From a student who came to the Mount from Ukraine to a leader in artificial intelligence, Olena Holub is using AI to advance research, improve university operations, and prepare the next generation of technology professionals.
Olena Holub’s journey with Mount St. Joseph University began thousands of miles away in Ukraine. What started as an international educational opportunity has grown into a career at the Mount, where she now serves as Director of Intelligent Data Solutions and Innovation and adjunct faculty in Computer Science.
Olena first connected with the Mount through a language exchange partnership while studying in Ukraine. Following the challenges created by the war in Ukraine, she relocated to Cincinnati and joined the Mount’s cITe Scholars Program, where she pursued her interest in technology, research and, artificial intelligence. She later graduated from the Mount with a double major in Computer Science and Financial Economics.
Today, Olena is helping shape how AI is used across the University while continuing to teach and conduct research.
Learning and Applying AI
“During my time as an undergraduate student in Computer Science at Mount St. Joseph University, I explored AI through both coursework and hands-on research. My courses in natural language processing, databases, algorithms, statistics, and research methods taught me not only how AI systems are developed and evaluated, but also how they can be designed around people and integrated into real workflows in ways that are practical, accessible, and genuinely useful. What I found most rewarding was applying those ideas to meaningful questions. For example, in my work-study research role, I examined how clearly and consistently kidney transplant centers communicate eligibility information to patients, using large language models to analyze a national dataset of transplant center websites. Beyond research, I developed chatbots and AI-enabled applications that streamlined existing workflows, reduced repetitive tasks, and made processes more efficient and user-friendly.
This experience enabled me to secure a job after graduation and get accepted to PhD program at the University of Cincinnati.”
Bringing AI into Work at the Mount
“In my current role as Director of Intelligent Data Solutions and Innovations at the Mount, I use AI as a practical tool for improving how we work across the university. Our team explores how AI can be thoughtfully integrated into existing systems and workflows to reduce repetitive tasks, organize and interpret information, and make digital services easier to use. For example, we are developing an internal chatbot that will allow faculty and staff to ask questions about university data, generate reports, and create spreadsheets without needing programming or advanced technical skills.
As an adjunct faculty member in the Computer Science program, I also care deeply about making AI approachable for students. I enjoy taking concepts that may initially seem highly technical and connecting them to practical, familiar examples. My goal is to help students feel confident exploring AI while also encouraging them to think critically about accuracy, bias, transparency, and responsible use.”
Recent Research
“My research focuses on developing and applying AI-assisted and data-driven methods to complex research questions. Across projects, I use approaches such as natural language processing, large language models, machine learning, statistical modeling, and human-in-the-loop approach.
I am especially interested in making these methods practical, reproducible, and interpretable. My work has included designing AI-assisted approaches for analyzing large-scale web-scraped datasets, modeling how patterns and risks evolve over time, and examining trends in institutional and survey data.”
Olena’s journey with AI at the Mount has come full circle. As a student, she discovered the possibilities of artificial intelligence through coursework, research and hands-on projects. Today, as a staff member and faculty member, she is helping expand those possibilities across the University—using AI to improve operations, advance research and create new opportunities for students. By bringing her experience from the classroom into her work across the Mount, Olena is helping prepare the next generation to not only understand AI, but to use it thoughtfully, creatively and responsibly to solve real-world challenges.
