This was a big week for data science as President Obama appointed the United States’ first Chief Data Scientist – DJ Patil. Patil, who previously worked for companies like RelateIQ, LinkedIn, and more, also helped to coin the term ‘Data Scientist’. His position was announced at the Strata Conference last week, with a special message from President Obama, himself.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_1reLdh5xw&w=560&h=315]
Following his appointment, Patil authored a blog post on Medium that focused on the vision for his role:
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DJ Patil
Providing vision on how to provide maximum social return on federal data.
- Creating nationwide data policies that enable shared services and forward-leaning practices to advance our nation’s leadership in the data age.
- Working with agencies to establish best practices for data management and ensure long-term sustainability of databases.
- Recruiting and retaining the best minds in data science for public service to address these data science objectives and act as conduits among the government, academia, and industry.
Read the full post on Medium here.
US Digital Service
With Patil’s appointment, there is a push for more data scientists to work for the federal government. The US Digital Service works to improve the way government works for its citizens. You can apply for what the US Digital Service calls a ‘tour of duty’ here. The great thing about it is that the opportunity can last anywhere from a few weeks to years, depending on your availability.
