Visiting Practitioners (ViP) Fireside Chat: Anjana Rajan

Anjana Rajan

Cornell Tech’s newly launched Visiting Practitioners program (ViP) kicked off its first event with ViP Anjana Rajan, CTO of Polaris. Rajan spoke to Cornell Tech Master’s students at a Fireside chat about her academic and professional experience, and detailed how students can think about creating impact at any level of an organization.

Rajan is the Chief Technology Officer of Polaris, an NGO that uses data-driven strategies to disrupt and prevent human trafficking and modern slavery. She is a seasoned executive and entrepreneur whose expertise is applying technology to human rights and national security issues.

Previously, she was the CTO of Callisto, a nonprofit that builds technology to combat sexual assault. Before that, she worked at Palantir Technologies, where she built and deployed products in the Middle East. She was a Knight Scholar at Cornell University’s Engineering School and received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Operations Research and Information Engineering.

ViPs are tech leaders from a range of impact-oriented organizations, and the newly launched program will enable these practitioners to engage with the Cornell Tech community by giving talks, offering office hours, and providing feedback on product and business ideas.