A large audience and a panel of experts at Gravitational Waves event.

Speakers Announced for College’s 2025 Undergraduate Commencement Ceremony

/ 8 May 2025 /

Alum Adam Wenchel (B.S. '99, computer science), co-founder and CEO of Arthur, will be the keynote speaker at the University of Maryland’s College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences 2025 Undergraduate Commencement Ceremony on May 22, 2025. Jade LeSchack (B.S. ’25, physics; B.S. '25, mathematics) was selected as the student speaker for the ceremony. The ceremony will honor the college's August 2024, December 2024 and May 2025 graduates receiving bachelor's degrees.

Adam Wenchel

Adam Wenchel. Photo courtesy of same.

Adam Wenchel (B.S. ’99, computer science) is the co-founder and CEO of Arthur, an artificial intelligence (AI) performance company that empowers organizations to monitor, measure, and improve machine learning and generative AI models at scale.

Before launching Arthur in 2019, Wenchel was vice president of AI and data innovation at Capital One, where he founded and led the company’s Center for Machine Learning. He joined Capital One in 2015 after the company acquired Anax Security, the startup Wenchel founded to leverage AI to detect and block cybersecurity attacks. Wenchel has also held positions at Endgame, Everfi, Positive Development, Govolution and HeyMax Interactive.

Wenchel’s experiences at Maryland prepared him well for his career by expanding his knowledge of entrepreneurship and computer science. He began working in the AI field at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency while he was still an undergraduate at UMD.

Since then, he has given back to the university and created opportunities for the Terps who follow in his footsteps. In addition to serving as chair of the UMD Computer Science Advisory Board, Wenchel and his family created the Rosemary Wenchel Endowed Memorial Scholarship in computer science to honor his mother and support students pursuing cybersecurity careers.

While at Capital One, he negotiated a partnership to create the Capital One Tech Incubator at UMD. Since 2018, the innovation lab in the university’s Discovery District has allowed students to help develop the latest in data science, technology and automation tools alongside leaders in machine learning and cybersecurity. Wenchel also helped secure a $3 million endowment from Capital One to attract the best research and educational leaders in machine learning to the university.

At Arthur, Wenchel’s goal is to make AI better for everyone: He wants to make AI work better for the people who deploy it and for the people it affects.

Jade LeSchack

Jade LeSchack. Photo by Alex Kemp/Kemp Photography.

Jade LeSchack is graduating with a bachelor’s degree in physics and a bachelor’s degree in mathematics in May 2025. She is a Design Cultures & Creativity student in the Honors College, and her capstone project, Black Creatives Matter, won an award for creativity in pursuit of anti-racist justice.

LeSchack conducted research in two quantum science groups at UMD. She worked in the Porto-Rolston ultracold atoms lab on experimental projects with electronics and lasers. She currently conducts research in Nicole Yunger Halpern’s quantum steampunk group, studying how thermodynamic laws and phenomena arise in quantum systems. She received a MathQuantum Fellowship from UMD’s Institute for Physical Science and Technology to conduct her research. Beyond UMD, LeSchack was an undergraduate research assistant at the University of Waterloo and studied abroad at the University of Zürich.

LeSchack is active in UMD’s quantum ecosystem and participates in and organizes quantum computing hackathons around the world. She also founded the Undergraduate Quantum Association in her first semester to connect students with UMD’s resources in quantum science and technology. She led numerous initiatives through the club, including the quantum track of the Bitcamp hackathon and an annual quantum career fair, which is now the Quantum Leap Career Nexus. She has been a Society of Physics student member, volunteering as a tutor and physics demonstrator, and a Startup Shell Fellow. She plays for the UMD Women’s Club Ultimate frisbee team and is a member of Omicron Delta Kappa National Leadership Honors Society.

After graduation, LeSchack will pursue her Ph.D. in quantum physics at the University of Southern California in the fall. 

About the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences

The College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences at the University of Maryland educates more than 10,000 future scientific leaders in its undergraduate and graduate programs each year. The college's 10 departments and nine interdisciplinary research centers foster scientific discovery with annual sponsored research funding exceeding $250 million.