Ms. Mason started HackNY with Chris Wiggins from Columbia University and Evan Korth from NYU. “We were all independently working to strengthen the connections between the academic and startup communities in New York, so we met over burgers and milkshakes and sketched out the structure of an organization that could support and magnify these efforts,” she said.

Ms. Mason is also the chief scientist at bit.ly. Her work involves both pure research and development of product-focused features; she recently started the data science blog Dataists (dataists.com) and is a member of hacker collective NYC Resistor.

“There are several things you can give to invest in a young company--time, social capital, and money,” said Ms. Mason. “I really enjoy sharing what I know with people who are taking on ambitious challenges, and I'm happy to connect them to others with similar interests.”

In the future, Ms. Mason wants to continue her work with HackNY but can imagine it taking different shapes.

“HackNY is a non-profit that is structured to solve a very specific problem,” Ms. Mason said. “I love finding the right set of people, structures, and resources to solve problems, so yes, it's quite likely that I'll start things in the future! However, don't expect them to have the same form or goals.”