Defne Yasemin Coban holds a B.S. in Computer Science and a B.A. in Linguistics, with a minor in Mathematics, from Brandeis University. She is a software engineer with experience building data pipelines, AI-integrated applications, and machine learning systems. Through her roles at the MIT–IBM Watson AI Lab and Product House Academy, she has developed tools ranging from LLM-powered tutoring assistants to large-scale data processing pipelines for predictive modeling, combining full-stack applications, machine learning, and natural language processing to build reliable systems that structure and analyze complex data. She is excited to utilize her engineering skills to solve problems in the public and social sectors, particularly by building AI and data systems that expand access to education and community support systems.

She is a member of the NobleReach Scholars 2026 Cohort and serves as an AI Engineer at Maryland’s Department of Information Technology.