Executive PhD student combines military experience, data science to improve social outcomes
Jasmine Motupalli
Jasmine Motupalli—a U.S. Army veteran, data scientist and Executive PhD student at the University of Denver’s Daniels College of Business—doesn’t wait for an invitation to the table; she sits down and pulls up chairs for women of color like herself.
In the Executive PhD program, that manifests in research into how data can create a more equitable future, especially for those who have traditionally been left out of those discussions. Her desire to “explore the intersection of emerging technologies, equity and economic development in a rigorous way, through the lens of ethics” led Motupalli to the hybrid in-person/online doctoral program, which is designed for experienced business executives.
Motupalli’s decision to pursue an executive PhD was influenced by a 20-year journey of trailblazing “firsts.”
Back in the historically Black town of Lawnside, New Jersey, a longtime end point of the Underground Railroad, Motupalli formed the first racial integration and inclusion program at her high school.
When it came time to go to college, the self-described “data nerd” attended the prestigious United States Military Academy at West Point—the first Black woman from her region to be admitted. She put her undergraduate degree in math sciences and systems engineering to work during two deployments to the Middle East in the early 2000s.
Unlike many recent college graduates, Motupalli wasn’t sitting behind a desk analyzing numbers on a spreadsheet; she was navigating active war zones as an armed soldier. She deployed to Mosul, Iraq, for 15 months, where she helped recover hostages through predictive analytics—quickly developing a deep understanding of people’s motivations and behavior patterns.
Then, she deployed to Afghanistan as the only female commander in her deployment’s infantry brigade, seeing battlespace before women were technically allowed in combat roles. Motupalli also established data-informed economic development and social good initiatives abroad.
And, after sustaining a traumatic brain injury and multiple blast wounds in combat, Motupalli got her master’s degree in operations research at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She then taught engineering statistics and business analytics at West Point (as the only Black woman on the school’s academic faculty).
Although forging new paths as “the first” can be intimidating, Motupalli realized, “Maybe these things that were different about me as a young woman of color weren’t detriments. Maybe they were actually superpowers.”
Shifting her thinking helped her accomplish things her male counterparts couldn’t—like empowering other women to thrive in Army leadership roles. “Just because it’s hard for me doesn’t mean it needs to be hard for everybody else coming behind me, right?” she said.
Motupalli completed her military career as a data scientist at the Pentagon, transitioning back to civilian life eager to contribute her analytic skills to help people and causes.
The math whiz spent a few years building Gusto’s customer intelligence capability, with multiple patents pending for the company’s AI-powered predictive models.
Then she founded Data Love Co., which takes a human-first approach to data science. Her company helps mission-minded organizations improve the social determinants of health (like food insecurity) through emerging AI technology.
As a first-time CEO, Motupalli was drawn to Daniels’ focus on business ethics and the public good.
“Ethical education is not a luxury—it’s a necessity, especially when we’re talking about tools that can shape economies, influence policy and affect millions of lives,” she said.
Though clearly brilliant, Motupalli isn’t the least bit mercurial. In fact, Data Love Co.’s tagline, “where data meets heart,” aims to show that data is more than cold, hard facts.
“When done right, data is a love language,” she explains. “It’s how we show we’re paying attention, that we care enough to understand people’s realities, and that we’re willing to act on what we learn.”
Executive PhD program director Dan Baack describes Motupalli as “impressive, kind and approachable.”
“She’s the real deal, and I’m proud to have her in the program as an important part of our community,” he said.
Finding a community of like-minded peers was important to Motupalli as well.
“I love the [program’s] mission to bridge the theoretical with the practical, because it shows that there’s a commitment to contributing to impact,” she says. “The military taught me how to analyze complex information and think strategically in high-stakes environments. But more than that, it instilled a deep commitment to service—something that continues to guide my work today.”
Data Love Co. recently completed the Bunker Labs Veterans in Residence Program and won customer’s choice for best pitch at Bank of America’s Breakthrough Lab Accelerator.
“Data has enormous potential to drive equity—but only when it’s collected and applied with cultural humility and context,” Motupalli explained. “My goal is to shift power and reimagine technical systems so the future works better for all of us—especially for those who’ve been historically excluded.”