Data Day 2026: From Data to Impact: Building Indiana's Intelligent Future
The Indiana Management Performance Hub is proud to present Data Day 2026, bringing together 500+ state employees, data professionals and innovation leaders for a full day of learning, collaboration and inspiration.
In an era of rapid technological change, this year's theme—"From Data to Impact: Building Indiana's Intelligent Future"—challenges us to transform how state government uses data. As artificial intelligence and emerging technologies expand what's possible, the fundamentals matter more than ever: strong governance frameworks, robust privacy protections and the analytical skills to turn data into decisions. Data Day 2026 explores both the innovations reshaping our work and the strategic foundations that make those innovations trustworthy and effective.
Who Should Attend
Data Day is designed for:
- Directors and agency leaders seeking data-driven solutions
- Chief Data Officers and governance professionals
- IT directors and technical staff
- Data analysts and scientists
- Program managers and policy leaders
- Anyone working to improve government through better data use
No advanced data skills required. Sessions range from introductory to advanced, with something valuable for every experience level.
Cost: Free for state employees and Indiana data community members
Lunch: Provided for attendees
Location: Indiana Government Center Conference Center & Auditorium, Indianapolis
Registration Information
Data Day session registration now available
Data Day Breakout Sessions
| Tracks | Presentation Information | Description |
|---|---|---|
| AI & Emerging Technology | No PhD Required: A Practical Guide to AI in the Workplace Presenter: Dr. Zach Horton, Principal Data Scientist, Indiana Management Performance Hub | AI increasingly finds its way into organizational and policy discussions, but knowing what to do with it is a challenge many people share. This session showcases ways AI has impacted organizations both in and out of state government and offers practical guidance on finding opportunities to leverage this exciting technology. Whether you're just getting started or looking for new use cases, this session provides an accessible, real-world look at what's possible. |
| AI & Emerging Technology | Getting More from Copilot: Practical Prompting for State Agencies Presenter: Colin Stauffer, Big Impact Group | Most state employees have access to Microsoft Copilot but few are using it to its full potential. This hands-on session covers prompting best practices and live demonstrations showing how agencies can use Copilot to draft, summarize, research, and streamline everyday work. |
| AI & Emerging Technology | Your Documents Have Been Holding Out on You: Introducing DocuSage Presenter: Theodore Stumpf, Senior Data Scientist, Indiana Management Performance Hub | DocuSage is an in-house document intelligence tool enabling natural language querying, automated data extraction, and conversational document chat powered by large language models. This session demonstrates what DocuSage can do and where it fits into your workflow, then looks under the hood at Retrieval Augmented Generation, document chunking strategies, and agentic AI — along with an honest discussion of the limitations and trade-offs inherent to these approaches. |
| AI & Emerging Technology | Transforming Meteorological Data Processing for Air Quality Modeling Presenter: John Welch, Senior Environmental Manager, Indiana Department of Environmental Management | Air quality models need accurate weather data, but preparing it was a slow, manual process — up to eight hours per site. IDEM used automation to cut processing time by more than 90%, improving accuracy and simplifying quality checks. Learn why weather data matters for air quality predictions, how automation transformed a complex manual process, and how teamwork and technology combined to make it possible. |
| Data Governance & Privacy | How you can help shape AI at the State of Indiana Presenters: John Stark, Director of Data Governance and Scott Maitland, Director of Enterprise Solutions, Indiana Management Performance Hub | Artificial Intelligence is transforming how the State of Indiana delivers services, solves problems, and plans for the future—but the most powerful innovations start with you. In this session, MPH will walk through the practical ways you can engage with enterprise AI efforts. Learn how staff across your agency can take an active role in AI governance, participate in our growing AI communities of practice, and contribute directly to long‑term AI strategy by joining user groups that will help shape enterprise use‑case development. Whether you're an AI beginner or already exploring its potential, this session will show you where your voice fits and how you can help guide responsible, meaningful AI adoption across the State. |
| Data Governance & Privacy | Minimum Viable Governance: Balancing Control and Agility Presenters: Matthew Stucky, Data Governance Lead, Indiana Department of Health and Chris Schilling, Data Governance Program Manager, Indiana Management Performance Hub | Too much governance slows projects; too little exposes organizations to risk. This session introduces Minimum Viable Governance — a practical, risk-based approach delivering just enough structure to manage risk without stifling agility. Learn the core principles, see practical examples from data and cloud governance, and hear how IDOH is applying MVG to streamline policies and enable faster delivery. Leave with actionable steps to implement MVG in your own organization. |
| Data Governance & Privacy | Safety by Design: Practical Guardrails for Responsible GenAI in Public Sector Systems Presenters: Prasanna Vijayanatha, Senior Engineer, Netflix and IEEE and Olga Scrivner, Assistant Professor, Rose-Hulman; Adjunct Faculty, IU Data Science; IEEE Humanitarian Technologies Chair (Central Indiana) | This session translates the IEEE P3462 "Safety by Design" framework into actionable guidance for government leaders. Explore practical guardrails for responsible data sourcing, model risk assessment, red-teaming, deployment controls, watermarking, and vendor accountability. Leave with a risk-based checklist for evaluating GenAI tools, governance strategies that align safety with innovation, and a lifecycle framework for monitoring high-risk systems. |
