Student Speaker

As a teen, Jason Laucel ’26 worked for his father’s home construction business, hauling supplies, talking with clients and painting and sanding fixtures. He seemed to follow a different blueprint at the University of Maryland, where as an information science major, he studied artificial intelligence (AI) and technology infrastructure, focusing on ethics and policy.

Yet Laucel will combine his interests as he launches his career this summer with the national construction firm Whiting-Turner, where he will project-manage the erection of data centers in Northern Virginia.

“We have to have conversations about how these emerging technologies affect people of different income levels,” he said, citing the water use, noise pollution and utility costs often associated with data centers sprouting up to power the AI boom.

In his new role, the Olney, Md., native intends to support efforts aligned with his values: community, dialogue and equal access for all. He models his work ethic after that of his father, who immigrated from El Salvador at 17 during that country’s civil war and worked his way up through odd jobs to starting his own business.

At Montgomery College, where Laucel earned his associate’s degree before transferring to the Universities at Shady Grove (USG), he tutored classmates. As a junior communications fellow with USG’s Macklin Learning Center, Laucel coached undergraduates in writing, public speaking and big data ethics. For the past two years as a member of UMD’s College of Information Dean’s Student Advisory Council (DSAC), he advocated for USG students, developed new programming and activities, and built bridges between the USG and UMD campuses.

“Jason is brilliant and capable of so many things but also very humble and approachable; he cares about his classmates in such a way that he wants them to be successful, too,” said Tetyana Bezbabna, College of Information director of undergraduate programs and DSAC coordinator.

Intrigued by information science concepts like business intelligence, project management and team organization, Laucel transferred to USG, eyeing opportunities to serve society by promoting fairness.

“The way information flows—who can access it, who understands it, who feels included within it—depends on how thoughtfully it is built,” he said.

The rapid rise of AI poses risks to social stability—military and surveillance overuse are two examples, he noted—but can democratize societies through proper regulation, Laucel said: “The best way to inform public policy is to speak out about it.”