McCourt alumna recognized among the nation’s top technology talent
As a U.S. Digital Corps Fellow, Sahithi Adari (MS-DSPP‘22) is leveraging data science to drive equity and impact at the highest levels of government.
McCourt alum Sahithi Adari (MS-DSPP‘22) was selected as part of the inaugural cohort of the U.S. Digital Corps (USDC), an early‑career fellowship program designed for the country’s top technology talent. The program, launched in August 2021 by the Biden-Harris Administration, offers unique benefits, including a dedicated learning and development curriculum, mentorship, a cohort-based community and the opportunity for permanent career positions in federal service.
Over the next two years, the Fellows will be spread across 12 federal agencies. Adari will work at the Office of Personnel Management, leveraging data on the largest workforce in the country to increase the federal government’s capacity to recruit and retain employees. She was one of 38 Fellows selected from a highly competitive pool of more than 1,000 applicants from across the country.
“How many people can say that the tools that they are helping to develop will impact the nation’s largest workforce? Or that they talk to the Chief Data Scientist of the United States on equitable data issues?”
Sahithi Adari
“My McCourt education helped me understand that data is human,” said Adari. “It isn’t enough, as a data scientist, to have a technically strong background; it needs to be coupled with domain knowledge in order to have the greatest impact.”
“Through the USDC program, I am leveraging data science to help solve large public policy problems in an equitable manner, reducing barriers and ensuring that data is being used to help, not harm,” she said.
As a graduate student at McCourt, Adari focused her research on racial equity, technology policy and the intersection of the two. She was an inaugural Racial Equity Fellow of the D.C. Council Office of Racial Equity, as well as a data science intern for the Development Impact Evaluation team of the World Bank.
Learn more about how to become a U.S. Digital Corps Fellow here.