Student Commencement Speaker Builds Connections, With and Without a Hardhat

As a teen, Jason Laucel Coulson ’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 UMD’s 2026 student commencement speaker 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. The backgrounds of his father and mother, who is from Nicaragua, also shaped Laucel Coulson’s appreciation of other countries, cultures and languages. 

At Montgomery College, where Laucel Coulson 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, he 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.

Bezbabna met Laucel Coulson during a transfer-student fair at Montgomery College. A computer science student at the time, he was intrigued by information science concepts like business intelligence, project management and team organization—ideas that served him well at his father’s business—and saw opportunities to serve society by promoting fairness.

As he excelled in his coursework, Laucel Coulson developed his skills as a machine learning intern at DS Communications, where he helped develop AI model prototypes for governmental sectors including the Federal Aviation Administration.

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, he said: “The best way to inform public policy is to speak out about it.”

Laucel Coulson credits his professors and classmates for his success. His advice to fellow graduates: “If you have the luxury of being able to go out and see the world, do it a heartbeat. There’s so much to learn outside of our Maryland bubble.”