman is committed to youth development as a volunteer soccer coach for both club-level teams and the Olympic Development Program. An amateur DJ in his free time, he lives in Fargo, North Dakota, with his wife, Tracie Newman, M.D., MPH, and their three children.

Govind Thirumalai is a healthcare data and analytics executive with more than 15 years of experience leading enterprise data strategy, advanced analytics and AI innovation across large health systems. He currently serves as the Vice President of Data and Analytics at Avera Health, where he oversees the organization’s enterprise data warehouse, data science, data governance, AI governance, and the development of clinical, operational and consumer-focused analytics solutions.

Prior to joining Avera, Govind served as the Vice President of Business Intelligence at Parkview Health and held senior leadership roles directing data engineering, data science and enterprise reporting functions. His career spans the full spectrum of healthcare analytics, including EMR integration, population health analytics, predictive analytics and the strategic deployment of AI and GenAI capabilities within clinical and operational workflows.

Govind is passionate about the ethical and responsible use of AI in healthcare, with a focus on improving clinical decision-making, enhancing patient experience and enabling health systems to deliver more proactive and personalized care. He brings deep experience in building cross-functional AI governance structures, guiding health systems through digital transformation, and advancing the use of large language models for real-world healthcare applications.

Govind holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from India, a Master’s degree in Computer Science from Western Michigan University, and an MBA from The Ohio State University.

Victor E. Taylor serves as the vice provost for graduate education and extended studies and professor of English-interdisciplinary studies at ÈÕ±¾avÊÓƵ. He earned his doctorate in humanities with a focus on postmodern studies from Syracuse University and has held faculty and visiting researcher positions at a variety of institutions, including Johns Hopkins University; University of California, Los Angeles; University of California, Irvine; and the University of Pennsylvania.

At ÈÕ±¾avÊÓƵ, he oversees the Graduate School, Continuing and Distance Education, Instructional Design Services and the Center for Professional Enrichment and Teaching Excellence. His work also supports initiatives in artificial intelligence innovation and policy development, the scholarship of teaching and learning, and civic engagement through a Mellon Foundation grant for postcarceral students.

As a nationally-recognized humanities scholar, he has published four books and edited seven volumes on topics ranging from literary and religious studies to the philosophy of technology. His current project is a coedited volume on artificial intelligence leadership in higher education with Parlor Press. Beginning in 2026, he serves as the co-director of ÈÕ±¾avÊÓƵ’s Center for AI Innovation and Emergent Technologies, which is a hub for the university’s artificial intelligence activities across campus.

Semhar Michael is an associate professor of statistics at the Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering at ÈÕ±¾avÊÓƵ. Her expertise lies in computational statistics with an emphasis on mixture modeling, clustering of time-series and unstructured data, and forensic and health-data analytics. Michael earned her B.S. in applied mathematics from the University of Asmara, her M.S. in mathematics from the University of North Dakota and her Ph.D. in applied statistics from the University of Alabama. Her research spans a broad range of applications from identifying geographic and racial disparities in breast-cancer mortality to developing statistical methods for forensic source-identification and time-series clustering. At ÈÕ±¾avÊÓƵ, she teaches graduate-level courses in statistical inference, multivariate analysis and simulation and serves as associate editor for the "Journal of Classification." Michael's work exemplifies the bridge between rigorous methodology and real-world impact, delivering data-driven insights across health, agriculture and justice-system contexts.

Chulwoo Pack is an assistant professor in the McComish Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at ÈÕ±¾avÊÓƵ where he leads the . He has a Ph.D. in computer science from the and a B.S. from ÈÕ±¾avÊÓƵ (dual-degree with the University of Ulsan) in 2015 and an M.S. from the university in 2017. His research focuses on scientific knowledge discovery from large-scale multimodal data, aiming to answer this question: how can artificial intelligence and human expertise work together to unlock knowledge hidden in large-scale multimodal data, driving greater accessibility and discoverability? To advance this vision, his work spans information retrieval, multimodal learning, visual reasoning, multimedia analysis, knowledge graphs and explainable AI.

Zachariah Dicus is an enterprise solutions architect at KBR supporting the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science Center. He leads generative artificial intelligence, software modernization, DevSecOps, cloud strategy and enterprise CI/CD, and aligning technology decisions with mission outcomes. Dicus has worked extensively on creating scalable agentic AI solutions for enterprise systems, leveraging generative AI and agent-based orchestration to streamline developer workflows and enhance operational agility. His architecture work has standardized development pipelines across programs, improved release reliability and accelerated adoption of modern DevSecOps practices. His current interests include secure SDLC, cost-aware cloud transformation, and applied AI for geospatial and image-processing workloads. Dicus lives in the Sioux Falls area with his wife, three girls and an 11-year-old pug. He enjoys family time, outdoor activities, home technology projects and gardening.

Morrell is the 23rd adjutant general of the South Dakota National Guard. He serves as commanding general for both the South Dakota Air and Army National Guard and guides the preparation of 4,200 Air and Army National Guard citizen-soldiers and airmen and 950 full-time federal and state employees to respond in times of state or national emergency.  Morrell serves on the governor's cabinet as the principal adviser to the governor on all matters involving the use of the National Guard.

Morrell entered the Air Force in May 1999 as a Distinguished Graduate of ÈÕ±¾avÊÓƵ’s ROTC program. He served on active duty for 12 years before transitioning home to the South Dakota Air National Guard. Morrell is an F-16 command pilot with over 3,000 flying hours and is both a graduate of and former instructor at the United States Air Force Weapons School. He has deployed extensively all over the world for training and combat operations.