Dave Kaplowitz '15 CPS: A "New" Kind of Employee

A model lifelong learner, David Kaplowitz ’15 has always craved new information. But he also knows that information is only valuable if it can be used.  

It is an important aspect of his job as cloud operations engineer at Palantir Technologies, a computer software company based in Palo Alta, Calif., that takes the big data created every day and engineers ways to analyze it. The results speak for themselves. The company has helped the government detect fraud, the military to predict attacks and corporations to better understand their customers.

While taking classes toward his bachelor’s degree at the College of Professional Studies, Kaplowitz worked at Villanova University and the University of Pennsylvania in information technology. He valued the degree as a finishing touch on his résumé and boost to his career.  

“Villanova has very passionate faculty who taught me ‘soft skills’ about how to handle projects, meet deadlines and produce at a high level,” he says. Moreover, the classes introduced him to forward-thinking companies, including his current employer Palantir.

His professor Sandy Kearney ’00 MS, assistant dean in CPS, sees Kaplowitz as an example of the “new” kind of employee, able to freely integrate complex ideas, creative thinking and technical knowledge.

Like so many alumni from CPS, Kaplowitz created career opportunities through hard work and education, so that when his big break came, he was more than ready to succeed. “I have never looked back!”