Civic Tech Live

The Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University is hosting the second part of our Civic Tech Live event series on November 4, an inspiring conversation with former U.S. Chief Data Scientist Dr. DJ Patil. This series is kindly sponsored by the Erica Pincus Arabesque Foundation, and will provide Georgetown students, faculty, and staff the opportunity to engage with and learn from leaders in the civic tech space.

One of the most influential data scientists in the world, Dr. Patil was appointed by President Barack Obama to be the first U.S. Chief Data Scientist, and was instrumental in establishing nearly 40 Chief Data Officer roles across the federal government. He also launched several impactful government programs, including the Precision Medicine Initiative, the Cancer Moonshot, the Data-Driven Justice Initiative, and Police Data Initiative that cover more than 94 million Americans. He has also been awarded the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service. Prior to this, he was also chief scientist, chief security officer, and head of the analytics and data product teams at LinkedIn, where he co-coined the term “data scientist.” He was also the chief technology officer at Devoted Health, which aims to make health care more affordable and caring.​

Currently, Dr. Patil serves as a general partner at GreatPoint Ventures, a firm focused on building companies in health care, enterprise technologies, and national security.

Dr. Patil will discuss the evolution of data science, as well as the opportunities and risks he sees with emerging technology like artificial intelligence (AI). He will also provide insights from his time serving in the Obama administration and his initiatives on health care and national security.

Joining Dr. Patil on stage will be Lisa Singh. Singh, Sonneborn Chair of Interdisciplinary Research, is the Department Chair of the Computer Science Department and a Professor in the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University. She also currently serves as the Director of the Massive Data Institute. Singh has authored/co-authored over 100 peer reviewed publications and book chapters related to data-centric computing, focusing on data mining, data science, and computational social science and is the co-author of Words That Matter: How News and Social Media Shaped the 2016 Presidential Election. Her work has been featured in different media outlets, including CNN, the Washington Post, and NPR.

Following the event, we will have a networking reception and provide light refreshments.

Space is limited, so register now to save your spot!