| Data Governance & Privacy | US Privacy in 2026 Presenter: Stan Crosley, Managing Partner, Crosley Law Offices and IAPP | An overview of the current U.S. privacy landscape and the importance of privacy standards for government and private sector personnel. Stan Crosley brings more than 25 years of privacy and data strategy experience, including serving as Chief Privacy Officer at Eli Lilly, co-Director of the IU Center for Law, Ethics and Applied Research, and leadership roles with the Future of Privacy Forum and Information Accountability Foundation. An accessible look at where U.S. privacy stands today and what to expect heading forward. |
| Data in Action | Using the Indiana State Cancer Registry to Evaluate a Community Cancer Cluster Near an EPA Superfund Site Presenter: Taylor Eisele, Cancer Epidemiologist, Indiana Department of Health | Following community concern about an EPA Superfund site in Martinsville, Indiana, IDOH conducted a 20-year retrospective analysis using the Indiana State Cancer Registry. This session walks through the methodology, findings, and challenges of cancer cluster investigations — including why they rarely establish causal links between environmental exposures and cancer outcomes, and why clear public communication about interpretation constraints is essential. |
| Data in Action | UAV Mapping and Data Collection in Emergency Response Presenter: Michael White, Hazmat Specialist and UAV Pilot, Indiana Department of Homeland Security | During the 2024 Winchester Tornado, IDHS provided emergency mapping, live aerial video feeds, and damage data collection within two hours of the event, delivering constant data for the first 48 hours. This session explores how UAV technology supports real-world emergency response — from rapid deployment and aerial assessment to providing actionable data for on-the-ground decision-making during critical incidents. |
| Data in Action | Linking Local Health and Homelessness Data to Inform Practice and Policy Presenters: Sarah Wiehe, MD, MPH, Jean and Jerry Bepko Scholar in Pediatrics and Chelsea Haring-Cozzi, Indiana University | A collaborative study by the Coalition for Homelessness Intervention and Prevention and Indiana University links Homeless Management Information System data with Medicaid and Indiana Network for Patient Care data to examine healthcare utilization among individuals experiencing homelessness. This session explores the methodology, early findings, and parallel efforts to address legal, governance, and operational barriers to a real-time social health information exchange — advancing coordination across health and social service sectors for a highly vulnerable population. |
| Data in Action | A Demonstration of the Potential of Health Workforce Data to Impact Health Workforce Policies and Initiatives in Indiana Presenter: Brittany J. Daulton, PhD, MS, Assistant Clinical Professor and Associate Director, Bowen Center for Health Workforce Research and Policy | This presentation demonstrates the power of health workforce data through three Indiana case studies: linking CNA license data to nursing career pathways — leading Ivy Tech to create a new credit program; assessing the behavioral health training pipeline — informing two recently passed bills; and analyzing foreign-educated nurse data — contributing to legislation that increased the percentage of internationally educated Indiana RNs from 0.8% to 2.0%. Real data driving real policy outcomes. |
| Visualization & Analytics | Monitoring Local Acute Respiratory Disease Trends Using an Interactive Data Dashboard and Custom Alert Thresholds in Marion County Presenter: Alexandra Curtis, Epidemiologist, Marion County Public Health Department | State and regional respiratory disease trends frequently differ from local patterns in Marion County. This session presents county-level severity thresholds developed using emergency department data and the Moving Epidemic Method for RSV, influenza-like illness, COVID-like illness, and a broad acute respiratory indicator. Learn how an interactive Power BI dashboard was built to track these trends, how stakeholder input refined the approach, and how the alert system was incorporated into existing communication processes to support unified public health action during flu season. |
| Visualization & Analytics | Visualizing Obstetrics Care Gaps for Hoosiers Using Drive-Time Analysis Presenter: Sarah Feeney, GIS Analyst and Public Health Geographics Team Lead, Indiana Department of Health | Long travel times to birthing hospitals are major barriers to care, particularly in rural areas. This session presents a geospatial analysis of transportation access to Indiana's 73 perinatal hospitals using drive-time catchments. Learn how 130 census tracts — home to nearly 469,000 Hoosiers — were identified as low-access communities, and how an interactive ArcGIS Online dashboard built with the IDOH Women, Children and Families Commission helps visualize geographic gaps in perinatal care access across the state. |
| Visualization & Analytics | Practical Scenarios for Integrating Indiana's Imagery and Elevation Data Presenters: Shaun Scholer, Imagery and Elevation Program Manager and Tim Clark, Technical Specialist, Indiana Geographic Information Office | An accessible introduction to geospatial imagery and how it supports everyday mapping and decision-making. Learn what imagery is, how it's collected, and what types are available for Indiana. The session also introduces LiDAR-derived Digital Elevation Models for visualization and basic analysis, with practical examples of accessing imagery and elevation data using open-source tools like R, QGIS, and more. Designed for new and experienced users alike. |
| Visualization & Analytics | The Mayor's Favorite Meeting: Scaling Performance-Management-as-a-Service in South Bend Presenter: David Finley, Director of Data and Performance, City of South Bend | South Bend evolved traditional stat meetings into lean Data Huddles powered by a "Danger Zone" diagnostic framework. The City Service Tracker flags service requests falling below 90% on-time completion for three consecutive months, pivoting discussions from passive review to active intervention. Results include a 21% improvement in solid waste delivery times and pothole reporting accuracy jumping from 60.7% to 97.9%. Walk away with a blueprint for designing your own data-to-action pipeline. |