White House Names First Chief Data Scientist
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
Dr. DJ Patil named first Chief Data Scientist and will help shape data policies and practices.
The White House Wednesday named Dr. DJ Patil as the country's first chief data scientist and deputy chief technology officer for data policy. As Wired points out, there is perhaps no one better suited for this new complex role, since Patil is often credited with coining the term ‘data science.’
According to the & Wall Street Journal, the term data scientist was rarely heard a few years ago but now appears in roughly 36,000 help-wanted ads on LinkedIn. At a growing number of companies, a data scientist is assigned to discover lucrative insights in increasingly large volumes of data — usually by formulating statistical algorithms and encoding them in software.
Patil has a strong resume including federal experience and expertise with Big Data. He served as the vice president of product at RelateIQ, which Salesforce acquired. Patil also worked at LinkedIn, Greylock Partners, Skype, PayPal, and eBay. He holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of California, San Diego, and a Ph.D. in applied mathematics from the University of Maryland College Park.
Prior to his work in the private sector, Patil worked at the Department of Defense, where he directed new efforts to bridge computational and social sciences in fields like social network analysis to help anticipate emerging threats to the United States.
In announcing the hire, chief technology officer Megan Smith said that, as Chief Data Scientist, Patil “will help shape policies and practices to help the U.S. remain a leader in technology and innovation, foster partnerships to help maximize the nation’s return on its investment in data, and help to recruit and retain the best minds in data science to join us in serving the public.”
Smith further stated Patil will also “work on the administration’s Precision Medicine Initiative, which focuses on utilizing advances in data and healthcare to provide clinicians with new tools, knowledge, and therapies to select which treatments will work best for which patients, while protecting patient privacy.
“President Obama has prioritized bringing top technical talent like DJ into the federal government to harness the power of technology and innovation to help government better serve the American people.”
According to & Federal News Radio, The White House's decision to create the chief data scientist position reflects the growing trend among agencies, driven by the centrality and overwhelming amount of data. The Department of Transportation named Dan Morgan as its chief data officer in July, while the Federal Communications Commission was one of the first agencies to hire a CDO, the Department of Energy recently hired its first CDO, and the Agriculture Department named Bobby Jones as its acting CDO, and the Department of Commerce is in the final stages of hiring a CDO.
As part of the CTO team, DJ will collaborate with government officials, including the Chief Information Officer and U.S. Digital Service and will provide data science leadership on the Administration’s momentum on open data and data science.