Chris Mentzel

Chris is executive director of Stanford Data Science, a new unit which engages the entire campus community in developing and leveraging new data science theory and practice to accelerate research.

Previously, Chris started and led the Moore Foundation's Data-Driven Discovery Initiative, an $80 million portfolio within the Science Program to enable data scientists to turn the scientific data deluge into opportunities to address some of today's most important research questions. He also led the grants administration department and worked as the senior network engineer for the foundation. Chris has held positions as a systems engineer and integrator at the University of California, Berkeley, and at various Internet consulting firms in the Bay Area. An active member of the broader big data and open science communities, Chris serves on a number of advisory boards and program committees and speaks frequently at conferences and workshops on topics related to data-driven research.

Chris received a B.A. in mathematics from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and an M.Sc. in management science and engineering from Stanford University.